German and European lawmakers place particularly stringent requirements on businesses in the food industry with regard to the distribution, marketing and packaging of their products. Some product-specific food law requirements must be met, such as the German cocoa act and the European health claims directive. Depending on the product, drug law aspects may have to be followed; disregarding these usualy constitute a violation of competition laws.

The distribution of drugs, medicinal products and cosmetics must be in accordance with various special regulations. The drug advertising law may be just as significant here as special provisions on the way products are labeled and advertised. The limits of various product groups and thus the applicable regulations are often blurred. We take such problems into consideration in our counseling prior to product launches as well as in contract drafting and in litigation.