Małgorzata Surdek is a partner and the head of the Commercial Team in Warsaw office of CMS Cameron McKenna and has been with the firm since 1996.
Małgorzata co-ordinates the Consumer Products Group in Central and Eastern Europe and is an active member of the Financial Services Group. Małgorzata specialises in EC and competition law, public procurement, financial regulations and consumer protection law focusing on the consumer products and financial services sectors. Małgorzata advises also on general commercial issues including negotiating and drafting commercial contracts.
Consumer Products
Małgorzata co-ordinates the work of the Consumer Products Group in Central and Eastern Europe and has particularly thorough understanding of business issues pertinent to the food & drinks and health & beauty industries. Within the group’s practice she advises manufacturers and distributors of foodstuff, soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, house-hold goods, electronic equipment and the like, on issues related to abuse of dominant position, anti-competitive agreements, parallel trade, consumer protection, selling techniques, promotion and advertising, distribution, franchising, agency arrangements etc.
Małgorzata co-chairs the Consumer Products Committee of the American-Chamber of Commerce in Poland.
Competition & Public procurement
Małgorzata’s competition practice comprises anti-trust issues, restrictive agreements and abuse of dominant position, consumer protection and merger control issues. She conducts many competition compliance audits for clients in FMCG, pharmaceutical and energy sectors. Her personal focus is on the intersection of anti-trust and intellectual property laws. Małgorzata has advised public authorities and private investors in relation to state aid issues pertinent to infrastructure projects (also PPPs) and foreign investors in relation to their investments in Special Economic Zones in Poland. Małgorzata is a member of the Polish Competition Law Association and the Centre for Antimonopoly and Regulatory Studies at the Warsaw University.
Małgorzata is also an expert in public procurement issues having represented a number of clients from energy, construction, pharmaceutical and defence sectors in public procurement proceedings, also in front of arbitration panels and in court for public procurement litigation. She advised Eurocopter in a successful tender for the delivery of 23 helicopters and one flight simulator to the Polish Ministry of Health. Małgorzata has been certified to access information classified as NATO / EU Secret which is often required in military tenders.
Financial services
Małgorzata has also broad experience in the financial services sector. She has advised many global financial services companies on regulatory and licensing issues related to the establishment of insurance, pension and asset management businesses in Poland, mergers and acquisitions, outsourcing, bank assurance and launching new financial products. Her experience includes obtaining the Polish FSA approvals for GE in connection with the acquisition of BPH Bank and for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in relation to the change of control over the AIG Group.
Education:
Polish Advocates’ Bar (admitted 2002) Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin: MA in Law, MA in Political Sciences King’s College London, European Community Law. |