On 12.05.2020 at lunchtime an entertaining “Lunch Talk” between Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoeren and Dr. Reiner Münker on the subject of “Corona and the UWG” took place via livestream via Zoom and YouTube, in which well over 1200 interested people took part. Dr. Münker is the managing director of the competition headquarters and thus an expert in the field of competition law. The discussion focused in particular on the current working methods of the Competition headquarters and how to deal with infringements related to the Corona pandemic.
Dr. Münker reported on numerous cases in which the Corona pandemic has certainly been used for abusive advertising. In particular in the area of foodstuffs, food supplements or medicines, the special effect of products to combat the corona virus was emphasised, the extent of which has mostly not been scientifically proven. In the cases mentioned, it was therefore often a question of misleading the consumer, which is prohibited by the UWG, the Health Claims Regulation (HCVO), the Food Information Regulation (LMIV) or other more specific regulations. In addition, the interaction of the UWG with the emergency regulations of the individual countries, the particularities around the topic of tying offers and the handling of significantly increased prices were discussed.
In between, Dr. Münker repeatedly answered questions from the participants, who were able to ask them in the chat.
At the end of the chat, Prof. Dr. Hoeren thanked Dr. Münker once again, and the audience also liked the new format very much. Therefore, there will be further “Lunch Talks” organised by ITM in the future, which will take up a current topic in short lectures and discussions.
The event information on this will be published on the ITM homepage in good time.
A summary of the seminar can be found here.
