Analysis Group’s Pierre Régibeau Weighs Legal and Economic Approaches to Trade Defense Investigation in Panel Moderated by Vice President Pierre Lissot

December 2, 2025

Analysis Group Competition Expert Pierre Régibeau examined the complementarity of legal and economic approaches to trade defense investigations during a panel discussion at the firm’s Brussels office. The event was co-hosted by DS Avocats and moderated by Analysis Group Vice President Pierre Lissot. The other panelists were Dimana Todorova (DS Avocats) and Marthe Talleu (Gerflor).

Using a European anti-dumping investigation as an example, the panelists discussed the conditions required to successfully lodge a complaint before the Directorate-General for Trade – the EU’s trade authority – and how standard economic techniques can be applied to analyze the legal criteria set out in anti-dumping regulations. For complainants, these techniques can be used to track the causal link between any dumping and injury. For defendants and users, they can be applied to assess product similarity and to evaluate the impact of potential anti-dumping duties.

The panel also highlighted that several analytical methodologies – such as determining the substitutability of products, the pass-through of higher charges to prices, or equilibrium analysis – used in antitrust investigations and merger control cases can be applied in trade defense investigations as well.