Noëlle Lenoir focuses her practice on competition law, public business law and economic regulations – both at the national level and at the European level. She also has solid experience in data protection law, covering a wide scope of areas in this respect such as data breach prevention and incident response, government and internal investigations, cross-border data transfer and e-discovery, controllers’ and processors’ liability, global compliance and risk management, privacy policies and EU data counseling, consumer protection and class action litigation defense as well as advertising and internet marketing. She also advises on confidential business information and misappropriation of trade secrets as well as on matters in relation with the blocking statute. She served as French Minister of European Affairs from 2002 to 2004. She was also the first woman and the youngest person ever to have served on the French Constitutional Court and has been a member of the Conseil d’Etat (France’s highest court in administrative and tax matters) since 1984. Assigned by the Prime Minister on a project on Bioethical law (1990-1991), Noelle Lenoir has then chaired the EU Group of Ethics for Science & New Technology (EGE) between 1994 and 2001, as well as, the International Committee on Bioethics of UNESCO, which drafted the Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights Declaration endorsed by the United Nations in 1998. She also taught at University College London (2000) and at the University of Law of Columbia (New York) in 2001. Additionally, she is a member of both the American Law Institute and the French Academy of Technologies. She is on the board of directors of Valeo and of the Compagnie des Alpes. She is also founding chairwoman of the Cercle des Européens, a “Think Tank” which operates as an ideas exchange group on socioeconomic and political stakes with French and European decision makers. She is also on the Board of Directors of the “Société de législation comparée”. Affiliate professor at HEC School, she also presides on the Europe Institute of HEC.
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Introduction On 20 July 2010, the European Commission (“the Commission”) adopted a decision regarding the application of Article 101 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union (“TFEU”) in relation to anticompetitive practices perpetrated on the European market for animal feed (...)
2517
I. Facts The French rail operator SNCF enjoys a legal monopoly on passenger rail transport. However, train tickets themselves are sold through three main distribution channels : SNCF’s physical sales points as well as its merchant website operated by its VSC subsidiary (which altogether account (...)
3785
This is the first time that the French Supreme Administrative Court has had to decide on an application for annulment for refusing to report State measures which may qualify as state aid. The case at stake provided the French Supreme Administrative Court with an opportunity to specify the types (...)
3883
1. Facts and ruling The Régie départementale des passages d’eau de la Vendée (RDPEV) is the provider of a public service : it operates year-round in any weather daily ferry services for passengers, cargo and vehicles between the mainland and l’île d’Yeu. For this purpose, RDPEV uses three vessels : (...)
3044
Facts and Ruling In the present case, the dispute arose between Pacific Creation, a fragrance manufacturer and retailer and PMC Distribution (PMC), a pure player which offers branded products exclusively on the Internet. In France, Pacific Creation‘s fragrances are retailed through a selective (...)
6080
Summary of the decision Following an investigation with dawn raids and seizures initiated further to a leniency application, the French Competition Council has sanctioned a horizontal cartel between twelve companies in the sector of national and international removals to and from France, (...)
8784
French Commercial Supreme Court [Cour de cassation (Chambre commerciale, financière et économique)], 29 June 2007, Bouygues Telecom, Orange, SFR, Cases n° U 07-10.303, Z 07-10.354 and W 07-10.397 Proceedings In its decision of November 25, 2005, the French Competition Council imposed record (...)
6034
Facts and proceedings Garage Gremeau had been entrusted by Daimler Chrysler France with the distribution of Mercedes Benz motor vehicles in the Dijon area (Burgundy) since 1982. On the basis of the new Commission Regulation (EC) n° 1400/2002, of 31 July 2002, on the application of Article (...)
6468
Background and facts Pursuant to Directive 96/92/EC and subsequently Directive 2003/54/EC, all non-household customers (i.e. any natural or legal persons purchasing electricity which is not for their own household use) became eligible customers as of 1st July 2004, meaning that they are free (...)
6558
French Administrative Supreme Court (Conseil d’État, 8ème et 3ème sous-sections réunies), 21 December 2006, SA Auchan France, n°288562 Background and facts Article 23 of Law n° 97-1269 of 30 December 1997 () introduced a tax levied on certain advertising expenses (the Tax). The revenue of the Tax is (...)
2812
Opinion of Advocate General Antonio Tizzano, 30 March 2006 EU Court of Justice, Laboratoires Boiron, Case C-526/04, 7 September 2006 In a preliminary ruling requested by the French Civil Supreme Court in the Boiron case, the ECJ rules that pharmaceutical laboratories liable to a tax on direct (...)
5371
French Supreme Administrative Court (Conseil d’État, 1ère et 6ème sous-sections réunies), 21 June 2006, Confédération paysanne, n° 271450 This case illustrates enforcement by national Courts of EC State aid rules. Pursuant to article 88(3) EC, national courts have jurisdiction to uphold the rights of (...)
6608
Background When an individual makes a call from a landline to a mobile phone, the call is first directed through a landline network until interconnection with the mobile network. Then the landline operator is relayed by the mobile operator which directs the call to the addressee and (...)
7653
Background In a decision dated July 5, 2005 (See J.-P. de la Laurencie et M. Courtaigne-Op, The French Competition Authority fined three French major companies for implementing a cartel in the public passenger urban transport market, with potential appreciable effect on trade between Member (...)
9785
Background SARL SOCOVI, the franchisee, had entered into a franchising agreement with Jean Louis David SA, the franchisor, whereby the latter granted the former the right to run a franchise for the purposes of marketing hairdressing products and services. It included inter alia the right to (...)
7110
Background Law n° 97-1164, of 19 December 1997, on social security funding for 1998 set up a special 2.5 % tax payable only by pharmaceutical laboratories on sales of medicines made directly to pharmacies. Proceeds from the tax were aimed at financing the social security system. However, (...)
5351
In response to the severity of the banking crisis of 2008, certain European Union Member States discussed the relevance of continuing to apply Community legislation on State aid. Ultimately, the European Commission stressed the usefulness of such regulation in the avoidance of damaging (...)
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