The UK Government has announced a new law requiring businesses to label foods that are pre-packaged for direct sale with a full list of ingredients and allergens emphasised. The legislation, known as 'Natasha's law' following the fatal allergic reaction to a Pret a Manger baguette suffered by Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, will significantly tighten the laws around food labelling, with the Government opting for the most prescriptive regulatory option out of four proposals it originally suggested. The legislation will be introduced by the end of this summer, and come into force by summer 2021, allowi ..read more

The European Commission has released the non-confidential version of its decision against Nike, delivered in March, which fined the sports retailer €12.5 million for breaches of EU competition law. Nike is appointed by football clubs and federations to exploit and manage their intellectual property rights (IPRs). This enables it to design and manufacture products featuring both Nike and official club branding. Nike (through specially created business units) also grants non-exclusive licences of the relevant IPRs to third parties, enabling them to manufacture and distribute club merchandise to ..read more

The UK Government has announced a public consultation on expanding the powers of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in relation to addressing breaches of consumer law. The proposed measures respond to recommendations made by the CMA last year, which followed a Citizens Advice Super Complaint on consumer loyalty. They aim to tackle concerns that some businesses employ practices that the CMA believes exploit consumers via a 'loyalty penalty'. The forthcoming Consumer White Paper will propose new powers that would enable the CMA to decide whether consumer law has been broken, and impose ..read more

Three of Spain's major cigarette makers – Philip Morris Spain, Altadis and JT Internacional Iberia – as well as distributor Logista, have been fined a total of EUR 57.7 million by the country's competition authorities for exchanging sensitive sales information over a decade from 2008 to 2017. Logista owns a software platform that the three manufacturers used to compare price information in real time. It received the largest fine of EUR 21 million as facilitator of the arrangement, but plans to appeal the decision on the basis that it has a legitimate explanation for its conduct, and there was ..read more

Following concerns raised about the adequacy of allergen information laws in the UK (most recently in the inquest into the death of 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who suffered an allergic reaction to sesame contained in a Pret a Manger baguette), the UK Government has launched a consultation on potential changes to allergen labelling laws for foods which are "prepacked for direct sale" (PPDS foods). The consultation closes on 29 March 2019. PPDS foods "PPDS foods" are foods that are packed, before they are offered for sale, on the same premises from which they are sold. PPDS foods includ ..read more