Dr. Oliver Heinrich

Oliver Heinrich is co-founder and partner with BHO Legal. Oliver Heinrich studied German and Anglo-American law at the Universities of Trier and Cologne. He earned his doctorate at the German Institute for Air and Space Law under Professor Hobe on questions of state aid and public procurement law for national and European research funding. His clients include public institutions, medium-sized companies and international corporations. From 2010 to 2022, he has continuously advised the European GNSS Agency (GSA), and its successor, the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), on all legal issues related to EU agencies, and since 2017 with focus on security related procurements. He has made an international name for himself through numerous publications and lectures on public procurement law as well as air and space law topics. From 2012 onwards he built the firm’s advisory for legal issues on use of military and civil drones and supported a number of large projects in both areas.

Before working as a lawyer, Oliver worked as project manager for the European satellite navigation project Galileo at DLR e.V. from 2005 until 2007and participated in the negotiations of the international consortium in the bidding process for the Galileo concession as an authorised representative.
In 2020, Oliver was selected among the top 100 lawyers in Germany and 2020 to 2022 as one of the leading lawyers in European and international law in the referral conducted by kanzleimonitor.de. He is further mentioned as leading individual in the field for unmanned aircraft systems and as key practitioner on procurement proceedings in Who is Who Legal 2021 – Transport.

Education:

2006
Admission to the bar
2004
Degree in German Law (2nd State Exam), Ministry of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
2003
Award of PhD in law
2000
Degree in German Law (1st State Exam) University of Cologne, Germany

Work experience:

Present
- Attorney-at-law and Founding Partner of BHO Legal
- Member of the Oversight Committee of United Systems Europe (USE)
- Author in Juris-Practioner’s Commentary on Procurement Law in the chapter on Procurement procedures
until 12/2021
Member of the Board of Directors of UVS International
2007 - 2008
Self-employed Lawyer, Kanzlei Dr. Heinrich, Cologne
2006 - 2007
Legal Manager, TeleOp GmbH, Weißling (Germany)
2005 - 2007
Project Manager European GNSS Programme Galileo, Cologne
2004 - 2007
Legal Advisor, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), Cologne
2001 - 2004
Legal Clerkship

Legal expertise:

Languages:

German
English

Publications (selected):

