Mr Brian Mulier > Bird & Bird > The Hague, Netherlands > Lawyer Profile

Bird & Bird
ZUID-HOLLANDPLEIN 22
DEN HAAG
2596 AW
Netherlands

Work Department

Tax, International Trade & Customs, Information technology, Telecoms

Position

Brian is a partner in our Tax Group, heading the International Trade & Customs Practice. He is based in The Hague. Brian represents clients, notably in the high-tech and communications sector, in trade compliance matters with a particular focus on EU export controls, economic sanctions, customs, free trade agreements and trade remedies. He has extensive experience with the EU’s export controls and sanctions regulations including the interaction between EU and national laws and US rules. His experience includes both dual-use and military products and technologies.A significant part of Brian’s practice involves assisting companies in understanding the concrete implications of restrictive measures (sanctions), designing and implementing international compliance programs and advising on complex questions of international compliance for companies with global operations, as is conducting internal investigations to examine allegations of wrongdoing.  In addition, Brian provides practical and clear advice to multi-national clients in relation to EU customs compliance, customs classification, customs valuation and transfer pricing, rules of origin and customs efficient supply chain (re-) structuring, including sourcing strategies and optimizing the use of free trade agreements. He assists companies in understanding the concrete implications of the WTO rules and treaty (trade) provisions for their business. Such understanding has helped his clients improve competitiveness and financial performance by making optimum use of trade and customs laws. Besides advisory, Brian’s practice includes also litigation.

Career

Brian worked both in the industry as a tax director of two major (stock-listed) multinational companies and in private practice as a tax lawyer before joining Bird & Bird in 2009. Brian is a frequent speaker at professional and business courses in the field of export controls and customs compliance. He is an instructor at the International Tax Academy of the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD), where he teaches at the course Principles of Transfer Pricing (Customs Valuation).

Languages

Dutch and English

Memberships

International Bar Association (IBA)
International Fiscal Association (IFA)

Education

Lawschool – University of Amsterdam International Trade & Customs Law – Tax Academy The Hague

Lawyer Rankings

Belgium > Customs, trade, WTO and anti-dumping

Bird & Bird assists industrial manufacturers as well as large multinationals in the TMT sector with a wide range of trade compliance matters, with a particular focus on providing due diligence advice in the context of EU customs and sanctions regimes. Guided by the expertise of competition expert Hein Hobbelen, the team also regularly acts for trade associations as complainants in anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations before the European Commission. Hobbelen co-heads the practice with Hague-based lawyer Brian Mulier, a trade and tax compliance expert who is noted for his advice on export controls.