White & Case LLP - Lawyers - Thomas Tindemans

Practice Experience

Mr. Tindemans heads the Public Affairs group and concentrates in European Union policy advice. He advises corporate, government and NGO clients on legislative procedures and political developments in the EU institutions – the Council, the Commission, the European Parliament, the government and administration in the Member States.

He assists clients in establishing their public and corporate affairs strategies, including the drafting of legislative proposals, position papers and amendments to draft legislation, and has been instrumental in forging coalitions to carry majorities on these issues. This work includes the establishment of contacts with Commission officials, Council representatives and MEPs. He speaks frequently at major conferences and has published articles and interviews in major European newspapers.

Below are some examples of Mr. Tindemans' recent work.

Advising a grouping of leading accounting firms on the new EU legislation governing the auditing profession. We analysed the legal consequences of the proposal, and assisted our clients in contacting European Parliament members to explain how the measures would affect the profession and whether they would work in practice. We also helped the firms to draft suggested amendments to some provisions, all of which were accepted by the Parliament and form part of the adopted legislation. We are now following the implementation of the new legislation by the EU Member States.
Preparing a briefing paper explaining the historical and economic background to the granting of State aid to the Czech bank sector during its privatisation in the 1990s, for submission to Commission and Council officials. The Commission subsequently cleared the aid as lawful under the EC Treaty.
Persuading the European Parliament's Petitions Committee to take up the cause of a group of Lloyd's "Names" who were ruined financially during the 1980s owing to the UK's failure to implement the EU Insurance Directives correctly. This matter is ongoing.
Advice to a leading multinational retailer on a number of issues, including lobbying on frontloading of Euro-coins for retailers when the Euro became legal currency, the EU legal aspects of putting electronic tags on goods sold in supermarkets and proposed legislation discriminating against non-national supermarket chains in Poland, Slovakia and the Canary Islands.
Advising a computer software multinational on strategic economic and policy developments in the area of intellectual property, innovation and R&D, interoperability, public procurement and open source software. We worked with the company on a strategic public affairs outreach campaign to highlight the risk that a proposed directive on computer-implemented inventions would undermine intellectual property protection. The measure failed to win sufficient support to become law.
Assisting a major Japanese vehicle manufacturer to respond to the requirements of the Directives on End of Life Vehicles, Vehicle Emissions and Fuel Quality.
During the adoption of the Directives on electronic waste ("WEEE") and on restrictions on the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment ("RoHS"), lobbying all the EU's Institutions on behalf of a Japanese business organisation and its members, and ensuring that amendments of importance for our clients were included in the adopted legislation. We are now advising the organisation on the national implementation of the measures, and on the REACH proposal for legislation to control hazardous chemicals. We are advising a number of other US and Asian firms on these environmental measures.
Assisting a household name in cosmetics to launch a new tooth whitening product in Europe.
Lobbying successfully on behalf of members of the media content-providing industry regarding the recent EU measures on conditional access, content in electronic commerce, copyright and related rights on the Internet and counterfeiting and piracy.
For an organisation which represents victims and their heirs, we were instrumental in organising a hearing in the European Parliament on the legal problems resulting from the difficulty of establishing title to art works looted by the Nazis during the Second World War.

Providing PA support to pharmaceuticals sector clients on matters including the EU's new medicines legislation package and EU enlargement, and the implementation of EU pharma-related measures in the new Member States, particularly with regard to pricing and reimbursement.

Mr. Tindemans is a guest lecturer on EU lobbying at the TiasNimbas Business School, Tilburg University, the Netherlands.

Education
Cand. droit, Namur University, 1983

Languages
Dutch
English
French
German

Citizenship
Belgium