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The first article addresses the negotiating directives authorising the European Commission to begin trade negotiations with Australia and New Zealand, respectively, that were finally adopted by the Council of the EU on 22 May 2018. The article identifies the sectors likely to benefit from the trade agreements, such as machinery, chemicals, processed foods and services. Additionally, it identifies and analyses certain sensitive areas, in which negotiations could prove difficult, such as agricultural products (e.g., beef and dairy) and geographical indications (e.g., ‘prosecco’). The article notes that businesses from the EU, Australia and New Zealand consider the opening of trade negotiations as an opportunity to further eliminate tariffs and non-tariffs barriers (NTB). The article concludes that stakeholders, businesses and trade associations in Australia, New Zealand and the EU should be prepared to engage and interact with their relevant interlocutors.

The second article addresses a judgment of German Federal Court of Justice of 17 May 2018, which established that the term ‘easily digestible’ (i.e., ‘bekömmlich’ in German) may not be used in a beer advertisement. The article compares the judgment with the preliminary judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), in Case C-544/10 Deutsches Weintor eG, where the CJEU established that wine may not be promoted and labelled as being ‘easily digestible’, accompanied by a reference to the reduced content of substances frequently perceived by consumers as being harmful. The article concludes that the German Federal Court appears to have followed the CJEU, but its interpretation of health claim may be even broader.

The third article concerns the WHO’s 6-step plan with the acronym ‘REPLACE’ that aims at contributing to the elimination of industrially-produced trans-fatty acids (TFAs) from the global food supply by 2023. The plan aims at REviewing dietary sources of industrially produced TFAs; Promoting the replacement of TFAs with healthier alternatives; 3) Legislating or enacting regulatory actions to ban industrially produced TFAs; 4) Assessing the TFA content in food and the population’s consumption; 5) Creating awareness of the negative health effects of TFAs; and 6) Enforcing policies and regulation. The article reviews, in particular, legislative measures in the EU and its Member States in order to tackle the issue of industrially produced TFAs and also discusses available replacements. The article concludes that the European Commission would likely present a draft regulation introducing limits on industrial TFAs in foods during the course of 2018/2019 and that interested stakeholders, food manufacturers and suppliers of key alternatives should closely follow the developments in the EU and beyond

Trade Perspectives^© is available for full reading at the following link. With this fortnightly publication, we intend to regularly provide readers with a set of recent international trade developments of particular commercial and regulatory interest.  Our focus is on those matters that are set to become contentious trade issues or which should be followed closely by traders, government officials, lawyers, consultants and all other concerned parties. Trade Perspectives^© does not constitute legal advice and is not, therefore, intended to be relied on or to create any client/lawyer relationship. For new recipients to be added to our circulation list, please contact us at: TradePerspectives@FratiniVergano.eu.

 

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