Search for:
Author

Dr. Andreas Neumann LL.M.

Browsing
Dr. Andreas Neumann is admitted as an attorney-at-law in the jurisdictions of Austria, Germany and New York. He is a senior associate of Baker McKenzie’s Public Law Practice Group in Frankfurt. Prior to joining the Firm in October 2015, he gained four years of professional experience as an associate in one of Austria's leading business law firms. In this function, Andreas counseled major international enterprises in the pharmaceutical and telecommunication industries in trade law and regulatory matters. Andreas also spent nine months as a judicial clerk at various sections of the Salzburg District and Regional Court.

On 4 December 2024, the Federal Cabinet adopted the comprehensive German National Circular Economy Strategy (NCES). The NCES bundles all of Germany’s goals and measures on the path to a holistic circular economy with the “Circularity Made in Germany” seal. The implementation of the NCES includes the following: The establishment of a circular economy platform involving all stakeholders; the development of a Roadmap 2030 to concretize the goals and measures formulated in the NCES; the establishment of a monitoring and evaluation system as well as resolutions on financing. The initiative offers numerous opportunities for companies to make their business models and production processes more sustainable.

On 13 December 2024, the new Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety (GPSR) will finally apply in all EU Member States, replacing the current Directive 2001/95/EC on general product safety.
The GPSR addresses risks related to new technologies and online trading, covering a wide range of products. It represents the most comprehensive reform of European product safety law in over 20 years and will impact most economic operators (manufacturers, importers, distributors, fulfillment service providers, etc.) in the EU market.

Since 18 February 2024, most parts of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 concerning batteries and waste batteries (“Batteries Regulation”) apply in all EU Member States. The new Regulation repeals and replaces the existing Batteries Directive (2006/66/EC) and seeks to make all batteries placed on the EU market more durable, safe, sustainable, and efficient. It significantly expands the extended producer responsibility (EPR) regime created by the existing Directive by introducing more detailed mandatory design, content and conformity assessment requirements aimed at ensuring the sustainability and circularity of batteries.

In our final week of the Annual Compliance conference, we focussed on key issues being faced by companies on ESG, supply chain and product compliance. Specifically, we discussed the new legal landscape in the EU and UK on product compliance and liability, supply chain due diligence trends and developments, and how to manage environmental, social and governance risks and increasing legislation in the US, UK and EU aimed at cracking down on vague, misleading, or unsubstantiated green claims.

We are pleased to present you with the latest update of Product Risk Radar (linked to https://www.globalcompliancenews.com/product-risk-radar/), our online content hub that covers the latest important legal developments in product regulatory and liability risk. The diverse range of articles helps you navigate the increasingly challenging landscape of the newest legal…

On 1 January 2021, a revised version of the German Batteries Act (Batteriegesetz, “BattG”) entered into force. This change was triggered by the fact that the former German system of battery take-back was no longer sustainable. The former legal structure had imposed an unfair burden upon GRS Batterien, Europe’s largest collection scheme, which had become increasingly financially unattractive and therefore had been abandoned by many battery manufacturers who had set up their own take-back schemes.

The German Federal Ministry of the Environment has published a draft bill for a “Single-Use Plastic Fund Act”. The bill transposes the extended producer responsibility requirements as set out in Art. 8 para. 1 to 7 of the Single-use Plastic Directive into German law. In the future, manufacturers of single-use plastic products must cover the costs of waste collection, cleaning up litter resulting from those products and the subsequent transport and treatment of such litter.

Please join us for upcoming webinars on important developments in the Consumer Goods & Retail industry. Please note that the webinar series will be held in German only

What has happened?

In 2017, the German Parliament amended the German Road Traffic Act (Straßenverkehrsgesetz, “StVG”) to allow the use of vehicles equipped with Level 3 automated steering systems on public roads. Such automated systems allow the driver to disengage from the act of driving while the vehicle is operated by the automated steering system. Level 3 is, however, limited to specific situations and the driver must be able to regain control upon request from the system.

Four years later, in February 2021, the German Federal Government went a step further and adopted a draft bill including Level 4 autonomous driving as an option when participating in public traffic. Level 4 describes fully automated driving where the vehicle’s driving system is fully capable of handling all driving functions without requiring human interaction. However, in difficult driving conditions, a human driver may have to take over control of the vehicle. Germany would be the first country in the world allowing to operate such level 4-enabled vehicles on public roads.