Companies in every sector of the economy and throughout the world face increasing pressures to address various policy changes, especially in terms of liberalisation. Regulatory programs are emerging and evolving at the national, regional, and international levels. Shareholders, local governments, key stakeholders, and the general public are demanding and, in many cases, taking action. In [...]
FROM TRADITIONAL PUBLIC AFFAIRS...
Welcome to N-square Consulting, Brussels based public affairs & government relations firm specialised in the online environment.
Analysing and improving policy and regulation that affect our clients is our core business.
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Analysis
We assist our clients in assessing the impact of policy and regulation based on our experience and understanding of the online ecosystem. -
Strategy
Building together a strategy and supporting our clients in its roll-out, either as back office or front office support, is part of the N² approach. -
Communication
Successful public affairs requires a proper use of all communication tools, from traditional position papers to web 2.0 campaigns. -
Training
Our training covers lobbying as well EU 2.0 tips and tricks and we often intervene as speakers or moderators on online policy matters.
About
We consider that lobbying is a key element in the policy-making process, as it allows decision-makers to get real-life perspectives and refines impact assessments.
Who we are
N-square (N²) Consulting is a public affairs firm specialised in the telecoms, new media and Internet sectors, and offering support to a variety of companies and associations in Brussels since 2007.
We pride ourselves on being a boutique outfit, with two collaborators and the assurance that every dossier is handled directly by the Managing Director, Caroline De Cock.
What we do
Our expertise ranges from handling complexe regulatory dossiers in the Internet, telecoms or general online services sector, to assisting clients in defining their lobbying strategy at EU level (with possible actions at national level if required), writing position papers and representing them with relevant decision-makers in Brussels and abroad.
N-square’s blog can be found at Lobbynomics.com and Caroline sporadically blogs at Lobbyplanet.eu .
Our main activities
Lobbying 30%
Analysis 30%
Event organisation 20%
Training 10%
Caroline De Cock
Managing Director
Caroline De Cock (LL.M.) is N-square‘s Founder and Managing Director. Prior to that, she was Director of Regulatory Operation and Policy for the COLT Telecom Group and Director of EU Affairs at Cable & Wireless. She also worked as Legal Adviser at Stanbrook & Hooper, a Competition law firm, and was Deloitte’s youngest Manager worldwide at the age of 24. She is the author of ‘iLobby.eu: Survival Guide to EU Lobbying, Including the Use of Social Media’.
Herman Rucic
Policy Advisor
Herman Rucic is Policy Advisor at N-square Consulting since September 2010 and a Researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel’s IBBT-SMIT, where he notably assists in the organisation of events such as EuroCPR and works on multi-stakeholder programmes.
He is a Bachelor in Information Management and Systems and currently specializes in Communications Science.
N-square Consulting is part of KDC GROUP BVBA, a Belgian company with VAT / Registration number BE 0887.992.240 vested at Kreupelstraat 33, 1703 Dilbeek (Brussels), Belgium. We are registered in the EU Transparency Register (see here).
Services
Visit our archive
Supporting you in the elaboration and roll-out of your Public Affairs Strategy in Brussels and at national level As a preliminary remark, N² wants to stress that, if it believes it can run a Government Relations Strategy or handle your Public Affairs needs in Brussels, we do not necessarily pretend that we can do it [...]
A Business Understanding & Approach of Liberalised Markets More and more sectors in all geographies are shaped by regulation, with varying results depending on the maturity of the liberalisation process and on the approach taken by policy makers and regulators. N² has a global track record of providing policy and regulatory advice in telecommunications, an [...]
In addition to our lobbying practice, we also specialise in providing services to associations in the telecoms and internet sectors. Our services include: Providing outsourced management and secretariat services to industry associations; Advising not-for-profit bodies on their establishment and ongoing governance issues. Examples of our work with cross-industry bodies include: Running of the Voice [...]
Clients
Please find below a sample of our current & past clients.
