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International Commercial Law Firm

Commercial law reaches into all sectors. It is at the core of every business. With over 400 commercial lawyers across 43 countries globally, our multi-disciplinary teams understand the cultural and business factors impacting your commercial arrangements.

In today’s increasingly regulated markets, operators have to manage commercial risk as they work towards their business objectives. Success depends on fruitful relationships with customers and suppliers, based on effective, sector-specific contracts. Wherever you operate, your business needs the right legal advice and support, based upon in-depth understanding of your specific markets.

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, life sciences, supply and logistics, real estate and construction, technology, telecoms, media and sports.

Whatever advice you need, we can help you achieve the optimum outcome for your business. Whether for 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 or distribution and franchise agreements, we aim to find the best solution for you.

If you want to discuss the commercial opportunities and challenges facing your business, we would be delighted to speak with you.

Keeping you up to date

This is a priority for CMS. We create comparative law products covering a wide range of jurisdictions to help you prepare for legal and business opportunities, along with thought leadership initiatives, e-guides and know-how programmes on key commercial issues.

Check our latest CMS Expert Guides to e-signatures in commercial contracts, force majeure, payment term legislation and autonomous vehicles.

Commercial webinars

CMS hosts regular webinars to help your teams stay in touch with regulatory discussions and new legislation affecting your business across your national markets. This popular format gives you interactive access to business-critical knowledge without having to leave your office.

Online insights straight to your inbox

Thousands of subscribers to CMS Commercial eAlerts receive real-time updates on market news, legislative changes and significant cases. Subscribe on cms-lawnow.com to get the latest commentaries straight to your inbox.

07/09/2021
CMS Expert Guide to e-signature law in commercial contracts
 Digital transformation affects all aspects of a business’s operations, including contracts, internal documentation and employment relationships. This trend has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic which has created the need for contactless and
15/01/2021
CMS Expert Guide to the law and regulation of force majeure
 The laws on force majeure differ from country to country. Some countries do not recognise the term force majeure in law and therefore contractual parties are free to regulate its meaning between themselves. In other countries, the law contains a spe
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...
06/03/2024
The Mobile Century 2024
CMS is delighted to support The Mobile Century, a publication written by women in the digital space, published by the Global Telecom Women’s Network (GTWN). The Mobile Century provides a global perspective on the most important issues facing the digital technology sector, while championing the role and contribution of women leaders in bringing about meaningful change. These characteristics align closely with the professional and cultural values of CMS’ Technology, Media and Communications Practice. The promise and anticipation around Artificial Intelligence has captivated worldwide attention over the past year like no other recent technological revolution. Governments around the world have rushed to understand how they can respond to generative AI, ensuring that their industries are well placed to capture maximum value from this innovation, whilst also not exposing their populations to undue risks. This edition of The Mobile Century includes an insightful essay by CMS Partner and Co-Head of the TMC Sector Group, Dóra Petrányi on finding the appropriate balance between AI ethics and AI regulation. It also includes an inspiring fireside chat between Dóra and Francesca Rossi, who is a computer scientist, an IBM Fellow and the IBM Global AI Ethics Leader. At the same time, society is facing other new challenges, as the digital natives – those who only know a digital world – see all aspects of their lives transformed. As certain jobs and even professions are being transformed by digital technology, what does the future look like for those who are inheriting our digital world? What do governments, regulators and industry itself need to do to ensure the benefits of these technologies outweigh the risks that have emerged?At CMS, we continue to be honoured to support the GTWN and its flagship magazine The Mobile Century, which, once again, is dense with thought-pro­vok­ing articles from inspiring leaders. We hope the articles motivate you, as they do us, to think about our responsibilities and the wider impact of our companies on the world around us.
22/02/2024
Latest UK consumer law developments
In January 2024, the Department for Business and Trade published its response to a 2023 consultation entitled “Smarter Regulation: Improving consumer price transparency and product information for consumers”...
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...
05/02/2024
Seeing the wood for the trees: Government updates Consultation Direction...
On 26 January, the Government introduced a new duty requiring local planning authorities to consult the Secretary of State regarding developments that impact ancient woodland. For many years, a direction...
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...
17/01/2024
Reform of UK Furniture Fire Safety Regulations
The UK Government is currently reviewing responses to the recent consultation on the proposed regulatory framework for domestic furniture and furnishings, which is quite the change from the current fire...
16/01/2024
Digital Legacy - How will future generations be shaped by the actions of...
Fireside chat with two Top Industry Veterans - Lucy Lombardi and Nicola Palmer
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...
08/01/2024
CMS Appoints Seven New Practice and Sector Group Heads
CMS is pleased to announce the new heads for five of its international expertise groups. All CMS lawyers work in cross-border groups in 76 cities across 45 countries that are structured according to the industries in which our clients operate. Commercial Sam De Silva (CMS UK) will join Aukje Haan (CMS Netherlands) as co-head of the CMS Commercial Group. Based in London, Sam specialises in complex and strategic technology and outsourcing projects including all forms of cloud computing, outsourcing, system development and supply, system integration, software licensing, and support and service agreements. Sam also regularly advises on data protection, privacy, cybersecurity and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) issues. Employment Gaël Chuffart (CMS Belgium) and Daniela Krömer (CMS Austria) have been appointed as co-heads of the CMS Employment Group. Based in Brussels, Gaël advises on a wide range of employment law and social security matters. He specialises in collective labour relations, individual labour law and remuneration conditions. He also advises on international employee mobility. Daniela, based in Vienna, specialises in employment law and European law. In her work she focuses on assisting clients with issues such as the cross-border use of labour, as well as equal-treatment issues. Life Sciences & Healthcare Sarah Hanson (CMS UK) and Roland Wiring (CMS Germany) have been named as co-heads of the CMS Life Sciences & Healthcare Group. Sarah is based in London and specialises in high value, cross-border commercial, intellectual property and outsourcing transactions. She has advised on a broad range of commercial agreements related to in-licensing and out-licensing, sales and distributor arrangements, research and development, manufacturing and supply, strategic alliances and joint ventures. Based in Hamburg, Roland advises and represents pharmaceutical, medical device and biotech companies as well as enterprises in related industries. He specialises in drafting contracts for research and development, cooperations, distribution and transaction, and has expert knowledge of issues related to advertising. Private Equity Hamburg-based partner, Jacob Siebert (CMS Germany) joins Jason Zemmel (CMS UK) as co-head of the CMS Private Equity Group. Jacob advises strategic investors and private equity funds on merger and acquisition transactions, joint ventures and private equity investments, often across borders. He has significant experience in advising on buy-outs and public takeovers. Jacob also assists his clients with all aspects of corporate law. Public Procurement Brussels-based partner, Virginie Dor (CMS Belgium) has been named as the head of the CMS Public Procurement Group. In this role, Virginie specialises in legal support for large-scale public projects and advises contracting authorities and companies in all sectors on advisory and litigation matters. Additionally, she supports projects in the fields of life-sciences, construction, IT and energy.