'Doe Maar Lekker Duurzaam' ('Just Go Sustainable') campaign calls on consumers to buy sustainable products more often. It's a collaboration among the Dutch National Postcode Lottery, Albert Heijn and Unilever.
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Suppliers of luxury products may ban accredited resellers from selling their products on third-party internet platforms like Amazon or Marktplaats. This was decided by the Court of Justice in the case of Coty Germany.
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The (plant-based) dairy industry is still keeping minds occupied. The European Court of Justice held last summer that the protected terms ‘milk’, ‘yoghurt’ or ‘cream' could not be used as the name or designation of a non-dairy product. Since then, the name 'soya milk' has been a no-go. But how does this stack up if they say that a product is a variation on yoghurt, or an alternative to dairy?
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We know that champagne growers are (rightly) proud of their sparkling wine. Nothing gets their hackles up more than when some "fizz" is produced from a region other than Champagne, or in a different way. After all, it’s with good reason that they got the name Champagne covered by a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO).
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Quaker Oatmeal Granola with 94% whole grain cereals. Sounds good, right? When a consumer inspects the list of ingredients on the back of the packaging she finds the product only contains 63% of whole grain cereals.
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The expectation of a product that advertisements cause vs reality. A hot topic for disappointed complaining consumers at the Dutch Advertising Code Committee (RCC).
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"And the winner of the Foodwatch Gouden Windei is……" Jumbo Goudeerlijk (‘Gold honest’) cornbread. Each year, Foodwatch nominates products it considers to be misleading. The public choice of the most misleading product wins the Gouden Windei (Golden Wind Egg). This 'honour' was shared by Jumbo.
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The European Commission will (finally) start with the preparations to establish legal definitions of vegetarian and vegan food. This was announced last week in the REFIT Summary
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What’s in a name? Some years back, the dairy industry did a lot of lobbying in Brussels. Dairy names like milk, cheese and butter are protected designations. Milk may only be called milk if it is obtained from the udders of an animal: hence cows' milk, goats' milk and camels' milk. But what impact does this have on soya milk?
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In July, at around the same time as Dutch Railways announced its gender-neutral public announcement policy, the much discussed SIRE commercial was shown on TV. 'Let boys be real boys again' is its message. The two media announcements seemed to express contradictory positions on a hot topic in society – so gossip around the coffee machine was guaranteed. Should we expect a complaint to be filed with the Dutch Advertising Code Authority (RCC) about the SIRE commercial?
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Decathlon's commercial showed a young lad running to a swimming pool with a snorkel mask in his hand. He dons the mask and dives into the water to peep at the bottoms of women who are doing aqua-gymnastics.
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The Amsterdam District Court has ruled in favor of Max Verstappen in the proceedings against Picnic initiated by Max and his management. According to the court Picnic violated Max’s portrait right by using a lookalike of Max in a playful parody of one of Jumbo’s television commercials.
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These days producers of prepacked foods seem to make daily life a lot easier for consumers seeking to buy their essentials in the supermarket. Whatever product you are looking for, the packaging often tells you exactly how much one portion is and how many calories that portion contains.
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A while ago, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) warned the automobile sector for incorrectly displaying car prizes. Shortly before that, the ACM had already addressed the travel industry. The ACM imposed two gigantic fines to the travel agency Corendon of a total amount of € 350.000. Recently, the District Court of Rotterdam declared Corendon’s appeal against these fines unfounded.
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On the basis of EU law, it is mandatory to provide fuel consumption and CO2 emission figures in some types of advertisements for passenger cars. This information is meant to help consumers making their choice, keeping both costs and environmental considerations in mind.
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On 1 July 2017 the Dutch act dealing with payment terms of maximum sixty days for large companies (Wet uiterste betaaltermijnen van zestig dagen voor grote ondernemingen) has entered into force.
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The sportsmen and women among us often carry Dextro Energy: the glucose tablets are known to make a contribution to the muscles. The EFSA has also scientifically acknowledged this; the EFSA has given the green light to five health claims for glucose submitted by Dextro GmbH.
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On June 20th 2017, the VMT food law event took place in the flashy Miele Experience Center in Vianen. The event is much visited by all stakeholders from the food industry. During the plenary morning program, Ebba Hoogenraad provided tips and tricks on the use of influencers in food marketing.
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A drink, from a legal standpoint, is only fruit juice if it consists of 100% fruit juice, with nothing added. Fruit drinks that consist only partly of juice are therefore not allowed to be called ‘juice’. Yet, in their online shops, supermarkets use the term ‘juice’ for the general category of fruit drinks. Is that allowed?
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The product Heks’nkaas (literally ‘witches’ cheese’) has been receiving attention in IP circles for a while now. Levola, the producer of Heks’nkaas, has been embroiled in legal action for a number of years concerning the copyright protection of the flavour of the cream cheese spread. It has not been able to stop imitators on the grounds of flavour.
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