A member of the Venice Bar and the Brussels Bar, Massimo Moretto has devoted his entire career to European Union law, competition law, EU litigation, and international trade law. Over more than thirty years of practice, he has developed a depth of knowledge and a breadth of courtroom experience that few practitioners in this field can match.
His practice covers the principal areas of EU law: competition law in all its dimensions — antitrust, cartels, anti-competitive agreements and concerted practices, leniency programmes, merger control, abuse of dominant position, State aid, distribution agreements, vertical restraints, and private enforcement actions; customs law, including tariff classification, repayment and remission of duties, and tariff quotas; economic sanctions, individual restrictive measures and embargoes; anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and safeguard measures; public procurement; and food law and health regulation, encompassing the free movement of foodstuffs, labelling, traceability, sanitary controls, market support measures, animal by-products, and fertilisers.
Massimo regularly appears before the Court of Justice and the General Court of the European Union, as well as before EU institutions and bodies, including the European Commission and the Council of the European Union. He also represents clients before Italian regulatory authorities — among them the Italian Competition Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato) and the Italian Customs Agency — and before the Italian courts, including at the highest level: the Court of Cassation and the Council of State.
Massimo has a long track record in EU litigation. Over the course of his career he has acted as counsel in a considerable number of cases before the Court of Justice and the General Court of the European Union, across virtually every area of EU law. A full list of those proceedings is available on the Court of Justice website: curia.europa.eu
In competition law and antitrust, Massimo has an established reputation both as a litigator and as an adviser. He has represented clients in complex proceedings — including investigations initiated following unannounced inspections (dawn raids) — for suspected cartel conduct, whether triggered by a competitor’s or customer’s complaint or by a leniency application filed by a co-cartelist. His involvement covers every stage of such proceedings: responding to requests for information, submitting written observations, attending oral hearings following a statement of objections, and challenging decisions before the competent EU (General Court and Court of Justice of the EU) or national courts (TAR Lazio and Council of State) seeking annulment of the decision or a reduction of any fine imposed.
His most significant competition law cases — covering cartels, fines for prohibited agreements, mitigating circumstances, gravity and duration of infringements, freight transport aid, and State aid to the steel sector — are listed on the Court of Justice website: curia.europa.eu
Massimo also advises on the competition law aspects of M&A transactions. He assists clients in determining whether a proposed acquisition, merger, or the creation of a joint venture triggers mandatory prior notification obligations at EU and/or national level and, where required, manages the filing process before the European Commission, the AGCM, AGCOM, or the Autorité belge de la Concurrence.
He has acted as counsel in antitrust and merger control proceedings across a range of economic sectors, including reinforcing steel bar, beer, electronic cash registers and point-of-sale terminals, integrated electric axles (e-axles) for electric vehicles, waste management, transport, management of cultural sites, pension funds, banking, financial services and securities brokerage, life insurance, leasing, and commercial banking.
Massimo has developed specific expertise in EU economic sanctions and individual restrictive measures adopted under the Common Foreign and Security Policy. He represents and defends individuals and entities subject to Council restrictive measures before the General Court and the Court of Justice. Among the cases he has handled in this area, he was part of the team that obtained the annulment by the General Court of restrictive measures imposed against a former Formula 1 driver, having also secured the suspension of those measures on an interim basis on several occasions. A list of cases handled in this area is available on the Court of Justice website: curia.europa.eu
In customs and international trade law, Massimo advises on tariff classification of goods in the Combined Nomenclature, the interpretation of relevant headings and subheadings, the application of preferential and non-preferential origin rules, repayment and remission of customs duties, tariff quotas, customs valuation, and binding tariff information.
In addition to his EU practice, Massimo has developed a specific area of expertise advising Italian companies with operations in Belgium, where he is based. He assists and represents such clients across a range of Belgian law matters — in particular commercial and corporate law, commercial real estate, food law, and public procurement — providing the cross-border counsel that businesses operating between Italy and Belgium consistently require.
