Oliver Geiss focuses his practice on competition law in the European Union and Germany. He is listed in European Legal Experts 2010 for his EU and competition expertise.

Oliver regularly advises clients on antitrust notification of cross-border transactions with the European Commission, the German Federal Cartel Office and other competition authorities throughout Europe in a variety of industry sectors including chemicals, energy, fast-moving consumer goods, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications. In recent years, he has been involved in both leniency applications and defense submissions in some of the largest EU cartel investigations. Oliver also advises clients on competition law aspects of commercial agreements such as distribution agreements for joint buying or selling arrangements and European state aid law.

Oliver frequently represents clients before the European Courts in Luxembourg.

Representative Experience

• Representing clients in five major cartel investigations before the European Commission.
• Assisting with mergers including securing EC merger approval of a US$3.2 billion merger between two major chemical companies, securing EC merger approval in a power generation joint venture, and securing multicountry approvals of mergers in the pharmaceuticals market research and medical devices sectors.
• Representing a major US-based petrochemical corporation and a beverage manufacturer from the new EU Member States in state aid proceedings before the European Court of Justice.
• Counseling a major US-based manufacturer of electrical and electronics products and provider of financial services in relation to a state aid investigation conducted by the EU Commission and preparing an appeal to the Court of First Instance on the event of an adverse decision following the investigation. The matter concerned the client's purchase of a bank in the Czech Republic, which the Commission claimed had been in receipt of state aid pre-accession.
• Representing an incumbent energy company on competition law aspects of price regulation before the European Commission.