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Commercial Law

As a business operating in today’s increasingly regulated markets, you need to manage your commercial risk while achieving your business objectives. Your success is built upon the effectiveness of your relationships with both customers and suppliers. Sector-specific contractual arrangements are key to this. Not only do you need the right legal answer, you need it in the context of the market in which you operate. With over 350 lawyers across 33 countries, our multi-disciplinary teams are trained to understand the cultural and business variations impacting your commercial arrangements.

We organise our teams around sectors and industries relevant to you, including financial services, manufacturing, automotive, consumer products, energy, hotels and leisure, infrastructure and projects, lifesciences, supply and logistics, real estate and construction, technology, telecoms, media and sports. Our webinar and knowledge services also ensure that you are fully up to speed on all legal and regulatory developments.

Whether you require advice on commercial contracts, supply services, e-commerce, IT or telecoms agreements, data protection, design and manufacturing, advertising, sponsorship and marketing, consumer sales, software licensing, outsourcing or sales, agency, distribution and franchise agreements, our specialists can guide you towards the best business outcome for you.

"Deep sectorial knowledge, very solution-oriented, and a very responsive team."

Feedback from a client about the department - Legal 500, 2023

"Collaborative and reactive team."

Feedback from a client about the department - Legal 500, 2022

"The team has a very good knowledge of the business of their customers. They are very responsive and deliver excellent legal work."

Feedback from a client about the department - Legal 500, 2022

"Jointly led by Renaud Dupont and Tom Heremans, the practice at CMS routinely works across multiple departments to handle commercial leasing contracts, distribution networks, IP protection cases, and e-commerce issues. The team is also adept at cross-border restructurings and high-profile court proceedings before the domestic and European courts. Dupont's broad knowledge of distribution agreements makes him a key port of call for various multinational retailers, while Heremans works with major food stuff manufacturers and e-commerce companies on the full spectrum of IP and TMT concerns."

Legal 500, 2022
Know-how Protection
21/11/2023
CMS Commercial Global Brochure
Commercial law reaches into all sectors. It is at the core of every business. With over 400 Commercial lawyers across 45 countries globally, we can help you across a range of Commercial issues in all...

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07/03/2024
Belgian Competition Authority publishes study on consumer goods price trends...
Since 2013, the Belgian Competition Authority (the "BCA") has been mandated with additional jurisdiction over competition and price trends.Book V of the Code of Economic Law provides for a system in which:the...
05/02/2024
A messy affair – IP law meets a cat litter tray in Belgian design court...
Introduction In recent weeks, the CMS Design team has been delving into pan-EU enforcement of Community design rights, as well as the scope of copyright “ori­gin­al­ity” under EU law. In a timely development...
19/01/2024
Greenwashing: Stricter EU rules on environmental marketing ban misleading...
On 17 January 2024, the European Parliament voted to adopt the Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition (the ECGT Directive), which seeks to protect consumers from various misleading...
19/01/2024
CBAM: Just over a week to comply
As the deadline for the first Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) report approaches on January 31st, it is crucial for undertakings engaged in importing relevant goods into the European Union to...
18/01/2024
Belgian Competition Authority sanctions Le Creuset for resale price maintenance
On 13 December 2023, the Belgian Competition Authority imposed a fine of EUR 490,112 to the cookware retailer Le Creuset Benelux for imposing resale prices on its distributors.The Belgian Competition...
12/01/2024
A new tool in the fight against online infringement
Online infringements and domain squatting are challenges often faced by businesses and tackling such issues has been made all the more difficult in a post-GDPR world where most publicly available domain...
15/12/2023
Grate news for Grana Padano: logo granted cumulative protection in EU
Collective marks and protected designations of origin (PDOs) have different functions and confer different levels of protection. While the function of a collective mark is to indicate membership of an...
27/11/2023
EU Designs Reform, One Year On: EU Parliament announce Final Form of the...
On 7 November 2023, the EU Parliament published the final form of the updated EU Designs legislation. The new legislation, which takes form through a new Regulation and new Directive, are the Par­lia­ment’s...
24/11/2023
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism transition in effect since 1 October...
On 1 October 2023, a two-year transitional period began for implementation of Regulation (EU) 2023/956, which introduces the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). CBAM levies punitive CO2 charges...
22/11/2023
Another grilling: General Court goes against HALLOUMI and strikes down...
IntroductionTwo years ago, we commented on the difficulties that Cypriot cheesemakers faced when attempting to oppose the registration of a figurative mark containing the word BBQLOUMI, relying on EU...
21/11/2023
CMS Commercial Global Brochure
Commercial law reaches into all sectors. It is at the core of every business. With over 400 Commercial lawyers across 45 countries globally, we can help you across a range of Commercial issues in all...
11/10/2023
Adoption of the new consumer credit directive: impact for BNPL
On 9 October 2023, the Council of the European Union adopted the new directive on consumer credits (CCD) in its final and definitive version. This version was already approved by the European Parliament...