One of the less popular and less investigated topics of law is the use of biocontrol agents (BCAs). Despite the general growing attention to the use of BCAs in primary production, a comprehensive regulatory framework is still lacking. When shifting to possible uses of BCAs in the following phases of the food chain, legislation is even more incomplete (and inadequate) despite the challenging opportunities they offer both for pest control and for pathogen control. The paper will provide an overview of the uses of BCAs taking into consideration all the food chain stages, the relevant partial EU regulatory scheme and its critical issues.

Compared to previous secondary legislation, Article 11 of the Digital Covid Certificates regulations was remarkably explicit in its requirement for Member States to consider scientific evidence when restricting free movement for the certificate holders. However, we argue in this Article that the regulations achieved a partial codification of the existent case law of the CJEU rather than imposing any additional requirements. Namely, the case law had already required Member States to rely on scientific evidence that reflects the international consensus, that is relevant and up to date, and that the evidence had to demonstrate by means of a risk assessment a real risk to the public health. We also discuss these findings in the light of the proportionality and precautionary principles and suggest that understanding the evolution of the EU legal order’s evidentiary requirements is useful in the light of the legislator’s claim of objective and rational policy-making procedures in public health and other crises.

Regulation is nothing without enforcement. This particularly holds for the dynamic field of emerging technologies. Hence, this article has two ambitions. First, it explains how the EU’s new Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) may be implemented and enforced by various institutional bodies, thus clarifying the governance framework of the AIA. Second, it proposes a normative governance model, providing recommendations to ensure uniform and coordinated execution of the AIA and the fulfillment of the legislation. The article explores how the AIA may be implemented by national and EU institutional bodies, encompassing longstanding bodies, such as the European Commission, and those newly established under the AIA, such as the AI Office. It investigates their roles across supranational and national levels, emphasising how EU regulations influence institutional structures and operations. These regulations may not only directly dictate the structural design of institutions but also indirectly request administrative capacities needed to enforce the AIA.

Toxic substances and endocrine disruptors are present in consumer goods on the European Union (EU) market, such as in food contact materials like cookware. This article investigates whether a legal recall obligation of such products exists in EU law, and in the absence of such an obligation, how the EU legislature has ensured that such products are disposed of in a manner that does not compromise human health and the environment when they become waste. For this purpose, this Article analyses recall obligations for food contact materials containing persistent organic pollutants, as well as their waste regulations. It focuses on a class of substances with non-stick properties, some of them formerly used in cookware, such as pentadecafluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS). We show that there is no single legal recall obligation; rather, many legal obligations are scattered among different provisions of EU law. When read together, they form a complex web of obligations, which may lead to recall measures for most of these products. However, doubts over the feasibility and effectiveness of such recalls remain.

In the European Union (EU), novel foods and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are subject to long and costly authorisation procedures and post-marketing requirements. The regulatory frameworks applicable to novel foods and GMOs come into effect based on perceived factors of risk. These “risk triggers” are characteristics of novel foods and GMOs which differentiate them from traditional foods, creating a presumption of risk. Within the EU, consumer acceptance of genetically modified foods and novel foods like insects or cultivated meat is shaped by heuristics and biases, mainly focusing on the “novelty” and “unnaturalness” of these products, resulting in a predominantly negative perception. This paper investigates the close connection between cognitive biases identified in consumer perception literature and the implementation of specific risk triggers in the regulation of novel foods and GMOs in the EU. It subsequently raises concerns about the appropriateness of these risk triggers in forming a presumption of risk for these innovative products.

A Sustainable Food System needs to be implemented through a legal framework balancing measures concerning all the aspects of sustainability (the social, economic and environmental ones), as defined by the Farm to Fork strategy.

Since environmental issues are considered a structural part of CAP regulations, a special attention shall be paid both to social and economic sustainability of agricultural and food system, as fundamental pillars for a resilient and competitive development of the primary sector.

A new “social” approach of agricultural policy takes into consideration the position of farmers (in particular, a fair revenue of their activity) and workers involved in the agricultural sector (in particular, the rights to protection and safety at work). It also involves the comprehensive rural areas, ie the social context that represents the premise to reach environmental goals of sustainability in rural territories, realised by the farmers themselves as main actors of the rural economy.

