Julien Blanquart

Overview

Julien Blanquart is an International Trade associate in the Governmental Practice in the firm's Brussels and London offices.

Areas of Practice

International Trade

Julien's practice focuses on compliance counseling, training and investigations in the areas of export controls, economic sanctions, anti-corruption (FCPA and Sapin II), customs, and foreign investment reviews (CFIUS).

Over the course of his education, Julien has acquired the legal skills and experience to assist the International Trade team in matters involving EU, U.S., and French law.

EU Competition and Regulatory

Julien advises clients on all aspects of European and French competition law, including mergers, cartels, abuse of dominance as well as State aid across all sectors and industries.

His experience in EU regulatory matters includes advising on sector-specific regulations, such as product liability, medical devices, telecommunications, motor vehicles and automotive components.

Julien also advises on a broad range of EU regulatory and compliance issues that affect market access and cross-border trade of products and services within the EU.

Experience

Julien’s recent work includes:

Sanctions

Advised French car rental company on compliance with U.S. and EU sanctions on Iran.
Advised Italian finance and insurance bank on compliance with U.S. sanctions on Iran, Sudan, and Russia
Advised multinational engineering firm on pipeline project in joint venture with Russia
Designed compliance measures for satellite communications company to provide services to ships entering territorial waters of sanctioned countries

CFIUS, Cross-Border Transactions and Due Diligence

Advised French conglomerate on a €850 million strategic acquisition of a U.S. renewable energy company

Customs and Free Trade Agreements

Resolved various country of origin, classification and valuation cases involving imports in the U.S., EU, and South America.
Assisted food and beverage companies with Customs classifications and country of origin markings under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)
Advised several U.S. manufacturers on submitting comments on and requesting exemptions from the imposition of Section 301 tariffs on products and components from China

Antibribery investigations

Advised a French CAC 40 company in the design and implementation of its corruption risk mapping in response to a potential audit by the French anticorruption agency (AFA)

EU Competition

Advised a Danish variety store chain on merger filing in France
Advised a Japanese electronics company on an internal audit and strategy on leniency

EU Regulatory

Advised Air France-KLM in securing the European Commission’s approval for up to €4 billion in French State aid to recapitalise Air France to help it overcome the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and plan for the future.
Advised a Dutch medical device company on French market entry strategy and the appropriate regulatory pathway
Advised a French pharmaceutical laboratory on compliance with requirements affecting the launch of medical devices under Directive 93/42/EEC
Advised a Canadian bike manufacturer on product liability issues affecting products sold in several Member States

EU Litigation

Assisted in the representation of an EU citizen challenging the EU Commission’s decision prohibiting a Member State from paying damages ordered under an arbitral award