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Neth-ER – Netherlands house for Education and Research
Trade association
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Towerhouse Consulting
Industry
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CDT – Center for Democracy & Technology
Civil society
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Google
Industry
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TerreStar
Industry
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ECTA – European Competitive Telecoms Association
Trade association
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EIAA – European Interactive Advertising Association
Trade association
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Slovenska Filantropija
Civil society
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TRA – Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of the UAE
Governmental
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ECPA – European Centre for Public Affairs
Trade association
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MedicAnimal
Industry
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The Number
Industry
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kgbdeals
Industry
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VON (Voice on the Net) Coalition Europe
Trade association
Case studies
Since its foundation on 1 January 2007, N² has attracted a diverse client base within its area of expertise.
Visit our archive
N² assisted an international telecoms service provider in its fight to ensure that it had access to better wholesale products from network operators, in order to offer more attractive tariffs to end users. This support included the lobbying of an inter-service consultation within the European Commission (at cabinet and Commissioner levels) and the lobbying of [...]
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N² acted for this project as the European outsourced Regulatory department for an international satellite operator interested in the first pan-European spectrum selection process, which will lead to an assignment of spectrum by the European institutions to industry players valid for all 27 Member States. N² represented the operators’ interests in discussing with the various [...]
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N² has had the privilege of working with a recently set up regulatory authority in the Middle East, drafting their Interconnection Dispute Resolution Procedure. Due to the high standards set by the client, N² did not only focus on the existing best practices in the telecoms world, but analysed which Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms from [...]
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N² led the strategic review of a European Industry Association representing nearly 100 companies across Europe. The project was executed in coordination with the association’s staff and was aimed at analysing the revenues and resources available to the association and re-thinking them in order to create a more objective, transparent and future-proof organisation. N² conducted [...]
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Publications
Caroline De Cock has written a book about EU lobbying, contributed to several Internet law books, taught on the subject at various business schools and Universities and intervened as a speaker in international fora.
Books
iLobby.eu: Survival Guide to EU Lobbying, Including the Use of Social Media
by Caroline De Cock, Eburon, 2010
(author)
iLobby.eu sets out how to lobby the EU from the perspective of an actual lobbyist sharing her experience (both good and bad). It also looks at the social media tools that must be taken into consideration when campaigning and details examples of worst and best practices.
The New Virtual Money: Law and Practice
by Olivier Hance and Suzan Dionne-Balz, Kluwer, 1999
(collaboration)
Caroline continued her collaboration with Olivier Hance with this book, which attempted to analyze the appropriateness of the relevant existing legal instruments that regulated internet payment systems, including the rapidly increasing use of `electronic cash’ – on smart cards or in the form of dematerialized electronic tokens.
Business and Law on the Internet
by Olivier Hance, McGraw-Hill, 1996
(collaboration)
Caroline discovered Internet law by working as a researcher and collaborator to this book, the first European one-stop guide to doing business on the Internet within the context of North American and European laws.
Courses and Speaking Interventions
- Speaker at a Greens/EFA organised panel on Network Neutrality, Brussels, Belgium, 2009.
- Speaker at the ECTA Annual Regulatory Conference, Brussels, Belgium, 2004. Topic: “Implementation of EU Legislation – Panel Discussion”.
- Speaker at the Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan, 2000. Topic: “A Guide to European E-commerce legislation”.
- Speaker at the Japanese Institute of International Business Law, Tokyo, Japan, 2000. Topic: “A Business Lawyer’s Guide to European E-commerce legislation”.
- Speaker for the Annual IFT Conference (Dun & Bradstreet), 2000. Topic: “Effects of the project of Royal Decree on Data Protection under Belgian and European Law, especially as regards marketing”.
- Speaker for the Diplôme Spécial en Commerce Electronique, 1998, organised by the I.C.H.E.C., Brussels, Belgium. Topic: “Intellectual Property Rights in the Digital Era”.
- Speaker for the Diplôme Spécial en Commerce Electronique, 1998, organised by the I.C.H.E.C., Brussels, Belgium. Topic: “Legal aspects of electronic payments”.
- Speaker at the 1998 inaugural meeting of the Electronic Association of South Africa (ECASA), organised in Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa. Topic: “The current situation of electronic commerce in Europe and North America: commercial impact and legal implications”.
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Contact
To send us a message or just to say Hello, please contact us via details listed on the left. We'll get back to you asap. Unless it's a weekend.
Contact info
Kreupelstraat 33, 1703 Dilbeek (Brussels), Belgium
Telephone: +32 474 840515
Fax: +32 70 402 736
Email: info [at] n-square [dot] eu
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