Therefore, for the future of food law, a strategic consideration of the legal framework related to people working in agriculture and agri-food sector should concern two main aspects.

On one hand, the introduction of social conditionality, establishing compliance with labour law rules, including work safety and transparency of employment conditions in agricultural labour contracts in order to receive CAP subsidies – becomes a component of the process for “safe food” through an “ethical and legal food production.”

On the other hand, it is important to consider the improvement of life conditions and services in rural areas in favour of resident citizens, the attractiveness of young farmers as well as the implementing measures for an inclusive growth.

These aspects, which make up a “social sustainability model” in the agri-food chain are strongly linked together and require a comprehensive policy regulation. This policy perspective includes a new perception of entrepreneurs and workers employed in rural areas intended for the production of food and related to the environmental protection.

One of the pillars on which product liability law is based is the defence for development risks. According to this defence, the producer is not liable for the damage caused to the injured party if, at the time the product was put into circulation, the state of scientific and technical knowledge did not allow the existence of the defect to be discovered. The Proposal for a Directive drafted by the European Commission and published on 28 September 2022 continues to provide, in Article 10.1.e), the defence for development risks. The Proposal for a Directive refers to this particular issue in Recital 39, which introduces some requirements for the assessment of such defence.

However, despite this recognition, does this defence fit into the digital paradigm, and how can it be applied to damage caused by defects in products with digital elements that incorporate artificial intelligence?

This work has the aim of dissecting the legal and policy dress designed for the new “Green” Common Agricultural Policy (CAP 2023–27) across the proposed CAP Strategic plans (CSPs) of the EU member states. The analysis is carried out through the lens of a special inquiry: the consistency and coherence between the CAP and the perspective of the Green Deal and its satellite strategies, among all the Farm to Fork Strategy (F2F) and Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, for transition to a resilient and Sustainable food system. The F2F proposes a roadmap of interventions and sets specific goals to reach such a transition. Within these interventions, a renewed CAP is the first stage through which the direction undertaken by the EU can be measured. Following the new CAP delivery model, this work will investigate the national CSPs and address the consistency of the CAP financial instruments utilised to fulfill the social, economic and environmental objectives of the CAP according to the ambition of the F2F and other key strategies.

EU food law is built on two paradigms – food safety and consumer choice. Consumers should have access to any food they like, provided that it is safe for consumption and that consumers are made aware of the products’ characteristics through adequate information. Growing emphasis on sustainability has not challenged these foundations. On the contrary, the law is intended as a tool to further empower consumers to make a healthy and environmentally responsible choice. However, it will be argued that this information centric approach is no longer a tenable position. The regulatory solutions characteristic of the consumer empowerment logic are of limited effectiveness and do not challenge the biggest obstacles to the sustainable transition of food systems – the commodification of food and the lack of regulation of the food environment. This contribution sketches out some far-reaching yet realistic food law reforms to genuinely address sustainability issues. Mindful of the special status of food and the growing discontent towards the EU and the green transition, this contribution also argues for some changes in the making and design of EU food law, leading towards greater involvement of citizens and local communities, and, ultimately, for truer empowerment of individuals.

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is designed to ensure fair and contestable digital markets. With one of the key sources of market power of big tech being data, it is not surprising that it is the subject matter of a number of DMA provisions. Article 5(2) prohibits gatekeepers from engaging in forms of accumulation and cross-use of personal data, unless they receive users’ consent, defined by reference to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Consent as defined by the GDPR suffers from a number of shortcomings, among other things, relating to whether consent can be truly freely given. The DMA tries to address some of the shortcomings by formulating a version of consent that seemingly goes beyond the GDPR. While a new version of consent may ensure greater effectiveness, it raises questions concerning the interaction and compatibility with the GDPR.

To shed light on this issue, the paper discusses the role and meaning of consent in the DMA vis-à-vis the GDPR and explores how to interpret consent under both the DMA and GDPR in a manner that is consistent with each other and that accounts for the characteristics of digital markets.

The Framework for Sustainable Food Systems law will either not be published at all or after a long delay. Whereas the first part of the article constructs an empirical and theoretical underpinning about why the EU Member States should therefore act on food sustainability, the second part focuses on what legal measures Member States can take.

