Francesca Biebuyck
Senior Associate
Francesca Biebuyck is a lawyer part of the Commercial Contracts and Litigation Practice Group, and practices in all areas of commercial law. She is primarily active in distribution law, commercial contracts, market practices and consumer law. She also advises on intellectual property matters (including trademarks and copyright), advertising (including green claims), e-commerce, data protection and privacy law.
Francesca advises a range of Belgian and international companies, as well as regulators and public organisations, with particular experience in the transportation, retail, food and energy sectors.
She assists clients with advisory work and regularly represents companies in (pre-)litigation phases. Her expertise covers negotiations, mediations and proceedings before Belgian courts, as well as expert appraisals. She also has experience working on cases pleaded before the Court of Justice of the EU.
While at Liedekerke, Francesca has been seconded to two large Belgian companies in 2022 and 2023. As part of the in-house legal team, she supported the drafting and negotiation of complex commercial contracts and handled dispute resolution cases.
Francesca is a graduate of King’s College London (LL.M, 2017), Catholic University of Louvain (UCL, 2014) and Saint Louis University (LL.B, 2012).
Francesca was admitted to the Brussels Bar in 2015 and joined Liedekerke in 2018.
Francesca is part of Liedekerke's ESG Advisory Team.
Contact
Studies
King’s College London (LL.M. degree in International Business Law) 2017
Catholic University of Louvain (Master's degree in Law) 2014
Saint-Louis University (Bachelor’s degree in Law) 2012
Relevant expertise
Assisting Belgian and international companies in distribution matters, including the negotiation of authorised distributor and repairer agreements, network (re)organisation and termination.
Representing the Belgian Data Protection Authority in several disputes in GDPR matters before the Brussels Market Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Representing a Portuguese company in a dispute with a Belgian reseller over the termination of their commercial relationship and its consequences before the Brussels Court of Entreprise and the Brussels Court of Appeal.
Representing an airline company in a contractual dispute relating to the termination of an agreement and the interpretation of the concept of force majeure.
Assisting companies with the drafting of their general terms and conditions and commercial agreements, as well as in data protection and privacy matters.
Assisting companies in connection with the compliance with the “Jury d’Ethique Publicitaire” (“JEP”)’s advertising guidelines and recommendations, and assisting companies in the defence further to a complaint lodged with the JEP against an advertising campaign.
Seconded to the legal department of Brussels Airlines in 2022, focusing on commercial contracts, compliance, and dispute resolution.
Regularly advises Belgian and international companies in distribution matters, in particular in the automotive sector (authorised distributor and repairer agreements, network organisation, termination, litigation before Belgian courts, expertises, etc.). Represented a Portuguese designer of garden supplies in a dispute with a Belgian reseller before the French-speaking Enterprise Court of Brussels.
Represented the Belgian Data Protection Authority in GDPR disputes before the Market Court of the Brussels Court of Appeal, section Market Court, in the context of challenged decisions made by the Data Protection Authority in GDPR matters.
Assisted a hotel chain and a company specialised in eyewear with the drafting of their general terms and conditions and specific data protection issues.
Represented a major food retail chain in an extra-contractual liability dispute.
Publications/Speaking Engagements
F. BIEBUYCK, “Arrêt Walbusch Walter Busch : l’information précontractuelle du consommateur dans le contexte des contrats à distance”, Journal de droit européen, nº 259, 2019, pp. 204-205.
B. VANBRABANT, F. BIEBUYCK et A. GOY, “Quelques principes juridiques régissant l’étiquetage des denrées alimentaires”, Food, science & law, 2021/3, pp. 86 – 94.
F. BIEBUYCK et M. GEVERS, “Reclame en duurzaamheid : vriend of vijand? / Publicité et durabilité: ami ou ennemi ?”, BMM Bulletin, 1/2023, pp. 31 – 46.
Newsflash Liedekerke
“New CJEU ruling on the ‘Data Controller’ Concept”, January 2024.
“The Court of Justice clarifies the conditions for administrative fines for GDPR infringements”, January 2024.
“Greenwashing in advertising: status quo and expected developments”, February 2023.
« Ventes à distance et Covid-19: quel droit de rétractation pour le consommateur? », Novembre 2020.
« L’origine des produits : dans quel cas peut-on qualifier un produit que l’on vend de ‘local’ ? », Juin 2020.
« L’Union européenne renforce ses règles en matière de protection des consommateurs », Mars 2020.
Memberships & Admissions
Member of the Brussels Bar
Languages
- French
- Dutch
- English
- Italian