Challenge

Alber & Geiger was able to bring out the extraterritorial reach of EU human rights. This was against the backdrop of its clients having lost all available domestic remedies. The Former Minister of Economic Development of Azerbaijan and his brother were arrested on the eve of the Azerbaijani election. Initially accused of attempting a putsch, they were ultimately found liable for embezzlement. The European Court of Human Rights had held that the several of their rights had been infringed, especially the right to a fair trial. Nevertheless the Aliyevs remained imprisoned under their disproportionate and potentially wrongful sentences.

Strategy

Alber & Geiger’s strategy utilized the EU-Azerbaijan trade talks to leverage the EU institutional playmakers at opportune moments. Our litigious narrative extracted the EU’s human rights obligations underlying the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP), and demonstrated the innocence of the Aliyev’s.

Simultaneously we drew on the Aliyev’s pro-western views, showing through adversarial fact finding that this underlay their imprisonment. Substantively, we put forward that it was incumbent on the Azerbaijani authorities under these circumstances to show their commitment to the rule of law. In order to benefit from the ENP they had to play by its rules.

Results

Ultimately we secured a complete pardon for both of the Aliyevs. However, the broader reach of this mandate was the raising of awareness regarding human rights issues in Azerbaijan. This put the EU-Azerbaijani relationship on a trajectory of greater trust. The sensitive political dynamics were tackled head on and resolved with expedience.

Challenge

The EU had banned the pesticide Mancozeb as part of its Green Deal strategy. The ban on Mancozeb triggered a Maximum Residue Level (MRLs) review of the EU for imported bananas treated with Mancozeb, which could negatively affect the banana trade into the European Union. It was against this background that the leading banana companies including Dole, Delmonte and Chiquita reached out to Alber & Geiger, to provide regulatory and political support around MRLs in bananas.

Strategy

We were able – in a short period of time – to devise a strategy that put the spotlight on the necessity of Mancozeb and lack of efficient alternatives. We also helped put together evidence on the safety of the continued use of Mancozeb in bananas owing to the characteristics of bananas, and no associated dietary and health risks. Finally, our team brought to the attention of decision-makers trade and development arguments that emphasized further the importance of a balanced decision.

Results

The Rapporteur Member State Greece carried out an assessment of Mancozeb in bananas and proposed a Maximum Residue Level in line with the international standard under CODEX-CXL. In addition, we were able to garner support for our arguments and the preservation of the international standard for the use of Mancozeb in bananas with relevant lawmakers in the European Parliament, and key decision makers in the member states and European Commission departments.

Challenge

Within a climate of instigated political fear in the USA for China’s corporations, Huawei was starting to have a credibility problem in the EU, despite adherence to EU standards and a strong commitment to Europe. Huawei’s reputation and thus business development being at risk over its products’ cyber security concerns, Alber & Geiger was called to mitigate these concerns and build support in Europe.

A major focus was the 5G rollout under the EU toolbox in several European member states. The respective European cybersecurity strategy conflicted with the bilateral corporation agreement several EU member states had signed with the United States on cybersecurity, especially targeting Chinese suppliers like Huawei.

Strategy

Alber & Geiger targeted key Members of the European Parliament in all relevant committees and across the political spectrum, to emphasize Huawei’s commitment to Europe, adherence to EU standards and contribution to the European economy through leading products and services, jobs creation and investments in research and development. In that context we established an alternate strategy with the European Commission and related EU agencies to show that Huawei is fully integrated in the EU market and successful for business reasons only.

Results

Our engagement demonstrated to EU law makers that there was no Chinese government involvement in Huawei’s business strategies, let alone any cyber security issue with Huawei’s devices. By doing so, we advanced Huawei’s business interests in Europe.