In the first part, leaning on food systems thinking, we argue that in the absence of EU action in the matter, the Member States remain the most potent lever for taking regulatory action on addressing sustainability in the food system.

In the second part, the article provides an exploratory study of potential national legal instruments for making domestic food systems more sustainable, with an emphasis on the regulation of offer and consumption of foods and food environments. The article discusses the following legal instruments in the context of EU law and Member States’ room for action, with examples from a comparative perspective: public procurement purchasing by governments, product composition requirements, fiscal measures, non-fiscal pricing instruments, labelling & certification, marketing, and the regulation of private and public food environments. The article further concludes that it may prove useful to better enshrine the food sustainability paradigm in law at national level.

Fifteen years following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, this article seeks to analyse its impact on EU executive rulemaking. It delves into the constitutional concerns arising from the architecture of Articles 290 and 291 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), in particular relating to the institutional balance, the concept of implementation, the distinction between delegated and implementing acts and the legitimacy of the control mechanisms envisaged in the TFEU. The article argues that there is a need for reform and integration of Articles 290 and 291 TFEU in one Article dedicated to EU executive rulemaking, going beyond mere considerations of institutional balance. Such a reform entails a return to the essence of comitology as a general mechanism for consultation in and control of rulemaking, allowing Member States to deliberate with the Commission with a veto right for both the Parliament and the Council, embracing the idea of executive subsidiarity. It requires also to go beyond the old comitology mechanisms based on a pure interinstitutional perspective by connecting to Article 11 TEU (Treaty on European Union) and recognising the need for participatory engagement so as to enhance the legitimacy of EU executive rulemaking.

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices, as well as the Internet of Things phenomenon itself, are gaining a new group of customers every day, for whom it is almost a matter of course to use a wide range of devices, such as Internet-connected complex life support equipment or “smart” watches monitoring basic life parameters. With the growing popularity of such devices, however, questions about the safety of their users begin to arise, because almost in proportion to the number of benefits associated with the use of these products, the number of risks associated with them increases – eg improper functioning of Internet-connected life support equipment, in addition to threatening the life or health of its user, may affect the physical security of the product itself, the security of both personal and technical (eg non-personal) data processed by the specific product, or finally the cyber-security of the product. While the issues related to the protection of personal data and privacy, in general, have been discussed many times by the doctrine, the issues related to the protection of users of these devices under consumer law have not been considered much.

In this context, the question arises whether the current legal regulations provide an adequate and sufficient level of protection for IoMT users. In particular, whether the average IoMT user can actually exercise their rights under the provisions of consumer law and whether the protection afforded to him – both in terms of the scope of their rights and the scope of obligations and liability of manufacturers and suppliers of these devices – is not only illusory? In order to answer the above questions, the author will evaluate the prevailing market practices – still focused around the doctrine of “caveat emptor” or “let the buyer beware” – and compare them with these regulations and juxtapose them with relevant legal regulations. However, given the lack of geographical borders in the field of cyber security and privacy, the author will not only analyse EU cyber security legislation, but also US legislation in a comparative legal analysis. The choice of jurisdictions to be compared is also related to the size and importance of both the US and the EU for the global IoMT market. It should be noted that the United States has a dominant position in the IoMT, while the European Union is estimated to have the second largest IoMT market globally. At the same time, however, there are differences in legal systems between the two economic areas. An analysis carried out in this way will make it possible not only to answer the question posed above, but also to possibly identify those areas of regulation that need to be changed or adapted to the realities of IoMT.

Scientific consensus links dietary choices to health outcomes, highlighting the urgency to prioritise healthy food production in food systems. At the EU level, however, defining healthy food and integrating it into food governance remains a challenge, particularly regarding the inclusion of health-related characteristics in food safety assessments. While the EU primarily relies on the risk analysis principle to address food safety concerns, the process still exhibits weaknesses that hinder its direct impact on fostering a healthier food production landscape. This review demonstrates how the risk analysis process, particularly scientific opinions in risk assessment and external factors (economic and political) in risk management, impact food governance and the healthiness of food systems. We find that while external factors play a crucial role in risk management decisions by incorporating non-food safety considerations, they often stem from an imbalance of power favouring major industry and political stakeholders. This imbalance disproportionately influences decision-making, often overshadowing nutritional and health aspects. To address these challenges, we recommend directing research towards filling knowledge gaps and exploring minority scientific findings, and separating external factors from risk management’s decision-making process, to ensure that food governance prioritises public health and healthy food production.

