This summer I am interning at Laffineur Law Firm in Brussels. As Brussels is the headquarters for the European Union, Laffineur is consistently dealing with many cases that involve EU regulations and directives. Recently, the European Commission issued a directive regarding a certain chemical that has been disallowed to be used within the EU. A client of Laffineur was inquiring as to whether their firm would be affected by the EU directive and I was given the task to decipher the directive for possible inconsistencies. Laffineur is an EU lobbying firm and they have been communicating back and forth recommending possible amendments for the directive. Many of the amendments were accepted but I was responsible for pointing out to the client which items that the new legislation did not accept, and items that were added.
In addition, my internship partner and I are working on a presentation for Mr. Laffineur as he has been invited to speak at the AIDV (International Wine Law Association). Our presentation will heavily focus on the conflict surrounding the 2001 WTO trade negotiations, also called the Doha Development Rounds concerning geographical indicators (an issue which has not been settled and is still debated). Many EU countries want generic terms that are used on wine bottles in the US, like champagne, to be "claw backed," so that US wine firms cannot put the name champagne on the bottle unless it comes from Champagne, France, for example.
Overall, I feel my internship is a great fit for me. I am doing a lot of reading and learning extensively about EU law and how European firms and businesses operate within the spectrum of EU law.
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