Vera advises German and international companies on all aspects of public and regulatory law, especially in areas relating to environmental law, product compliance, foreign trade law/trade sanctions, data protection, social security law, public duties and levies, administrative procedural law and litigation, compliance and internal investigations.
Her most recent environmental and product compliance matters include advising an international chemical company on the remediation of several, large-scale instances of soil and groundwater pollution (since 2017), advising a middle-market building materials manufacturer on aspects of waste management and soil protection law with regard to a complex case of PFC contamination of soil and surface waters (2019) and advising an international automotive supplier on product and environmental compliance issues (2017).
In matters relating to foreign trade law, Vera has advised a middle-market machine manufacturer on exports to Iran as well as on the EU Blocking Regulation and its application on US secondary sanctions imposed on Iran (2020), a financial services provider on an account closure of an Iranian customer as well as on the EU Blocking Regulation (2019), an international machine manufacturer on export control compliance and sanctions imposed on Russia (2019), other global players on sanctions imposed on Russia and Iran (ongoing), an international automotive supplier (2019) and a service provider (2020) on notification requirements under foreign trade law and the voluntary disclosure for violating such requirements as well as an international automotive supplier on an external audit conducted under export control law by the German Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (2019). Furthermore, Vera has many years of experience in investment control procedures and, most recently for instance, she advised an international manufacturer of fibre-glass networks in a procedure initiated ex officio (2019) as well as an international provider of cyber security software in a sector-specific investment control procedure involving the negotiation of a security arrangement (2019/2020).
As regards data protection law, Vera has considerable expertise in advising international clients on non-European data transfers, on data protection in M&A transactions, merger control procedures and internal investigations, as well as on data protection breaches and regulatory data protection proceedings. Recently, she has advised numerous international companies on extensive projects regarding the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (since 2016), a Swiss financial services provider on the applicability of the GDPR on Swiss business operations as well as on joint control (2019), an international automotive supplier on its duties to keep records and to erase data as well as on an approach to erasing data (2020), various listed companies on shareholder data protection rights, particularly in the lead-up to and during general meetings (2019/2020), a real estate investor on the change of the asset/property manager (2020) and a health care provider on data protection aspects that intersect with medicinal products law, including clinical trials. In company transactions, Vera has provided assistance to an insurance group regarding the separation of data in the course of the sale of a subsidiary (2018/2019), an energy company regarding data transfers to the acquirer and to the European Commission in the context of a merger control procedure and regarding the separation of data from the parent company (2018/2019), a credit institution on data transfers in anticipation of a merger of a subsidiary to the parent company (2020) and an investor regarding a comprehensive due diligence under data protection law, in particular on data protection relating to the product (privacy by design) in the field of automated driving (2019/2020).
Her matters in compliance and internal investigations include in particular advising a media company (since 2014), a private hospital operator (2014-2016), a provider of engineering services (2019) and an insurance group (since 2019) on internal investigations into the social security status of a considerable number of freelancers ('false self-employment'), including proceedings conducted by public authorities and public prosecutors’ offices, and advising an international supplier of engineering services with regard to a World Bank investigation into corruption and bidding fraud in connection with a World Bank-financed construction project in Africa (2015). In many of the internal investigations performed by Hengeler Mueller, Vera advises on intersecting aspects of data protection law, such as the permissibility of data screenings, information duties, the handling of private data, the transferring of data to authorities and parties to disputes.
