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Victor Crochet

Associate

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Overview

Victor Crochet’s practices focus on trade remedies as well as EU and international trade law.

Victor assists governments in WTO proceedings before panels and the Appellate Body or other appeal arrangements. Victor has advised governments on disputes regarding several agreements including the Anti-Dumping Agreement, SCM Agreement, Safeguard Agreement, SPS Agreement, TBT Agreement, GATT 1994, etc.

Victor’s experience also includes advising governments on a variety of trade policy matters. In this regard, Victor often provides legal opinions on measures adopted by the European Union as well as third countries. Victor also regularly advises governments on how to ensure that their domestic measures are in line with international trade rules.

In addition, Victor has provided assistance to companies and governments in two dozen anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and safeguard investigations initiated by the European Commission and by third countries.

Furthermore, Victor has extensive experience in litigating before the Court of Justice of the European Union where he has challenged several anti-dumping and countervailing measures imposed by the European Commission.

Finally, Victor conducts academic research on issues related to subsidies, industrial policies and EU trade policy. Victor also regularly speaks at seminars on these topics.

Prior to joining Van Bael & Bellis, Victor was an intern with the Appellate Body Secretariat of the World Trade Organization in Geneva. Victor also worked as an intern at the World Customs Organization.

Languages

French, English

Education

  • Cambridge University, PhD in Legal Studies, ongoing
  • Georgetown Law Center, LL.M. in International Legal Studies, with distinction, 2016
  • University of Leuven, Master of European and International Law, magna cum laude, 2015
  • Melbourne Law School, Erasmus Exchange Programme, 2014
  • University of Brussels (ULB), Bachelor of Law, cum laude, 2012

Publications


Articles and Books

The EU Anti-Coercion Proposal: Legitimate Trade Instrument or Hidden ‘Economic’ Sanctions?, EU Law Live (2022);

Trade Defence Instruments: A New Tool for the European Union’s Extractivism, European Journal of International Law (forthcoming);

Fascicule: Dumping en droit de l’Union Européenne, in ‘Juris Classeur Encyclopédie : Europe Traité’ (Lexis Nexis, 2021) ;

ELSA John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition on WTO law, case author (2021-2022);

Lawful Remedy or Illegal Response? Resolving the Issue of Foreign Subsidization Under WTO Law, World Trade Review (2021);

China’s ‘Going Global’ policy: Transnational subsidies under the WTO SCM Agreement, Journal of International Economic Law (2020) awarded the Society of International Economic Law, Journal of International Economic Law, Oxford University Press Prize 2020;

At the crossroads of trade and environment: The growing influence of environmental policy on EU trade law, in A. Orsini & E. Kavvatha, ‘EU Environmental Governance: Current and Future Challenges’ (Routledge, 2020);

Contributor to Van Bael & Bellis, EU Anti-Dumping and Other Trade Defence Instruments (Kluwer, 2019).


Blog posts:

The Imitation Game: Recent Developments on Transnational Subsidies and Anti-circumvention in Europe and the United States, International Economic Law and Policy Blog, 16 March 2022;

CBAM enters with a BANG: the European Commission puts forth its carbon border adjustment mechanism proposal, International Economic Law and Policy Blog, 14 July 2021;

Trade defence as extractivist policy tools? A closer look at the European Union’s practice, WTO-Boutery, 6 May 2021;

European Commission puts forth legislative proposal to tackle “foreign subsidies”, International Economic Law and Policy Blog, 5 May 2021;

The European Commission attempts to rein in BRI subsidies, International Economic Law and Policy Blog, 16 June 2020;

Chinese Financial Contributions to Producers Abroad: A Subsidy? Looks, Quacks, But Probably Isn't, International Economic Law and Policy Blog, 11 November 2019.

Bar Admission

Brussels

Expertise

Publications and insights

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    • 12/07/2022
    • News

    VBB proudly sponsors ELSA Moot Court Competition on WTO Law

    Van Bael & Bellis, a leading international trade law firm with offices in Brussels, London and Geneva, is the main sponsor of the John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition on WTO Law organised by the European Law Students’ Association (ELSA). This year, for its 20th edition, Van Bael & Bellis partner and head of the Geneva office, Clotilde du Parc; partner, Isabelle Van Damme; senior associate, Tetyana Payosova; and associate, Victor Crochet, acted as panelists in the final rounds of the competition. In addition, Victor Crochet, co-authored this year’s case and served, together with Isabelle Van Damme, as one of the judges in the Grand Final. The John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition is a student-organised competition designed to enhance participants’ knowledge of international trade law and WTO dispute settlement procedures. From February to May 2022, 71 universities and more than 200 students from all over the world participated in six regional rounds. After months of competition, the best 25 teams advanced to the Final Oral Round that took place at WTO Headquarters in Geneva (Switzerland) from 28 June to 2 July 2022. Congratulations to the University of Zurich for winning the competition, and to Katholieke Universiteit Leuven for being the runner-up!

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    • 09/12/2021
    • Articles

    The Commission Publishes Regulation to Counter Economic Coercion

    On 8 December 2020, the European Commission (“Commission”) published its proposal for a Regulation on the protection of the EU and its Member States from economic coercion by third countries (“proposed Anti-coercion Regulation”).[1] The proposal aims to deter third countries from pressuring the EU or a Member State through trade or investment-related measures by empowering the Commission to strike back with a wide range of countermeasures. This Client Alert provides a first glance at the proposal and offers some initial comments.

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    • 28/06/2021
    • Articles

    The EU’s upcoming sustainable corporate governance rules: What can businesses expect?

    The growing political focus on the protection of the environment, human rights and labour rights may soon translate into additional obligations on companies in order to ensure the respect of such societal values throughout their entire supply chains. The European Commission (“Commission”) is likely to publish a legislative initiative on sustainable corporate governance,1 which would set out rules that require companies to address adverse sustainability impacts within their operations and international value chains. The Commission is also contemplating regulating the remuneration of corporate directors and enforcing them to integrate stakeholders’ interests and corporate sustainability risks into the implementation of the corporate strategy. This client alert sets out what businesses can expect from the upcoming sustainable corporate governance initiative and its potential impacts on company operations and value chains. In section 1, we explain what the sustainable corporate governance initiative is before turning to the rules that the Commission is considering in section 2. Finally, in section 3, we briefly discuss the effects that these rules might have on businesses.

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