GDPR – Information Requirements
February 27, 2018
One of the important goals of the General Data Protection Regulation is ensuring that data subjects know about the processing of their data and the rights that they have under the Regulation. Therefore, businesses that process personal data must provide notices to data subjects that inform them about the data that is being collected. The …
Food Law after Brexit – Why the implementation period is important
The EU has recently released a document setting out the effect of Brexit on food business operators in the UK. This document makes clear that the UK will become a third country at 11pm on 29th March 2019. this has important implications for food businesses that produce food in the UK and export the products …
The GDPR is coming!
January 29, 2018
Data is valuable. It can be used in a variety of ways that can immeasurably enhance the services provided by business and the experience of consumers. But the law that governs collection and use of data is old. It was drafted in the 1990’s, when many of the ways that we now process data were …
Health Claims and the ASA
July 21, 2016
As I have previously discussed, non-specific health claims are a challenge to marketing professionals. Such claims, for example saying a food is “healthy” or “good for you,” must be accompanied by a specific health claim which forms part of an approved EU list (see article 9(3) of the Nutition and Health Claims Regulation). The Advertising …
Chesterfield FC, a Raffle and Consumer Law
July 20, 2016
As reported by the BBC a competition run by Chesterfield FC appears to have gone horribly wrong. A raffle, where the winner could win a place on Chesterfield’s pre-season tour, appears to not have been won by any of the legitimate entrants. This is obviously a public relations own goal for Chesterfield, but does it …
Lights, Labels, Action
May 13, 2016
How easy is it to read a label? Food Detectives, on BBC2 on 13th May 2016 at 7.30pm, attempts to answer this question. It turns out that the answer is “not very easy.” On a cold November morning I met Sean Fletcher and a BBC crew outside the Nottingham Playhouse. My role involved setting challenges …
A Headache for Nurofen?
December 15, 2015
The Federal Court in Australia has found that Reckitt Benckiser (Australia) breached Australian consumer law by marketing Nurofen Specific Pain products as formulated to treat a specific type of pain, when the products were identical in terms of their active ingredient. The products in question were: Nurofen Back Pain, Nurofen Period Pain, Nurofen Migraine Pain …
Are Parking Default Charges Unfair?
November 19, 2015
The Supreme Court has handed down judgment in ParkingEye v Beavis. It is a monster, spanning 316 paragraphs. The question of consideration, previously flagged up on the blog, was a damp squib, with all seven judges accepting the parties characterisation of the contract, with consideration consisting of the promise by ParkingEye that Mr Beavis could …
Crowdfunding and the Consumer
November 17, 2015
Crowdfunding is the practice of obtaining investment for a project from a wide variety of individuals. Rather than going to institutional investors, and obtaining funding through traditional debt or equity, those who seek crowd funding appeal directly to the public, and ask for funding, often in small amounts. Whilst crowdfunding can be used to finance …
Happy Consumer Rights Act Day!
October 1, 2015
Today is the day that the Consumer Rights Act 2015 comes into force. According to the Government Press release, this will make the law easier to understand, and enable consumers to buy, and businesses to sell, with confidence. It puts a number of consumer rights into one place, and makes some important changes to the …
