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Philippe Reich

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Philippe Reich is the head of Baker & McKenzie's Antitrust and Trade Law Practice Group in Switzerland and a member of the European Competition Law and transactional practice groups. He is a member of the EMEA Steering Committee of the International Trade and Commerce Practice Group and of the Global Steering Committee for the Firm's India Practice. He is also the Chairman of the Swiss Indian Chamber of Commerce and forms the Indian Desk in Switzerland. Mr. Reich regularly publishes articles on Swiss antitrust and trade laws and the Swiss-EU as well as Swiss-Indian bilateral relations.

The Swiss Federal Council has discussed the situation in eastern Ukraine at its meeting of 23 February 2022. It condemns Russia’s recognition of the two non-government-controlled territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as independent states as a violation of international law. While the Swiss government has not decided on adopting any sanctions or measures yet, it has stated that it wishes to ensure that Switzerland will not be used as a platform to circumvent sanctions imposed by the EU, as it has already done since 2014, and is therefore examining the newly adopted EU sanctions closely.

Join us for a brief webinar on 1 March 2022 to hear from our experts on the latest sanctions measures introduced against Russia and certain parts of Ukraine. We are well-positioned in all relevant jurisdictions to help you understand and respond to the various sanctions measures. Our panel will comprise of Baker McKenzie trade and sanctions attorneys from Ukraine, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, Japan, Australia and Switzerland. The panel will summarise the key measures and propose key practical take-aways for businesses to focus on.

The Swiss government has opened the consultation process on a further revision of the Swiss Cartel Act after previous failed attempts. The main objective of the proposed revision is the modernization of Swiss merger control. By changing the current qualified market dominance test to the Significant Impediment to Effective Competition test, the regulation of mergers shall be adapted to the standards already prevailing in the EU and the threshold for prohibiting a transaction should thus become lower.