Belgium

New proposal regarding data protection that may impact industries across the board

Ludo Deklerck

Mrs Viviane Reding, Vice President of the European Commission, recently announced a new draft regulation regarding data privacy (January 25, 2012). It suggests, amongst other things: (i) more accountability; (ii) the complete revision of the notification duties; (iii) the idea of a one-stop-shop; (iv) and substantial fines for non-compliance. The latest version suggests a fine of up to 2% of the worldwide annual turnover in certain circumstances. Furthermore, specific concerns have arisen with regard to direct marketing and profiling.

Czech Republic

Famous Czech traditional producer of caffeinated soft drinks Kofola overshot with his new TV advertisement

Andrea Jarolimkova

The scene is a biology class at a high school where a young teacher is quizzing a student their botany knowledge which is found to be unsatisfactory. Then, because of his improper provocative behaviour devouring the herbs serving as teaching aids, he is invited to the teacher's office. A hot kissing scene between the teacher and her student follows, accompanied by a slogan: "Nothing bad can arise from herbs. New, extra herbal Kofola." 

Germany

Different legal environments in the EU – chances for manufacturers: the example of aromatized wine-based drinks

Jarste Akkermann

Consumers are used to finding aromatized wine-based drinks like Sangria, Bitter Soda, Glühwein or Zurra easily on the shelf in their supermarket or liquor store. However, finding their way to the shelf can be somewhat difficult. Even though their general composition has been harmonised in the European Union, there are still grey zones which are subject to national application and interpretation.

Italy

The impact of the "Liberalization Decree" on food and agricultural sector

Linda Brugioni

In these last months, it has been hard to ignore the Italian debate on new legislative means to strengthen the Italian economy and to make – or at least try to make - the Italian market more competitive at an international and European level.

The Netherlands

Bullring battle continues

Richella Soetens and Lara van Huizen

On 3 February 2012, the Dutch Supreme Court deferred its decision regarding the trade mark conflict between the two energy drink producers and referred a preliminary question to the Court of Justice of the European Union ("ECJ"). The subject of the case is whether the sign of The Bulldog infringes the trade mark of Red Bull.

Poland

Polish confectionery producer fights against dilution of his trademarks 

Emilia Stępień and Krzysztof Korwin-Kossakowski
Confectionary producers – Wedel withdraws from actions against trademark dilution after angry reaction of Internet users.

The most famous Polish confectionery brand Wedel ("Wedel") has recently been subject to strong criticism from Internet users.

Lidl's advertising campaign investigated by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection for breach of consumer common interests

Krzysztof Korwin-Kossakowski

Lidl's advertising campaign investigated by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection for breach of consumers common interests.

In January 2012, the Polish Office of Competition and Consumers Protection ("the Office") published a report concerning the quality and labeling of own-brand products sold in supermarkets. The report covered information gathered during the Polish Trade Inspection controls during 2011.

Sweden

"A footprint in the food"

Jacob Blidberg

What's the latest on carbon footprint labelling from an international perspective?

A couple of years ago, carbon footprint labelling was a hot topic. With growing public awareness of the seriousness of the climate change problem, there was an increasing willingness on the part of individuals to lower their carbon footprint due to consumption. Producers/retailers saw the opportunity to gain competitive advantage by carbon-footprint labelling their products. This resulted in several ambitious initiatives in the field of carbon-footprint labelling being taken by both public authorities and private organisations around the world.

UK

Europe introduces nano labelling rules

Lorna Brazell

The European Union has introduced labelling requirements for foods containing engineered nanomaterials as part of its ongoing legislative revision of food legislation; Regulation 1169/2001 on the provision of food information to consumers was adopted in October 2011. The existing food labelling Directive was considered not to have achieved the objective of enabling consumers to make decisions readily concerning the foods they buy as a number of surveys have shown that the existing label information is generally confusing. The revised legislation also covers nutrition labelling for foodstuffs, previously covered under a separate Directive.

Use-by dates and frozen food

Mary Smillie

On 20 February 2012, the judgment in a case in the English High Court was handed down regarding the law on the labelling of food with use-by dates. Of particular interest, the High Court has stated that if food is not "highly perishable" at the time it was ready for delivery to an ultimate consumer; it would not need to be labelled with a use by date at that point. Therefore, it would be a defence to a prosecution that food was sold after the use by date if no use by date was required as the food was not "highly perishable". The judgment also indicated that the appropriate time when the durability indication (use-by date) is applied is when the food is ready for delivery to its ultimate consumer or caterer.

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