"Jean-Philippe Montfort is a brilliant lawyer. He is very experienced and particularly good at defining the legal strategy. He always gives really practical advice and is a great guy to work with "
Chambers Europe 2016 - 2018

Übersicht

Jean-Philippe Montfort is one of Europe's leading and most experienced legal practitioners on EU chemical control (REACH/CSS). He leads Mayer Brown’s Global Chemical Industry Group and is the Partner in Charge of Mayer Brown’s Brussels office.  

His practice focuses especially on:

REACH: Jean-Philippe leads Mayer Brown's REACH team. He provides strategic advice and advocacy and litigation support to companies and trade associations to defend substances targeted under the REACH and CLP processes of Evaluation, Classification and Labelling, Authorisation and Restriction. Jean-Philippe has a very successful track record before the European Courts and the ECHA Board of Appeal and is widely recognized as a very innovative, yet pragmatic advisor and litigator. Jean-Philippe and his team won landmark cases, including the annulment of the European Commission's 2020 decision that classified titanium dioxide as a category 2 carcinogen by inhalation in certain powder form, as well as the CTC case which defined the boundaries between dossier and substance evaluation under REACH and established the substance evaluation threshold to meet by ECHA. In addition, he led the chemicals working group of the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union (Amcham EU) and acted as project leader for the Commission’s REACH Implementation Project on Data sharing and Consortia.

ESG and Chemical Strategy for Sustainability (CSS): Jean-Philippe is also advising companies and trade associations on the European Commission’s Chemical Strategy for Sustainability (CSS), building upon his unique expertise and long standing experience on legislative developments in the field of chemicals. He is an author and frequent speaker on the “essential use” concept, introduced in the CSS. As part of Mayer Brown’s ESG offering, Jean-Philippe advises companies on the EU sustainable product initiatives and acts as legal counsel to a global consortium seeking to develop an industry-wide environmental impact assessment and scoring system for cosmetic products.

Chemicals Industry. Jean-Philippe leads Mayer Brown’s Global Chemical Industry group, a global multi-practice group of Mayer Brown lawyers with a broad set of expertise and experience in advising chemical industry companies as well as non pure chemical players on chemical issues.

Sprachkenntnisse

  • Französisch
  • Englisch
  • Italienisch

Erfahrung

European Commission Mandates

  • Project leader for the Commission REACH Implementing Project (RIP 3.4) on Data Sharing and Consortia
  • Legal counseling in various projects lead by RPA for the Commission: e.g. Review of the scope of the CMD and CAD in 2018-2019

Product Defense

  • Representing consortia and multinational companies in the defense of their interests on EU harmonized classification and labeling (CLH), Authorisation and Restriction Processes, e.g.:
    • Represented the Titanium Dioxide Industry in obtaining the annulment of the European Commission’s 2020 decision that classified titanium dioxide as a category 2 carcinogen by inhalation in certain powder form
    • Represented multinational companies on the CLH process for TPP, Zinc Pyrithium, Sodium Pyrithium, DTPA

Other legal support on Authorisation

  • Assisting company prevent listing on Annex XIV – Intermediate status
  • Assisting Eurométaux on Art 58(2) of REACH – Exemptions for regulated uses
  • Assisting Concawe on PBT strategy for PetCo substances (PAH constituents)
  • Assisting pharma manufacturer in drafting AfA for precursor
  • Assisting multinational company assess impact and develop strategy as a result of the General Court ruling in Case T-837/16

Trade Association and Consortia

  • Acting as legal counsel and/or Consortium manager for:
    • The EcoBeautyScore Consortium
    • The International Fragrance Association (IFRA)
    • The Tobacco Industry Platform on REACH (TIP)
    • The electronic Cigarette Platform on REACH (eCIP)
    • Various REACH registration and product defense consortia
  • Providing legal advice and counselling to AISE, Concawe, Eurométaux, and Plastics Europe

Product Safety

  • Representing numerous clients on developing their product safety policy, determining product safety and handling product recalls in the following sectors:
    • Chemicals, food packaging, bicycles, toys and children products
    • Represented TetraPak in the ITX crisis in 2005-2006
    • Represented Mattel in the toys recalls from China in 2007

REACH and CLP Enforcement

  • Conducting REACH audits of multinational chemicals, perfume, cosmetics, tobacco, e-cigarettes and aerospace companies
  • Advising various multinational companies on impact of BREXIT in the EU and in the UK

Ausbildung

Georgetown University Law Center, LLM, Master of Law

Université Catholique de Louvain, Diplôme en administration des Entreprises

Université Catholique de Louvain, Licencié en Droit

Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis, Candidat en Droit

Zulassung

  • Brussels Bar (Ordre Français des Avocats au Barreau de Bruxelles)

Mitgliedschaften

  • Chairman of the Chemical Working Group of the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union (Amcham EU)
  • Frequent speaker in conferences on chemical legislation and product safety
  • Member of the European Board of Alumni of Georgetown University Law Centre