Wim Timmermans

International PPP legal adviser
Timmermans & Simons Int'l Business Lawyers, the Netherlands
Wim Timmermans - partner of the Dutch law firm of Timmermans & Simons International Business Lawyers - is a specialist in international business law with special focus on Eastern Europe. In addition, he has been teaching Russian and East European law at Leiden University. His fields of expertise include:
- International business law;
- Corporate law;
- International commercial arbitration;
- Transport law;
- Public-Private Partnerships;
- other fields of law that are relevant for international business.
Since 1985, Wim Timmermans has provided legal advice to Western companies regarding East European – including then Soviet - commercial law. Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, Russian companies have been among his clients, too. Also, Timmermans regularly acts as an expert on Russian law and the law of other countries of the former Soviet Union in court and arbitration proceedings.
Apart from providing legal advice to private business, Timmermans contributed to legal reform and privatization in transition countries of the CIS and East and Central Europe. He acted – inter alia - as a legal advisor to the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and Trade for the reform of Russian bankruptcy law, including insolvency of credit organizations. Also, he has been advising the Russian Supreme Arbitrazh Court on amending the law on the state registration of legal entities, and Russian court bailiffs on strengthening enforcement proceedings in Russia. Currently, he is conducting an assessment of judicial independence in the Central Asian republics.
Also, Wim Timmermans specialized in international commercial arbitration. He is on the list of arbitrators of the Court of International Commercial Arbitration attached the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation (Moscow), the London Court of International Arbitration, the Ukrainian Court of International Commercial Arbitration, the Kazakhstan International Arbitration Court, the Maritime Arbitration Court attached to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, Moscow, as well as the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Stock Exchange.
A further specialization is public-private partnerships (PPPs) in Central and Eastern Europe. Wim Timmermans is member of the Team of Specialists of the UN Economic Commission for Europe’s PPP Alliance in Geneva (currently: UNECE International PPP Centre of Excellence). He has advised on PPP laws in many CIS countries and has been involved in several PPP projects in CIS and East European countries.
Wim Timmermans studied Dutch law and Slavic languages at Leiden University. In 1990, he defended his doctor’s thesis on Soviet maritime law and arbitration, also at Leiden University, where he has been teaching East European Law from 1984 until September 2013. To date, his publications include more than 200 articles, chapters in books, presentations, papers, etc.
He is a Member of UNECE PPP Business Advisory Board since January, 2014.