Legal scholarship in the realm of international economic law has a blind spot: the practice of international trade. Cargo and container shipping is the blood and guts of international trade, and it is fuelled by bunker oil – a hydrocarbon mixture of the dirtiest petroleum-based products. Worryingly, there is empirical evidence of bunkers being intentionally contaminated with waste oils. This fraudulent contamination violates numerous international, national, and EU rules on waste management and poses immense risks to the health of planet and people alike. These same acts of fraud are also extremely profitable, and they facilitate the smooth functioning of our global economy. The fraud is itself not just incentivised in the tight-margins reality of international trade, but it is facilitated by the lack of proper legislation and the vulnerability of the existing means of enforcement in the areas where there is legislation to comply with. Economic operators often use falsified documents to market fuel oil that should be considered as waste. Systematic wrongdoing of this kind is detrimental to the environment and risks eroding the rule of law in both its formal and substantive conceptualisations.

The creation of a more sustainable economy is one of the main targets of the European Green Deal and the new Circular Economy Action Plan. Technological innovation is needed, among other things, to render materials, products, and production processes more sustainable. Given the goals of the European Green Deal, the regulatory concept of “Safe and Sustainable by Design” is increasingly receiving attention. The concept is (arguably) a precautionary and preventative measure that is implemented at the early stages of the design of a technology. Therefore, it is often described as a tool for lowering the risks that follow from efforts to create a more circular economy. The concept was included in the European Chemicals Strategy of the European Commission. The aim of the strategy is to accelerate progress towards the discovery of more sustainable chemicals and towards a toxicity-free environment. In this paper, we will explore the benefits and disadvantages of integrating the “Safe and Sustainable by Design” concept into the regulation of technology. As a form of regulation by technology, this concept can enhance sustainability. We will first describe the origins of the concept and its current use. Then, we will analyse its implications for the circular economy.

Public and political controversies over Investor–State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) have prompted reform processes in international investment law, at bilateral, regional and multilateral levels, with different actors shaping the future of international investment governance. In its essence, the options for the ISDS reform reflect the diverging perspectives on the rule of law in international law. Ultimately, they present a choice about who should control power over States’ action in issues of public importance – the States who have created the system, or international investment tribunals who have shaped the legal development of the system. This paper considers the application of the rule of law as a normative meta-principle to international investment law and its dispute settlement, and it sheds light on different perspectives of this concept, as they shape the ongoing ISDS reform(s).

Since its inception, the inter-state dispute settlement system of the World Trade Organisation has generally been praised for effectively protecting the rule of law in international trade relations. While the relatively recent dismantling of this system does not necessarily mean the end of the WTO nor of the binding nature of its rules, the current crisis may be a good opportunity to reconsider the role of the rule of law in international trade relations and the ways in which it could further be accommodated. One suggestion, occasionally raised in the past, would be strengthening the enforcement of WTO rules by opening it to private action, either before national courts or through international adjudication. After all, the latter has been widely available to foreign investors covered by thousands of international investment agreements in force for decades. This contribution recalls the reasons behind the current lack of private enforcement of WTO law and argues that developments in international trade relations and experiences with investor-state dispute settlement are likely to work against rather than in favor of its introduction in the foreseeable future. Increased transparency and institutionalisation of non-state actors’ role in trade enforcement is therefore recommended instead.

Digitalisation has changed traders’ possibilities of influencing the autonomy of consumer choice in the digital environment. The digital market of the European Union involves a wide spectrum of commercial practices – such as dark and addictive patterns, target advertising and personalisation – that nudge consumers to take decisions that are not in their favour. One of the main aims of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005 is to protect the freedom of consumer decision-making. However, currently, the Directive’s capacity to safeguard consumer choice in the digital environment is not sufficiently effective. Through the lens of law prohibiting unfair commercial practices, this article analyses the means available to consumer courts to strengthen consumer decision-making autonomy in the digital environment. The article argues that regulation of prohibition of unfair commercial practices regarding the digital environment should be modernised by obliging – in certain circumstances – national courts ex officio to assess violations of fair commercial practices and by reversing the burden of argumentation and proof.