Jasper Wauters
Biography
Overview
Jasper M. Wauters is a litigator who leads the Geneva office's international trade and regulatory practice at White & Case.
Jasper frequently represents sovereign and private clients in international dispute settlement proceedings, including in international arbitration and State-to-State WTO disputes. He builds on more than twenty years of professional experience in international dispute settlement, both in private practice and as a member of the WTO Secretariat, in which capacity he served as a Legal Affairs Officer advising dispute settlement panels on the resolution of legal claims in over a dozen of international disputes.
Jasper also advises leading industry players in a broad range of business sectors on regulatory matters in relation to consumer goods, including technical standards, product safety and labelling. He counsels clients on all issues related to environmental compliance including before the European Court of Justice and provides guidance on the regulatory and enforcement frameworks for emerging technologies and novel products.
Sports-related clients have benefited from Jasper's advice navigating internal regulations of international sports federations based in Switzerland and on matters related to EU law. Jasper's sports law practice includes advising a major international sports federation on setting up an internal dispute resolution mechanism and counselling clients on broadcasting rights and potential liabilities resulting from domestic advertising regulations. Jasper was recently appointed as an arbitrator at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) confirming his "recognized competence with regard to sports law."
Jasper previously practiced as a lawyer in a major Brussels-based law firm, where he advised clients conducting business in the European Union on matters relating to European competition law, EU public and regulatory law and intellectual property law.
Jasper's expertise is recognized through his listing as a "Leading Individual" in Legal 500, and as a Band 1 practitioner in Chambers Global 2020. In addition, Who's Who Legal made Mr. Wauters their "most highly regarded individual" of the Geneva trade bar stating also that Jasper Wauters is known as a "fierce litigator" with one prominent peer stating, "He is at the top of his game; I have only experienced and heard excellent things about him."
Experience
Jasper's recent experience includes:
Representing a government as complainant in a WTO dispute relating to the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures ("SCM Agreement") and the Anti-Dumping Agreement relating to certain steel products and large power transformers;
Advising a government body for Trade Remedy Investigations in various proceedings, including the investigation procedures, requirements for such proceedings under the WTO's Antidumping Agreement, and the preparation of determination reports for multiple investigations;
Representing a government as complainant in a WTO dispute relating to the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994);
Representing a government as a complainant in a WTO dispute under the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement concerning an anti-dumping measure and related sunset review on film products;
Representing a government as complainant in a WTO dispute relating to the WTO Agreement on Safeguards and the GATT 1994 on large residential washers;
Advising a manufacturing company in the preparation of legal opinions under public international law and providing advice on possible investor-State claims in various jurisdictions worldwide;
Advising a manufacturing company on matters of EU law relating to the technical regulations and the classification of products under various EU Directives;
Representing a company before the European Court of Justice in a dispute related to environmental law and the Aarhus Convention;
Advising a major sports federation on matters of corporate governance and reform, preparing textual proposals for reform;
Advising on the applicable rules and regulations including on intellectual property over data of major sports federations in the context of a SPAC investment in sports;
Representing a government as a respondent in a WTO dispute related to the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement challenging an anti-dumping measure and related sunset review on certain steel products;
Advising a government client on trade policy matters, including on trade negotiations at the WTO on issues such as e-commerce and fisheries subsidies as well as investment facilitation;
Advising a government body on matters of public international law on state responsibility and in the context of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties;
Representing a government as respondent in a dispute related to the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement challenging an anti-dumping measure imposed by the government on certain pneumatic valves;
Representing various producers of chemicals, petrochemicals, steel and aluminium products as respondents or petitioner in anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations in the EU, India, the United States, and the GCC;
Representing a government as a respondent in a dispute related to the GATT 1994, the Agreement on Customs Valuation and the Freedom of Transit in the context of measures taken to address illicit trade and money-laundering;
Advising the Chief Negotiator in the context of comprehensive FTA negotiations;
Advising a major company on its sponsorship contract related to Formula 1 and related issues under broadcasting laws in various jurisdictions; and
Advising a company on a major sponsorship contract with a Premier League football club.
August 28, Seoul (South Korea): Jasper Wauters (Geneva) moderated a panel discussion among leading academics from among others Columbia law school, Harvard Law School and Georgetown on the future of WTO dispute settlement as part of the WTO Dispute Settlement Symposium hosted and organized by the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korean Society of International Economic Law (KSIEL)
June 28, Florence (Italy): Jasper Wauters (Geneva) spoke at the workshop on "WTO dispute adjudications at crossroads: Lessons learned and future perspectives" hosted and organized by the European University Institute (EUI) on "National Security Concerns and Article XXI"
August 31, Seoul (South Korea): Jasper Wauters (Geneva) spoke at the WTO Dispute Settlement Symposium hosted and organized by the Korean Society of International Economic Law (KSIEL) on "National Security Concerns and Article XXI"
Sport before the European Court of Justice – three decisions upholding the primacy of EU law also in the organization of sport, 28 December 2023 (co-author with James Killick)
AG opinion sides with UEFA in the Super League case, December 2022 (co-author with James Killick and Nina Frie)
Financial Fairness, Formula-1 and Football, June 2022 (author)
Politics at the Court of Arbitration for Sport – the case of the Iranian Judo Federation, June 2021 (author)
EU General Court delivers ruling on the application of EU competition law to sports authorization rules and upholds the role of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, December 2020 (co-author with Dr. Tilman Kuhn, Alexandra Rogers and Dr. Mathis Rust)
COVID-19 and Cancellations of Sports Events: A Story of Force Majeure and the Search for Compensation, April 2020 (co-author with Alexandre Mazuranic and Mike Han)
The FIFA reform package on football agents: ready for regulation or looking for litigation?, March 2020 (co-author with George Papaconstantinou)
CAS Sun Yang v Wada, March 2020 (co-author with Alexandre Mazuranic and Mike Han)
US Compliance with WTO Rulings on Zeroing in Anti-Dumping, World Trade Review, January 2011 (co-author with Bernard Hoekman)
China - Measures Affecting Imports of Automobile Parts, World Trade Review, January 2010 (co-author with Hylke Vandenbussche)
United States - Laws, Regulations and Methodology for Calculating Dumping Margins (Zeroing), World Trade Review, January 2009
United States - Sunset Reviews of Anti-Dumping Measures on Oil Country Tubular Goods from Argentina: a cloudy sunset, World Trade Review, January 2008 (co-author with Gene M. Grossman)
United States – Anti-Dumping Measures on Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) from Mexico: a legal-economic assessment of sunset reviews, World Trade Review, January 2008 (co-author with Chad P. Brown)
The Law and Economics of Contingent Protection in the WTO, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008. (co-author with Petros C. Mavroids and Patrick A. Messerin)
The Safeguards Agreement - An Overview, The Law and Economics of Contingent Protection in the WTO, Cambridge University Press
Legal 500 2020 (Leading Individual)
Chambers Global 2020 (Band 1)
Who's Who Legal 2020 (Trade & Customs, Thought Leader)
