Bas Braeken > bureau Brandeis > Amsterdam, Netherlands > Lawyer Profile

bureau Brandeis Offices

bureau Brandeis
SOPHIALAAN 8-10
1075 BR AMSTERDAM
Netherlands
Visit website 31 20 7606 505 31 20 7606 555

Bas Braeken

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+31 (0)20 7606 505 [email protected] View profile View profile

Position

Partner

Career

Practice Areas

Bas is a partner at bureau Brandeis. He is an experienced lawyer in the field of (European) competition law and a recognised specialist in the field of regulated markets (such as telecoms, media, mail and parcels, fintech, data and mobility). Bas represents companies and their management in civil proceedings as well as before the Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) and the European Commission. He has represented clients in more than a hundred (both administrative law and civil) cases in the field of competition law and economic regulation, before both Dutch and European courts. He defends companies in (alleged) cartels and during dawn raids and advises and litigates almost a daily basis on foreign direct investments (Wet Vifo), the Digital Markets Act (DMA), forms of collaboration and state aid. Bas is involved in several follow-on competition cases (cartel damages cases), including in the financial and tech sector. Bas is seen as a trusted advisor and also often acts as counsel’s counsel for specific matters of (European) competition law, for example in the context of takeovers and joint ventures.

Career

Bas studied in Leiden, Paris and London and was called to the bar in 2001. Before joining bureau Brandeis he was a long-time employee of Allen & Overy (Amsterdam and Brussels) and was one of the co-founders of Maverick, a niche firm focusing on competition law. Bas has a great many publications to his name and regularly lectures at the University of Utrecht and the University of Leiden.

He has for many years been recommended by prestigious lawyer guides such as Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners because of his knowledge of European competition law and regulated sectors. In 2018 Bas won a Client Choice award for “excellence in client service”. In 2018 and 2019 he was also voted a Future Leader in the field of European competition law by Who’s Who

Relevant experience:

  • Extensive experience in the field of cartel cases, including litigation on guidelines on the inspection of digital data, eventually resulting in a landmark judgment of the Court of Appeal in The Hague. He also achieved rare victories in litigating on decisions to publish alleged cartel decisions, thereby preventing the competition authority from publishing the cartel decision;
  • Obtaining a very significant reduction of a cartel fine from initially almost € 2 million, then € 1 million (in appeal) and ultimately € 10.000,- (in further appeal with the Dutch Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal);
  • Preliminary ruling proceedings at the Court of Justice regarding the interpretation of Article 101 of the TFEU (the prohibition of cartels), the role of European recommendations in the telecoms sector and tariff regulation in the postal sector;
  • Competition law support in various complex takeovers, at both the European Commission and the ACM and for both merging parties and complainants. Bas has played an active role in complex (often second phase) takeovers such as Sunweb/Corendon, PostNL/Sandd, Vodafone/Ziggo, Ziggo/Liberty, T-Mobile/Tele2, KLM/Martinair, Holland Pharma/FACO and KPN/Tiscali;
  • Successful representation of clients in important civil competition law proceedings for the likes of T-Mobile, Canal+ and Prijsvrij (both in the area of abuse of dominant position and the prohibition of cartels);
  • Representation of skaters Mark Tuitert and Niels Kerstholt and sports trade union EU Athletes as third parties in the appeal proceedings at the Court of Justice in Luxembourg against the decision of the European Commission on the admission rules of the International Skating Union (ISU);
  • Successful representation of Eredivisie Media & Marketing (Fox Sports) as third party in KPN and CAIW appeal proceedings against a decision by ACM on the exploitation of the broadcasting rights for Dutch premier league football matches;
  • Assisting RadioCorp, the owner of two Dutch radio channels and co-owner of sales house (One Media Sales) in a probe by the Dutch competition authority on alleged abusive loyalty discounts for radio advertisements. The case was settled with a commitment decision;
  • Representation of the Portuguese company Fapricela in cartel damage proceedings (follow-on cartel case) in relation to the (alleged) prestressing steel cartel.

Languages

Dutch, English, French

Lawyer Rankings

Netherlands > EU and competition

(Leading partners)

Bas Braeken – bureau Brandeis

At bureau Brandeis, the team’s workload includes appearing for the defence in dawn raid cases, advising on distribution matters, state aid cases, and a wide range of regulatory matters. Bas Braeken, who spearheads the practice, is ‘an experienced and well-known attorney at law in this field‘. Jade Versteeg handles merger notifications, cartel cases and abuse of dominance matters. Hans Bousie left the firm in May 2024.

Netherlands > Industry focus: telecoms

bureau Brandeis is renowned for its expertise in litigating regulatory matters within the telecoms sector, boasting extensive knowledge of telecoms, media, competition, and administrative law. Machteld Robichon is recognised for her work in regulatory enforcement proceedings, as well as telecoms, broadcasting, and media regulations; she jointly heads the team with Bas Braeken, who provides counsel to fixed-line and mobile operators on a wide range of issues, including market analysis decisions, merger control assessments, and behavioural antitrust.

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