Mélanie Bruneau is a partner in the firm’s Brussels office. She advises on a broad range of areas in European Law. Her practice focuses on advising clients in a variety of industrial sectors, including transport, manufacturing, chemicals and IT, on the legal aspects of their business activities, with a particular emphasis on regulatory compliance.
Ms. Bruneau advises large multinationals on all aspects of EU competition law. She has significant experience in cartel investigations. Ms. Bruneau was also involved in the first cartel settlement and in the first hybrid cartel settlement before the European Commission. Ms. Bruneau regularly advises clients on global compliance programs regarding antitrust. She performs internal audits and compliance trainings. She frequently advises on the rules and procedures governing State aid and EU public procurement directives. In terms of compliance, Ms. Bruneau also advises on anti-corruption (including the OECD Convention, UK Bribery act and US FCPA) and on the anti-money laundering legislation.
Ms. Bruneau has significant experience in advising on vertical agreements including exclusive distribution and supply as well as selective distribution and franchising. She frequently advises on resale price maintenance (RPM) and price discrimination issues on behalf of some of the largest companies in the world. Ms. Bruneau frequently advises on restrictions of active and passive sales, non compete provisions but also on termination of distribution agreements. She also advises on parallel import restrictions and more generally on free movement of goods. Ms. Bruneau regularly advises on commercial agency agreements (including on compensation and termination issues).
She also advises on consumer protection legislation including unfair commercial practices as well as misleading and comparative advertising. She advises companies on distribution agreements including e-commerce cross-border issues and distribution networks in Europe. She has assisted various clients in the setting up of their commercial websites in compliance with the e-commerce, e-sign and data protection legislations.
More generally, Ms. Bruneau has experience in EU legislation covering chemicals, including REACH - the EU Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals- and CLP - the EU Regulation on Classification, Labelling and Packaging, the WEEE and RoHS Directives and industrial emissions. In the context of REACH, Ms. Bruneau was involved in the drafting of consortium agreements for several trade associations and has assessed competition compliance of these agreements and drafted guidelines for collaboration with competitors. She is also involved in issues arising out of the practical implementation of REACH requirements including in data sharing and issues concerning IP rights.
