Joanna Krakowiak | In Principle

On 17 February 2017 the president of the Agricultural Market Agency issued a set of instructions entitled “Conditions for Monitoring of Contracts for Supply of Agricultural Products.” The document includes guidelines for the content and procedure for conclusion of such contracts and the rules for monitoring compliance with the obligation to conclude contracts in writing between buyers, sellers and intermediaries trading in agricultural products in Poland.

It has generally been assumed that sectors like finance, energy and transport are most at risk for attacks by cyber criminals. But according to forecasts by Europol, in 2017 sensitive medical data of patients stored in poorly secured hospital systems will be in the front lines of cyberattacks. Blocking of the IT system or leaking of patient data can disrupt the work of a medical unit to such a degree that it is unable to treat patients until it pays a heavy ransom to cyber criminals. Is it possible to protect against such a scenario?

Consumers and producers alike complain that labels on food products are hard to understand. Could the solution for crowding in too much information be an electronic label where data of interest to the consumer could be checked using a smartphone app?

An interview with Prof. Małgorzata Korzycka of the Department of Agricultural Law at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw on barriers to free movement of goods on the EU food market, and the growing role of private food law.

Apart from information about food products required by law, food producers may include optional information on labels concerning the characteristics of the product. Typically not much additional information is provided, because after inclusion of the mandatory data there’s not much room left on the label. This makes selection and verification of this additional information particularly important. Well-chosen additional information can help sell the product, but poorly chosen information can generate serious legal problems.

After more than two years of discussions, the Food Safety and Nutrition Amendment Act concerning children’s nutrition at schools was enacted on 28 November 2014. The new law, which comes into force on 1 September 2015, aims to eliminate unhealthy food from school shops and prohibit the promotion of unhealthy foods within educational institutions.

The European Medicines Agency has adopted a policy of proactive publication of reports from clinical trials. The rule of transparency of clinical results is to be implemented starting 1 January 2015, and the first publications should coincide with entry into force of the EU’s new Clinical Trials Regulation, scheduled for 28 May 2016. What will the new rules mean in practice?

An interview with Katarzyna Wójcicka, chair of the Expert Council of the Polish Council for Supplements and Nutritional Foods (KRSiO), and Joanna Krakowiak, chair of the Ethics Committee of KRSiO and legal adviser in the Life Science and Regulatory Practice of Wardyński & Partners.

A dispute over the documentation to the medicine Esbriet shows how much controversy is stirred up by the disclosure of registration documents for medicines to third parties. How to balance the interests of innovative pharmaceutical companies, manufacturers of cheaper generics, and doctors who seek full knowledge of the safety and efficacy of the drugs they prescribe?

The dynamic growth in market share of functional foods calls for a critical review of myths that have arisen around R&D projects in the food sector.

The Polish parliament is currently discussing draft amendments to the Law on Food Safety and Nutrition which aims to eliminate unhealthy food from school shops and to prohibit all forms of promotion of unhealthy foods within educational institutions.

In times of fierce market competition, it is becoming increasingly attractive to construct advertising campaigns that contain superlatives, in particular regarding market leadership.