The GCO Team - Meet the people

John has practised EU law in Brussels for more than 25 years. He is a recognised expert on EU laws in particular on customs & trade, export control and sanctions.

John established Grayston & Company in 2007 to pursue the objective of providing cost effective high value-added advice on trade & customs, regulatory and commercial advice to international clients. To deliver this advice John has developed and coordinates a network of specialist advisors in key EU jurisdictions (eg. Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Netherlands) who collectively can deliver EU advice and its implementation in EU Member States.

With the departure of the UK from the EU John has developed a reputation as a go-to advisor on the implications and commercial impact of Brexit in particular in relation to customs, trade and logistics.

John has in depth experience of all aspects of EU Regulatory law including:

• EU Customs – classification, valuation, trade preference and rules of origin issues including administrative and court based challenges, remission and repayment claims in particular those involving the EU Commission;
• Export and Trade Controls – compliance programmes for EU based companies with EU and national export control regimes; complex compliance issues for companies subject to extra-territorial application of USA laws – including ITAR, BIS and EAR rulings and scope of US embargoes;
• Competition Law – Merger Control filings; joint ventures; compliance programmes, dawn raid support;
• International Trade Law – anti-dumping; anti-subsidy; safeguard measures; rules of origin and customs disputes;
• EU Competition Law – special interest in supporting the implementation of distribution strategies for EU/EEA; advises on termination disputes across the EU in particular defending claims of economic dependence;
• Public Procurement – advice on compliance with public procurement rules and procedures especially in relation to the Utilities Sector – specialist advice on bid rigging and compliance with competition law in procurement procedures;
• EU State Aid – advice on compliance with EU State aid regime.