Global Advisory Powerhouse
Gleiss Lutz’s Product Compliance Hub offers clients comprehensive advice on products of all categories across their entire lifecycle. Led by partners Eric Wagner and Marc Ruttloff, and underpinned by our integrated full service approach, our team of experienced advisers develop unparalleled, robust solutions that cover all legal bases.
product.compliance.bites
Marc Ruttloff and Eric Wagner explore engaging topics and talk to a variety of guests about the latest legal trends and developments.
Facts and Figures
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More than 20 experienced Gleiss Lutz product compliance experts
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Global network of partner law firms with lawyers in over 150 jurisdictions
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Regular coordination of global recalls (often in more than 80 jurisdictions)
Our Track Record
Focus Areas
Integrating Product Compliance into your corporate culture
Product compliance fundamentals
Product compliance is essential for companies engaged in the manufacture, import, retail sale and distribution of products or related services. It is also their licence to play. Product compliance is not just about complying with laws and standards, but also about ensuring that products meet the high expectations held by customers and society in general. That can involve numerous challenges:
- Global reach requires compliance with multiple international standards and guidelines
- Implementing product compliance in compliance structures, business processes and company culture
- The increasing significance of fields related to product compliance, such as ESG and digitalisation
€1 product – €100 million in losses
Recalls and crisis management
In the global trade of sometimes complex products, robust risk management and proactive crisis response are critical to ensuring product standards are met and to enabling the appropriate response to crises. Crisis situations are particularly challenging for any company and require a well-devised strategy based on holistic analysis.
- Investigation and technical root-cause and risk analysis
- (RAPEX) risk assessment
- General risk and crisis management
- Safety warnings & market surveillance procedures
- Communications strategy
- Global product recalls
Navigating increasing regulation density
Product requirements
To ensure their products comply with the applicable regulations, companies have to navigate a complex network of product conformity requirements. Identifying the relevant product requirements from the vast array of laws and regulations is crucial.
- General product requirements: product liability, product safety law, accreditation and certification law
- Type and category-specific product requirements
- Special requirements for digital products and cybersecurity
- Product stewardship and sustainability (including packaging and waste, circular economy and sustainable design, accessibility, ecodesign)
- Product supply chain due diligence
Trust and control
Quality management and safety
Effective quality management is essential. After all, the quality of a product increasingly determines the success of a company. Quality management not only ensures high quality – it also minimises potential product liability risk.
- Close monitoring and agile modification of company processes
- Comprehensive quality management
- Implementation of safety requirements
- Quality assurance agreements and other contractual safeguards
At the core of every product
Supply chain compliance
Supply chains are the backbone of today’s global economy. As their operations become more complex and their market reach increases, companies bear growing responsibility across the supply chain – responsibility for the environment, and responsibility for human rights. The legal framework is constantly evolving and presenting companies with new challenges.
- General (international) sale of goods and contract law
- ESG-compliant supply chain structuring
- (National) supply chain due diligence law
- Product supply chain due diligence
Balancing risk and consumer protection
Product Litigation
As products become increasingly sophisticated, the risk of defective products also grows – potentially resulting in complicated, costly legal disputes. Product litigation proceedings can be challenging not only due to their size and complexity, but also as a result of the increasing industrialisation of litigation. We always aim to avert litigation from the outset, and work decisively to resolve disputes that cannot be avoided.
- Mass litigation
- Follow-on litigation (pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages)
- Recourse disputes
- ESG litigation
- Defence in investigation proceedings
- Exceptional efficiency through market-leading legal-tech expertise
- Insurance and official proceedings
Thought Leadership
Our teams publish extensively, work collaboratively across disciplines, and keep close contact with stakeholders in the development of legal standards. We make use of specialist publications, online media, and give talks, presentations and lectures to share expertise and steer the discourse. We strive to be prominent and forward-thinking thought leaders, actively shaping the future of the field.
Highlights
- Secured numerous groundbreaking decisions (including the “nursing bed” judgment)
- Recognised as leading experts in commercial and product liability in all major rankings (JUVE, Chambers, Legal500, Who’s Who/Lexology, Wirtschaftswoche, The Best Lawyers/Handelsblatt, and more)
- The first handbook and standard work on Germany’s Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains in corporate practice (“Das Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz in der Unternehmenspraxis”) (Wagner|Ruttloff|Wagner)
- Schucht/Weber’s concise commentary on the new General Product Safety Regulation (Wagner|Ruttloff)
- Metaverse & Law handbook (“Metaverse & Recht”), also the first German handbook in this area (Wagner|Holm-Hadulla|Ruttloff)
- Commentary of the entire sale of goods law in Prütting/Wegen/Weinreich’s standard commentary on the German Civil Code (Wagner)
- Nusser/Fehse’s “Das neue Öködesign-Recht” (“The New Ecodesign Law”) handbook on the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (Wagner|Ruttloff|Burchert)
- Skauradszun’s commentary of the Consumer Rights Enforcement Act (“Verbraucherrechtedurchsetzungsgesetz” (VDuG)) (Wagner)
- Regular publication in leading journals (NJW, Der Betrieb, ESG, and more)
- Editorship and publication of the monthly legal journal for sustainable management “ESG – Rechtszeitschrift für nachhaltige Unternehmensführung” (Wagner|Ruttloff)
- Germany’s leading product compliance podcast, “product.compliance.bites”, with new episodes monthly (Wagner|Ruttloff)
- Leading LinkedIn group for ESG with around 1,000 members (Wagner|Ruttloff|Rothenburg)
- Organising the German Association of Corporate Lawyers (BUJ)’s annual product compliance summit (Wagner|Ruttloff)
- Annual ESG conference under the auspices of publishers C.H. Beck (Wagner|Ruttloff)
- Co-leading the drafting of the IBA’s worldwide metaverse guidelines (Wagner|Ruttloff)
- Legal tech tool for assessing your company’s product compliance risk: Product Compliance Awareness Check
Tools & Resources
>> Awareness Check
Click here for our Product Compliance Awareness Check>> LinkedIn group
Keep up to date on ESG, supply chain compliance, CSR, due diligence, human rights and sustainability>> Podcast
Listen to ourproduct.compliance.bites podcast here
