Consumer Products - food & drink

Recent Articles

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  22.11.2023

  Europe

  Another grilling: General Court goes against HALLOUMI and strikes down appeal in GRILLOUMI opposition

  IntroductionTwo years ago, we commented on the difficulties that Cypriot cheesemakers faced when attempting to oppose the registration of a figurative mark containing the word BBQLOUMI, relying on EU collective trade mark registrations for HALLOUMI – see here. That opposition was rejected on the grounds that the ‘Halloumi’ mark had low distinctive character and was seen as being descriptive, meaning it was not sufficient to give rise to a likelihood of confusion. Notably, that ruling confirmed that EU collective marks were subject to the same basic requirements of distinctiveness...

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  20.11.2023

  Hungary

  Final draft of ESG Law transposing the EU’s CSR Directive submitted to Hungarian parliament

  On 14 November 2023, the Minister for Economic Development submitted to parliament the final draft "Law on the Rules of Environmentally Conscious and Societally and Socially Responsive Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting Promoting Sustainable Finance and Unified Corporate Responsibility" (ESG Law).The ESG Law transposes the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive 2022/2464 (CSRD) into national law, establishes a national Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) framework to comply with EU obligations, and includes provisions of the proposed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive...

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  17.11.2023

  United Kingdom

  Proposed legislation would radically expand the UK’s class action regime

  15 November 2023 saw publication of two proposed amendments to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill that would have significant impacts on the UK’s class action regime:First, a proposed amendment, introduced by Sir Robert Buckland, to expand the jurisdiction of the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (the “CAT”) to consumer class actions (the “Buckland Amendment”).  At present, the CAT only has jurisdiction for competition class actions.Second, a proposal to reverse the effect of the Supreme Court’s decision in PACCAR, in relation to damages claims...

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  10.11.2023

  Hungary

  Final draft of CSR Directive expected to be submitted to Parliament

  On 31 October 2023, the Ministry for Economic Development submitted for public consultation the draft "Law on the Rules of Environmentally Conscious and Societally and Socially Responsive Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting Promoting Sustainable Finance and Unified Corporate Responsibility".The ESG Law transposes the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive 2022/2464 (CSRD) into national law, establishes a national Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) framework to comply with EU obligations, and includes provisions of the proposed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive...

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  11.10.2023

  Hungary

  Hungary sets cybersecurity fines in decree

  A Hungarian government decree (Government Decree 305/2023 (VII. 11.) on the amount of cybersecurity fines, detailed rules of procedure for the imposition and payment of fines) has set down the minimum and maximum fines imposed by the competent authority under the new Act XXIII of 2023 on Cybersecurity Certification and Cybersecurity Supervision. The Decree specifies the infringements that are punishable by fines and adapts the amount of each fine.Infringements and finesUnder the Decree, the competent authority issuing the certification will impose fines for breaches of EU and Hungarian legislation,...

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  14.09.2023

  Ukraine

  Ukraine parliament moves forward with competition law reform

  On 9 August 2023, the Parliament of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Improving the Activities of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine”.This Law, a first step in competition law reform, brings Ukraine’s antimonopoly regulations closer to EU law following the nation’s obligations under its Association Agreement with the EU.The Law primarily focuses on:dawn-raids and broadens the scope of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) powers;the AMCU’s independence;significant amendments to AMCU investigation procedures;introduction...

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