FoodLegal Bulletin Foreword February 2012

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A warm welcome to this February issue of FoodLegal Bulletin. And what an exciting year 2012 is shaping up to be.

From 1 July 2012, Australia's economy is going to be impacted by a price on carbon emissions. All of Australia's major corporations, including food companies, are exploring how to absorb this impact into their pricing and marketing. Meanwhile, government agencies, such as the ACCC, are already scrutinising eco-marketing claims.  

New laws present a multitude of risks and opportunities in marketing the "environmentally-friendly" aspects of your product or company. Register for this month's Going Green intensive workshop. You will benefit from an in-depth examination of environmental claims for fast moving consumer goods, be brought up to speed on marketing laws, and learn about relevant "Clean Energy" legislation requirements coming at you.  

Digital technology is developing at a pace that has government struggling to keep up. Our subscriber-only article "Will mobile technology development render health claims regulation useless?" considers the regulatory impact of new developments in barcode scanning and mobile phone technology. These technologies are opening up new lines of advertising that potentially bypass legal restrictions and prohibitions.

 Subscribers to FoodLegal Bulletin can also access our latest articles on Risks in innovative marketing copy: "Roaming" vs "Ranging" and the different regulatory restrictions on making "-free" claims. For the technologically minded, our article on Divergent Approaches on the Flavour Route explains the Australian and international regulatory approaches to flavouring classification and labelling.

Freely accessible for all is our discussion of recent failures in the "Name and Shame" Register systems. Incidentally, FoodLegal's comments were the subject of a recent editorial in Melbourne's Herald Sun and Channel 10 and Channel 7 interviews. And, of course, we bring you up to speed with Current Developments.

We look forward to working with you in 2012.

Joe Lederman
Editor, Managing Principal FoodLegal