Public Commercial Law

Legal certainty for businesses and the public sector

From environmental regulations and public procurement to product regulation, granting subsidies and public approvals of all kinds, public commercial law poses complex challenges for companies and authorities alike.

Drawing on our extensive expertise in environmental and planning law, public procurement law, subsidy and EU state aid law, and energy law, as well as our experience with large infrastructure projects and public-private partnerships, we provide private and public companies, local authorities, and public bodies with advice and support to help them meet legal requirements and ensure the legal compliance of their activities and tasks in this area.

Our expert team provides bespoke legal advice on all major aspects of public commercial law and its various connections to EU law. We also provide advice on public sector compliance and data protection.

Consulting services in detail

Environmental law

Plant approvals and compliance

Comprehensive advice on environmental law, advice and representation before authorities in approval and monitoring procedures under the German Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG), circular economy and waste law, water law and other legal regimes
Support with change approvals and notifications as well as in appeal and court proceedings
Review of approval status and compliance with environmental regulations
Environmental due diligence reviews for company acquisitions and transactions
Support with drafting contracts for company acquisitions

Waste management, circular economy law

Advice on regulatory law under the German Circular Economy Act (KrWG), product-related national and European circular economy law (German Packaging Act, EU Battery Directive, etc.) and relevant national regulations
Drafting of waste disposal contracts, support for public waste disposal authorities and bidders in public procurement and waste management privatisation procedures
Support for manufacturers, take-back systems and waste disposal companies in the registration, take-back and recycling of packaging, electrical/electronic equipment, batteries and other recyclable waste
Integrated legal consulting for the waste disposal industry in cooperation with experts in corporate law, M&A, contract law, industrial property law, tax and external technical consultants

Contaminated sites and soil protection law

Legal advice on remediation obligations and liability issues in relation to harmful soil contamination and contaminated sites
Support in drafting property and company purchase agreements (liability clauses and exclusions for soil contamination) and public law remediation agreements
Representation before authorities and in court

Chemicals and hazardous substances law, product law

Legal advice on compliance with chemical law obligations under REACH and CLP as well as under national chemical law
Representation in chemical law administrative proceedings before the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and national enforcement authorities
SIEF management
Representation in liability proceedings and in taking action against competitors' violations of chemical law (competition law)
Advice on specific substance and product law, e.g. RoHS
Support in ensuring material compliance in (international) supply chains

Public procurement law (public tenders) and subsidy law

Public procurement law (public tenders)

Comprehensive legal support for public contracting authorities, sectoral contracting authorities and concession grantors in procurement procedures, including advice on choosing the right procurement procedure and preparing tender documents
Clarification of whether contracts require tendering, in particular when applying exemption provisions and in cases of so-called in-house procurement and the associated corporate law aspects
Clarification of the tendering requirements for contract changes
Support for bidders in public tenders (review of tender documents, assistance with bid preparation, preparation of complaints)
Representation in review proceedings, including preliminary ruling proceedings before the European Court of Justice
Comprehensive advice on privatisations, public-private partnerships and public-public cooperations (procurement law, municipal law, company law, employment law, etc.)
Support in corporate transactions with implications for public contracts
Procurement law training for employees of public contracting authorities and bidding companies

Subsidy law and public funding

Comprehensive legal advice and representation in matters of German and European state aid law
Support for subsidy recipients with tendering obligations arising from subsidy notices or agreements
Expert guidance on subsidy law issues in the context of company acquisitions

Public construction and planning law, real estate projects

Advising project developers and investors on approval law, planning law and building law; assistance in obtaining building rights
Clarification of building law approval issues in property and corporate transactions
Legal drafting and review of development plans and technical plans

Advice and representation in matters relating to monument protection and renovation law, as well as social preservation ordinances and misuse of property
Advice on contaminated sites and harmful soil changes, including representation in official remediation proceedings
Drafting and negotiation of urban development contracts

Renewable energy and contracting

Investment structuring and property law contracts under infrastructure law and energy law; implementation of grid connection solutions
Drafting and negotiation of project contracts (supply, general contractor, operation and maintenance contracts)
Advice and representation in environmental law, energy law, planning and building law matters for renewable energy projects
Clarification and enforcement of connection and remuneration claims under the German Renewable Energy Act (EEG) and Combined Heat and Power Act (KWKG)
Structuring, financing and implementation of energy contracting projects
Advice on acquisition, sale and due diligence of clean tech, energy efficiency and energy storage

We have experience with

Photovoltaic projects
Solar thermal projects
Wind power projects
Biomass projects
Biogas projects

We are happy to provide an anonymised list of references on request.

Chemicals and hazardous substances law and product law

Advice on compliance with REACH, CLP and national chemicals laws
Representation in proceedings before the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and national enforcement authorities
SIEF management

Representation in liability proceedings and in taking action against competitors' violations of chemical law (competition law)
Advice on specific substance and product legislation (e.g. RoHS)
Support in ensuring material compliance in (international) supply chains

EU state aid law

Advising companies and public authorities on issues relating to the applicability and scope of the EU prohibition on state aid and on the admissibility of aid, including the application of sector-specific special rules and advice on ‘atypical’ cases (e.g. on groups of public companies)
Advising on the initiation and contractual structuring of service relationships, privatisations, public-private partnerships, remunicipalisations and other (corporate) transactions in compliance with EU state aid law – where necessary, with the involvement of our in-house auditors

Advice on rescue and restructuring aid
Advice on EU state aid issues in M&A transactions (due diligence)
Legal support in notification procedures before the European Commission
Representation in annulment proceedings before the General Court of the European Union and the European Court of Justice
Representation in civil proceedings driven by EU state aid law, such as injunctive relief proceedings
Representation in EU state aid law appeal proceedings before the European Commission

Other areas of public commercial law

Advice and representation in commercial administrative law matters, in particular trade law, concessions and operating licences matters
Advice on municipal commercial law and public levies
Advice on data protection in the public sector in accordance with the GDPR and the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG)

Structuring and advising on publicly and privately owned art and cultural assets, in particular on restitution, auctions, export, cultural property protection and aspects of foundation law
Representation in matters of European and German commercial administrative law

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Rankings and awards

JUVE Guide 2025/2026

The JUVE Guide lists ESCHE as one of the leading law firms in Northern Germany with Dr Jan Boris Ingerowski and Dr Martin Dieckmann among the most frequently recommended lawyers in the field of environmental and planning law.

Handelsblatt / Best Lawyers 2025

Both Handelsblatt and Best Lawyers rank ESCHE's public commercial law and environmental law practice groups as one of the leading law firms in Germany in the Hamburg metropolitan area.

JUVE Guide 2024/2025

The JUVE Guide lists ESCHE as one of the leading law firms in Northern Germany. Dr Jan Christian Eggers is mentioned in particular, having once again been named one of the ‘Top 50 minds in EU state aid law’.

brand eins 2024

brand eins once again recognises ESCHE as one of Germany's best commercial law firms.

WirtschaftsWoche 2023

This year again, WirtschaftsWoche lists ESCHE as one of Germany's "leading law firms 2023" in the field of public procurement law. Dr Martin Dieckmann is recognised as one of the most renowned public procurement lawyers.

Our areas of expertise

Tax Consultancy

Auditing Services

Integrated Consulting