Collaboration on Legal Opinion and editing of chapter: Rescue service (water rescue) with drones – admissibility of the use of drones for water rescue in Legal Opinion on the use of drones for water rescue (Project RescueFly), Consortium leader RescueFly, Björn Steiger Stiftung SbR, Winnenden, November 2022.
Commentary on the provisions § 18 VgV (with: Machmud Gadjisade); § 17 SektVO (with: Machmud Gadjisade); § 13 VSVgV (with: Machmud Gadjisade), in Juris-Praxiskommentar Vergaberecht, 6th ed. 2022.
Chapters in: Dr. Mina Baumgarten, Prof. Dr. med. Klaus Hahnenkamp, Prof. Dr. Steffen Fleßa (Eds.), Unmanned Aerial Systems in Medical Care (original: Unbemannte Flugsysteme in der medizinischen Versorgung), Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, 2022.
Use of firearms against drones & other means of defence? in The Professional Drone Operations Market, Blyenburgh & Co, Edition 2.1, 31 March 2022 (co-author: Felix Schwarz).
Projects for the integration of life-saving UAS into the airspace with legal advice from BHO Legal, Cologne (original: Projekte zur Integration von lebensrettenden UAS in den Luftraum mit Rechtsberatung durch BHO Legal, Köln), in: AEROSPACE – Magazin für Luft- und Raumfahrt in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Issue 1, March 2022.
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS): Relevant terminology at a glance, BHO Legal, 5/2019.
European Union Working to Harmonize UAS Regulation, in: Inside Unmanned Systems, 12/2017/1/2018, pp. 60-64.
Legal framework for the use of drones in Germany (original: Rechtsrahmen für die Nutzung von Drohnen in Deutschland), in: PHI Haftpflicht international – Recht & Versicherung, 1/2018, pp. 14-21.
International Registry for Space Assets: Report on the Work of the Preparatory Commission (Rome, May 6-7, 2013 and January 27-28, 2014), conference report, in: Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht/German Journal of Air and Space Law, 2014, Heymanns, pp. 287 ff. (with Erik Pellander).
The Berlin Space Protocol to the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (original: Das Berliner Weltraumprotokoll zum Kapstadt-Übereinkommen über Internationale Sicherungsrechte an beweglicher Ausrüstung), in: Praxis des internationalen Privat- und Verfahrensrechts, 2013, Gieseking, p. 384 ff. (with Erik Pellander).
Comments on Section 3 VOL/A and Section 3 EG VOL/A, in: Juris-Praxiskommentar Vergaberecht, 2013, Juris (with Roderic Ortner).
Procurement in the Space Sector, in: Contracting for Space – Contract Practice in the European Space Sector, (Eds.: Smith, Baumann), Ashgate 2011.
Several contributions in: Hobe/Hofmannová/Wouters: A Coherent European Procurement Law and Policy for the Space Sector – Towards a Third Way, 2010, Lit Verlag, 512 p. ISBN: 978-3-643-10911-8.
Legal Remedies under the EU and ESA procurement regulations and their effect on European space projects, in: IBA Outer Space Newsletter, 2010 (with Ingo Baumann).
Ten Years of Cooperation between ESA and EU: Current Issues, in: Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht/German Journal of Air and Space Law, 2009, Heymanns, p. 49 ff. (with Stephan Hobe/Bernhard Schmidt-Tedd, Irina Kerner).
Development of the European Space Agency as the “implementing agency” of the European Union: Legal framework and adaptation requirements (original: Entwicklung der Europäischen Weltraumagentur als “implementing agency” der Europäischen Union: Rechtsrahmen und Anpassungserfordernisse), 2009, Lit Verlag, 458 p.., ISBN: 978-3-643-10047-4 (with Stephan Hobe/Irina Kerner/Annette Froehlich).
ESA’s institutional legal framework for performing the function of an implementing agency (original: Institutioneller Rechtsrahmen der ESA für die Wahrnehmung der Funktion einer “implementing agency”), in: Hobe/Heinrich/Kerner/Froehlich: Entwicklung der Europäischen Weltraumagentur als “implementing agency” der Europäischen Union: Rechtsrahmen und Anpassungserfordernisse, 2009, Lit Verlag, p. 53 ff.
PPP Negotiations in the Galileo Project – a Failed Approach (original: PPP-Verhandlungen im Projekt Galileo – ein gescheiterter Ansatz), in: Hobe/Heinrich/Kerner/Froehlich: Entwicklung der Europäischen Weltraumagentur als “implementing agency” der Europäischen Union: Rechtsrahmen und Anpassungserfordernisse, 2009, Lit Verlag, p. 138 ff.
WTO Procurement Law and its Importance for European Space Projects (original: WTO-Vergaberecht und seine Bedeutung für europäische Raumfahrtprojekte), in: Hobe/Heinrich/Kerner/Froehlich: Entwicklung der Europäischen Weltraumagentur als “implementing agency” der Europäischen Union: Rechtsrahmen und Anpassungserfordernisse, 2009, Lit Verlag, p. 165 ff.
Public procurement law for Galileo: ESA as procurement agent in the Galileo project (original: Vergaberecht bei Galileo: ESA als procurement agent im Projekt Galileo), in: Hobe/Heinrich/Kerner/Froehlich: Entwicklung der Europäischen Weltraumagentur als “implementing agency” der Europäischen Union: Rechtsrahmen und Anpassungserfordernisse, 2009, Lit Verlag, p. 194 ff.
Responsibility and liability for Galileo services and their relevance to system financing and commercialisation (original: Verantwortlichkeit und Haftung für Galileo-Dienste und ihre Bedeutung für die Systemfinanzierung und –kommerzialisierung), in: Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht/German Journal of Air and Space Law, 2008, Heymanns, p. 25 ff. (with Elmar Giemulla).
Galileo – liability risks (original: Galileo – die Haftungsrisiken), in: DGLR Kongress, 2008 (with Elmar Giemulla).
Liability risks and liability management for companies in the SatNav sector (original: Haftungsrisiken und Haftungsmanagement für Unternehmen im SatNav Bereich), in: Positions 2007, 2007, p. 123 ff.
The Legal Systematics of Research Funding in Germany and the European Communities in Observance of Freedom of Science and Competition Law (original: Die rechtliche Systematik der Forschungsförderung in Deutschland und den Europäischen Gemeinschaften unter Beachtung von Wissenschaftsfreiheit und Wettbewerbsrecht), in: Kölner Schriften zum internationalen und europäischen Recht, Vol. 6, 2003, Lit Verlag, 238 p., ISBN: 3-8258-7074-X.