Dr. Oliver Heinrich

Attorney-at-law | Partner

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Dr. Oliver Heinrich
Attorney-at-law | Partner
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Dr. Oliver Heinrich is a founding partner of the law firm BHO Legal. He studied German and Anglo-American law at the Universities of Trier and Cologne and received his doctorate from the German Institute of Air with Prof. Dr. Hobe on the national and EU-legal systematics of research systematics of research funding, including questions of state aid and questions of public procurement law. His clients include public institutions, medium-sized companies and international corporations. In 2012, he established the firm’s aviation law practice advising on the use of drones and, among other things, advised on major military procurement projects for drones. He is well known through numerous publications and lectures on procurement law, liability in the use of GNSS, as well as national and international aviation law issues in the use of drones.

Before working as an independent lawyer Dr. Heinrich was project manager for the European satellite navigation project Galileo from 2005 to 2007 at DLR. He was also authorized signatory of a joint venture of DLR, T-Systems and EADS Astrium as well as of the LfA Förderbank Bayern and advisor to the international bidding consortium for the Galileo concession and has extensive experience of the many challenges of large international technology projects.

Dr Heinrich maintains a close network with companies and national and international authorities and public institutions related to unmanned aerial vehicles as well as large space projects. As a former student assistant and doctoral student at the world’s oldest institute for air and space law in Cologne, his connection to university research in the field remains active. He supports the UAV DACH e.V. as head of the Legal Advisory Board and is also a member of the national drone advisory board of the BMDV.

In 2020, Dr. Heinrich was named one of the top 100 lawyers in Germany and 2020 to 2022 as one of the leading lawyers in European and international law in the ranking conducted by kanzleimonitor.de. In addition, he is listed in Who is Who Legal 2021 – Transport as a leading figure in the field of unmanned aerial systems and as a key practitioner for public procurement procedures.

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
    • Author in Juris-Practioner’s Commentary on Procurement Law in the chapter on Procurement procedures
  • until 03/2023
    Member of the Oversight Committee of United Systems Europe (USE)
  • 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):

  • The EU and ESA rules on public procurement, in: Routledge Handbook of Commercial Space Law, 31 July 2023 (with Jan Helge Mey)
  • 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.