Profile: Philippe De Baere

Trade and Customs

Biography: Trade & Customs

Philippe De Baere was admitted to the Brussels Bar in 1988 and joined the law firm of Van Bael & Bellis the same year. He has been a partner in this firm since 1994 and specialises in European and WTO trade law with a particular emphasis on anti-dumping and anti-subsidy law as well as on EC customs law.

Van Bael & Bellis, an international law firm with offices in Brussels and Geneva, is one of the leading firms in EC trade and competition law. The firm's Brussels office currently has more than 60 lawyers of over 15 different nationalities.

Philippe De Baere has been involved in most major EC anti-dumping, anti-circumvention and anti-subsidy proceedings since 1990 and has represented clients before the European Commission, the European Court of Justice and in WTO panel and WTO Appellate Body proceedings. Philippe De Baere has furthermore assisted governments during their WTO accession negotiations as well as during the Uruguay and Doha Round negotiations. He currently represents the ACP countries in their WTO dispute concerning preferential access for bananas to the EC market. He also assists the EC in their WTO challenge against continued application of "zeroing"by the US.

He represents several large manufacturers of high technology products in disputes concerning customs classification, valuation and origin before the European Commission, OLAF, the European Court of Justice, the World Customs Organization, and advises foreign governments in their discussions with the EC on the scope of the ITA.

Philippe De Baere is a regular speaker at trade seminars and has contributed to several leading publications on EC anti-dumping and other trade protection laws. He lectures on EC Trade Law at the University Carlos III in Madrid.