Keller Heckman (LexBlog United Kingdom)

After the fuel shortages, will there be a shortage of mineral water in UK restaurants…? In July, the UK made it clear that no EU mineral waters can be exported to the UK from January 7, 2022, unless the UK authorities grant formal approval to do so in the coming months. (The decision does not...

On September 29, 2021, the United Kingdom (UK) announced plans to pave the way for gene editing technologies to be used for crops raised in the UK.  While the European Union (EU) regulates organisms modified by gene editing as genetically modified organisms, the UK is choosing to take a different approach to gene editing.  As...

Earlier this year, the UK Prime Minister asked former ministers Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP, Theresa Villiers MP, and George Freeman MP to identify how the UK can take advantage of its new-found regulatory freedoms and stimulate growth, innovation and competition across the economy and level up across the United Kingdom. The report of this...

Now that Brexit is a reality, the way that the UK assesses novel foods may change, with the UK implementing its own procedures separate from those of the EU bloc. One such example of this is cannabidiol’s status in the UK as a novel food. Here’s interesting guidance from the UK’s Food Standards Agency, giving...

When it comes to food and feed, it’s no secret that the Brexit deal has given rise to come big legal questions. What has changed? Which rules remain the same? Will commonalities continue?   Here, Katia Merten-Lentz lays out a general background into how the UK’s departure from the EU has changed Britain’s legal landscape....

Effective January 1, 2021, a new US-UK equivalence agreement ensures that organic products certified to either USDA or UK standards may be labelled and sold as organic in both countries. The agreement provides continuity for US-UK exports that were covered by the US-EU equivalence agreement, effective in 2012, following the UK’s departure from the EU....

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) recently finalized its Age-appropriate design: a code of practice for online services (the code). The code applies to any “relevant information society services which are likely to be accessed by children” (by which the ICO means minors under age 18), whether designed for kids or general audiences. The new...

The Royal Society for Public Health UK (Royal Society), an independent, multi-disciplinary charity dedicated to the improvement of the public’s health and wellbeing, claims that most consumers do not understand the meaning of calorie intake in the context of energy expenditure.  Royal Society states that “physical activity calorie equivalent or expenditure” labeling (“PACE labeling”), which...

On July 25, 2019, a United Kingdom parliamentary sub-committee found that words like “burger,” “sausage,” and “steak” to describe plant-based foods are not misleading to consumers. Indeed, the House of Lords EU Energy and Environment Sub-Committee have raised concerns that a ban on the use of such descriptors for plant-based foods would actually reduce consumer...

Earlier this week, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) announced its intent to fine British Airways £183,390 million ($230 million) and its intent to fine Marriott International more than £99 million ($123 million) for violations of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) arising out of data breaches. The ICO investigated the breaches as the lead...

In a recent Law360 article, Sheila Millar discusses a proposal from the British Information Commissioners Office (ICO) that significantly restricts how information society services deemed likely to be accessed by children must handle the data they collect, use, and share. In “UK’s Proposed Age-Appropriate Data Code Would Be Onerous” (July 3), she delves into how...

Katia Merten-Lentz provided her expertise on plant-based meat and cultured-meat for the recently published research paper Meat Analogues: Considerations for the EU. The paper was published by Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, which is a world-leading policy institute based in London whose mission is to help governments and societies build a sustainably...

This article is written by Katia Merten-Lentz and published at Food Manufacture In a paper dated 6 September 2017, the European Commission (EC) stated that if IP rights – such as those for Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), and Traditional Specialities Guaranteed (TSG) – were granted before Brexit, they should be enforceable in...

On April 6, 2018, the United Kingdom’s sugar tax on sodas and soft drinks took effect. As previously reported on this blog, several cities in the United States already tax soft drinks, as do countries like Mexico, France, and Portugal. The Soft Drinks Industry Levy applies to non-alcoholic beverages (i.e., under 1.2% ABV) with added...

On March 29, 2017, the United Kingdom (UK) officially notified its intention to leave the European Union (EU).  As of March 30, 2019, EU food law will no longer be applicable to the UK unless a possible withdrawal agreement specifies otherwise. On February 1, 2018, the European Commission published a Notice to Stakeholders on Withdrawal...

The effects of the massive cyberattack using ransomware known as “Wanna Cry” are still being felt all over the world. Tens of thousands of organizations have been infected, including the UK’s National Health Service, which ran some services on an emergency-only basis the day the attack began in earnest. Some security experts surmise that the...