• Press
  • Offices
  • Contact
  • Legal notice
  • EN
  • UPC
  • Firm
    • Main Focus
    • History
    • Guiding Principle
    • Awards and Rankings
  • Our Practice
    • Legal Areas
    • Industries
  • Our Team
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
    • UPC-Update
    • IP-Update
    • Brexit-Update
    • Publications
    • B&B Bulletin
  • Career
    • Working with us
  • Menu Menu
FIND EXPERTS
  • UPC
  • Firm
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
    • UPC-Update
    • IP-Update
    • Brexit-Update
    • Publications
    • B&B Bulletin
  • FIND EXPERTS
  • Contact
  • Our Practice
  • Career
  • Offices
  • EN
  • Legal Areas
  • Industries
  • Working with us

Health Claims Regulation: The use of trademarks containing health claims finally banned

1. December 2021/in Issue December 2021, Trade Marks

As of 20 January 2022, the use of trademarks containing health claims will be definitively prohibited.

Many products are advertised by the food industry as having health benefits. Margarine were “low in cholesterol” and dried fruits would “promote digestion.” Even in the case of sweets, the vitamin content is emphasised. By doing so, it is intended to provide incentives to buy. Many consumers are willing to spend more money on “healthy” foods.

Increased consumer protection through the Health Claims Regulation

Due to the risk of misleading consumers about alleged health effects, the European legislator passed the Health Claims Regulation (Regulation (EC) 1924/2006) in 2006. It regulates the requirements for nutrition and health claims on foods. The Regulation has a wide scope of application. The term “claim” includes any labelling or advertising of the product that declares or even implies that a food has positive nutritional characteristics or that establishes a link between the food and health.

Nutrition claims are only permitted if they are truthful. The Health Claims Regulation lists over 200 common claims such as “sugar-free” or “low-fat” and sets limits for the product name. For example, if a product contains less than 0.5 g of sugar per 100 g, it may be advertised as “sugar-free”.

Health claims are generally prohibited under the Regulation. Products may not simply be associated with a specific health effect (“helps strengthen the immune system”). However, there is the option of going through an approval procedure at the German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL). In 2012, the EU additionally adopted another regulation (Regulation (EU) No. 432/2012), which contains a list of permitted health claims for foods. According to this Regulation, a product with a specified minimum calcium content, for example, may refer to its positive influence on bone preservation.

Need for action by trademark owners

Word and figurative marks are also to be understood as identification of the product. Therefore, they may not readily contain nutrition or health claims such as “low carb” (Hamburg Court of Appeals, 24.04.2014 – 3 W 27/14 ). Terms such as “vital”, “fit” or “healthy” are also affected. A well-known German drugstore chain found themselves forced to rename its own brand “Das gesunde Plus” to “Mivolis” due to the Health Claim Regulation.

To protect trademark owners, the Health Claims Regulation contains a transitional provision. According to Art. 27(2), products with trademark protection existing before 1 January 2005 (also by virtue of reputation or renown) may be marketed until 19 January 2022. Only from 20 January 2022, the requirements of the Regulation will also be applying to these trademarks. Trademark owners who nevertheless use trade names that are prohibited under the Health Claims Regulation after 19 January 2022 face the risk of warnings and official measures.

In this context, trademark owners from the food industry should conduct a review of their older trademarks.

Authors: Dr. Andreas Dustmann, Attorney at Law, and Tim Stripling, Research Assistant

 

/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/boehmert_logo.svg 0 0 Petra Hettenkofer /wp-content/uploads/2022/04/boehmert_logo.svg Petra Hettenkofer2021-12-01 11:07:302022-08-24 13:46:58Health Claims Regulation: The use of trademarks containing health claims finally banned

Author

Dr. Andreas Dustmann, LL.M.

Contents

More articles

  • GDPR - New Standard Contractual Clauses 1. December 2021
  • Protection of the Swiss Army Knife 1. December 2021
  • From Artworks and Copy­rights, NFTs make their way into… 1. December 2021

More Articles

GDPR - New Standard Contractual Clauses 01. December 2021
Protection of the Swiss Army Knife 01. December 2021
From Artworks and Copy­rights, NFTs make their way into Inventions and Patents 01. December 2021
Recent German Court Decisions and Legislation shape the future of Euro­pean Patent Litigation 01. December 2021
G 4/19 – Confirmation of the prohibition of double patenting before the EPO 01. December 2021

Menu

  • Firm
  • Our Practice
  • Career
  • News & Events
  • FIND EXPERTS

Informations

  • Press
  • Contact
  • Legal notice
  • Data Protection
  • General Terms and Conditions
  • Contact

Legal Areas

  • Employee Inventions
  • Data Protection
  • Designs
  • Domains
  • Information Technology
  • Anti-Trust
  • Licensing
  • Trade Marks
  • Patent Valuation
  • Patents & Utility Models
  • Patent Litigation
  • Product Piracy
  • Copyright
  • Unfair Competition

© Copyright 2023– BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT

Scroll to top
Cookie settings Cookie settings

We need your consent before you can continue to use our website.


If you are under 16 and wish to give your consent to volunteer services, you must ask your parent or guardian for permission. We use cookies and other technologies on our website. Some of them are essential, while others provide you with more advanced information. For more information about how we use your data, please see our Data Protection Policy. There is no obligation to consent to the processing of your data in order to use this offer. You can revoke or adjust your selection at any time under Settings. Please note that due to individual settings, not all functions of the website may be available.

Cookie settings

Accept all cookies

Save settings

Accept only essential cookies

Individual data protection settings

Cookie details Privacy policy Legal notice

Cookie settings Cookie settings

If you are under 16 and wish to give your consent to volunteer services, you must ask your parent or guardian for permission. We use cookies and other technologies on our website. Some of them are essential, while others provide you with more advanced information. For more information about how we use your data, please see our Data Protection Policy. There is no obligation to consent to the processing of your data in order to use this offer. Please note that due to individual settings, not all functions of the website may be available. Here you can find an overview of all cookies used. You can give your consent to entire categories or view more information and thus select only certain cookies.

Accept all cookies Save settings Accept essential cookies only

Back

Cookie settings

Essential cookies enable basic functions and are necessary for the proper functioning of the website.

Display cookie information Hide cookie information

Name
Provider Borlabs GmbH, Legal notice
Purpose Stores the settings of the visitors selected in the Cookie Box of Borlabs Cookie.
Data protection policy https://borlabs.io/privacy/
Cookie name borlabs-cookie
Cookie duration 1 year

Privacy policy Legal notice