We continue to grow and strengthen our team with outstanding talent. As of July 1, 2025, Christopher Wolters and Leonard Freiherr von Rummel will become partners; Ramona Ader, Laura Louca and Philipp Trube will join the counsel ranks. With these promotions, we foster continuous, organic growth and strong individual development opportunities for all career levels across all practice groups.

With trade war between China and the US on the doorsteps, implications for EU companies will be manyfold. One possible consequence could be heavily subsidised Chinese products flooding the EU market. Particularly for medical devices, there is an increased probability that this might happen. However, such a development would not meat European companies defenceless.

The second H2Global auction has officially entered its initial phase.

The draft contract documents have been released, including the auction framework, the Hydrogen Purchase Agreement (HPA), and the Price and Quantity Sheet (see here), inviting bidders to review and provide feedback.

As previously announced, BLOMSTEIN is publishing a series of briefings introducing into European and German legal defence matters.

Today’s briefing focuses on regulatory topics that might occur in relation to the investment and ramp-up phase of startups. These issues refer to export control, public procurement and foreign direct investment control law.

New federal parliament elections are due to be held in Germany on 23 February 2025. In light of the multiple international challenges, national security and defence is one of the key issues. This briefing provides an overview of the content of the election manifestos of the main political parties on the topics of the Bundeswehr, its financing and the defence industry.

Last week it became official: Germany’ will not implement the Directive (EU) 2022/2555 (known as the NIS-2 Directive) to improve cybersecurity in the EU under the current administration. See below for some guidance on what that means:

The European economy is under mounting pressure from China's rapid technological advances and industrial policy, trade uncertainties linked to the new Trump administration in the USA, and growing geopolitical instability, which impact the competitive landscape in several global markets and increase disruption risks in supply chains. In this challenging economic and political climate, enhancing the competitiveness of European businesses and reinforcing the resilience of the Single Market have become key political priorities, as outlined in the European Council's Budapest Declaration on the New European Competitiveness Deal.

Eine Vergabe eines öffentlichen Auftrags an ein bestimmtes Unternehmen ohne europaweite Ausschreibung ist nur in engen Ausnahmefällen zulässig. Ein in der Praxis häufig herangezogener Grund ist, dass aufgrund von Ausschließlichkeitsrechten, beispielsweise Urheberrechten, nur ein Unternehmen den Auftrag ausführen kann. Diese Möglichkeit hat der Europäische Gerichtshof (EuGH) in einer bemerkenswerten Entscheidung eingeschränkt – mit erheblichen Folgen für Unternehmen und an das Vergaberecht gebundene Auftraggeber.

Government-to-government (G2G) contracts represent a popular tool among EU Member States to procure defence equipment and other sensitive goods as well as related works and services, such as capacity training or maintenance and logistical support. In particular, many EU countries frequently purchase equipment from the US through its Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. Intra-EU defence trade is also common, with France and Germany being the Union's two largest sellers of defence and security goods and services. While such G2G contracts hold many advantages from a security policy point of view, they may negatively affect competition in the defence and security market for private operators. Nevertheless, such G2G transactions can be exempted from compliance with EU public procurement law.

As the global shift to sustainable energy continues to gather pace, the European hydrogen market offers unprecedented opportunities. Recent developments in Germany and the European Union highlight strategic advances in both production and infrastructure.