Posts Tagged ‘Retail’

The BIS Committee launch inquiry into the retail sector

Friday, March 15th, 2013

The Business, Innovation and Skills Committee are to launch an inquiry into Britain’s retail industry. The inquiry comes after the collapse of a number of major high street retailers in the past few months.

The Committee will examine the Government’s support for the industry – in particular its response to the Portas Review.

It has been reported that the £10m government fund, set up last year to help revive the high street has barely been touched – reports suggesting as little as 7% of the money has actually been spent.

Councils have been criticised for sitting on the money rather than using it to deal with the crisis.

The Committee will also explore the “impact of on-line sales and direct sales on high street retailers”.

Its findings could help highlight the issues faced by the retail sector; however whether these issues are actually addressed remains to be seen…

Posted by Claire Gay, who specialises in retail property, dealing with acquisitions, disposals and management of retail, leisure and warehouse properties.

Claire Gay

Claire Gay
0115 976 6145
cgay@brownejacobson.com

Tests ordered on ALL beef products

Monday, February 11th, 2013

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has ordered UK food companies to test all processed beef foods for the presence of any significant levels of horse meat.

It came after Comigel, a French food supplier, alerted Findus and Aldi that their products “do not conform to specification”.

Findus beef lasagne was found to contain up to 100% horse meat. The Chief Executive of the FSA called it “an appalling situation”. Retail giant Tesco and discount chain Aldi have withdrawn a range of ready meals produced by Comigel.

Despite the FSA saying “even if someone eats contaminated meat, the risk of damage to their health is very low”, the ramifications for retailers that have found some of their products containing horse meat are vast. At the very heart of food legislation is a requirement to know what is in a product so that customers are provided with appropriate product information. This exposure highlights a very costly failing to do just that.

Posted by Nina Best, who specialises in regulatory matters; entertainment licensing; advertising and marketing law; advice and representation on infringement of Food Safety Manufacturing Product Regulations.

Nina Best

Nina Best
0115 976 6529
nbest@brownejacobson.com

HMV makes a U-turn on gift cards

Thursday, January 24th, 2013

Following my blog earlier this week it is good to see that HMV have done the decent thing and are now accepting gift vouchers after administrators assessed the company’s financial position.

Last year, Comet made a similar U-turn when it entered administration.

Unfortunately there is no legal obligation on a business to accept gift cards after entering administration and any decision to redeem the vouchers will very much depend on their individual financial position. In any case, I imagine that consumers will be rather more wary about where they buy vouchers from after this week’s activities…..

Posted by Sarah Parkinson, who specialises in property development and retail; heads up commercial property development practice, dealing with complex projects and commercial property transactions, including options and development agreements.

Sarah Parkinson

Sarah Parkinson
0115 976 6575
sparkinson@brownejacobson.com

Responses received to Government’s proposed reform of design regime

Friday, January 11th, 2013

The Government has published a summary of responses to its consultation on the Reform of the UK Designs Legal Framework. The proposed reforms include improving the enforcement regime to promote better understanding of rights, resolving uncertainties around the scope of protection, simplifying laws and improving the provision of information.

Responses indicate that many involved in product design struggle to understand the current UK/community registered and unregistered design rights regime, choosing to rely on the unregistered design right (UDR) and unregistered Community design right (UCD) rather than registered protection.  The majority of respondents were in favour of simplifying and harmonising UDR and UCD including chanaging the UDR qualification requirements to match those for UCD.

The responses show the need to simplify and harmonize the design regime as a whole and, as between the different UK and community design right rights, so that designers can select the best type of protection based on their design and business requirements.

Lauren Millward

Lauren Millward
0115 908 4864
lmillward@brownejacobson.com

American Apparel reminded not to sexualise young models

Wednesday, December 5th, 2012

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint that images on American Apparel’s website were irresponsible and offensive.

The ASA said the model used on the site looked under the age of 16. Whilst it acknowledged that the poses were not overtly sexual, it considered the images could be seen to sexualise a model who appeared to be a child. Under the advertising rules such action is considered inappropriate and irresponsible.

This isn’t the first time that American Apparel has been on the receiving end of a negative adjudication by the ASA. Last time, the advertising watchdog banned the retailer’s ad campaign after brandishing it “pornographic, exploitative ..and inappropriately sexualis[ing] young women”. Given the sensitive nature of the advertisements, the retailer needs to tread carefully going forward: The ASA has close links with the Office of Fair Trading, a body with bigger teeth than itself. It may decide to refer American Apparel’s behaviour to the Regulator who has more ammunition in its armoury to tackle the arguably irresponsible advertising.

Posted by Nina Best, who specialises in regulatory matters; entertainment licensing; advertising and marketing law; advice and representation on infringement of Food Safety Manufacturing Product Regulations.

Nina Best

Nina Best
0115 976 6529
nbest@brownejacobson.com