In Germany, WilmerHale is among the leading firms providing public commercial law counsel to companies in strongly regulated industries such as energy, aviation and telecommunications. At the same time, we assist companies from other industries in all issues of public commercial law and in dealing with authorities and litigation. Our competence ranges from issues under European law to data protection law to public construction and planning law.

In public procurement law, we provide support to:

• Bidders submitting tenders for public contracts
• Public-sector clients in designing their tendering procedures and in drawing up internal award guidelines

In disputes, we represent our clients in award review procedures before the chamber for public procurement and before the courts.

Environmental and waste law presents clients that are purchasing other companies with some of the largest risks under public law. Together with our transaction teams, our specialists in environment and waste law help to assess these risks and subsequently to prevent them. Our lawyers:

• Advise energy sector clients on emission trade issues.
• Provide counsel to retailers conforming to the legal obligation to take back packaging materials and electrical and electronic devices, and cooperating in the design of collective return systems such as the "beverage container deposit” and the implementation of the EU Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive and EU End of Life Vehicles Directive.

A central component of our Public Commercial law services is European law. In this area we:

• Support clients in asserting their interests in the European legislative processes
• Advise clients in conjunction with the implementation of requirements of European law into national law
• With business experts and technical advisors, advise European institutions such as the European Commission in processing its legislative proposals for the creation of a Single European sky.
• Represent clients before the European courts

In international commercial law and international trade policy, our lawyers in Washington, Berlin and Brussels provide support to companies, associations and governments in removing trade barriers in export markets and other issues of trade policy.