after release of this video the deadline of June 30th 2022 has been extended to December 31st 2022!

This is important news for companies, which sell products in the EU, but also for consumers. Packaging is boxes, bottles, jars, baskets and generally all those containers for products bought by consumers.

The origin of the issue comes from the EU Directive 851 of 2018, which has also been transposed into Italian law, defined as the “environmental labelling standard”. The aim of this legislation is to ensure that product packaging is reused as much as possible as part of the so-called circular economy.

For all packaging, therefore, an obligation has been introduced to identify the packaging materials by means of identification markings, as set out in Decision 129/97/EC, and to indicate how they can be recycled. For paper packaging, for example, there will be the abbreviation PAP followed by a number. Given the variety of packaging, the standard takes up the principle of accountability, and it is therefore possible that companies' solutions will vary, but all will be suitable for achieving the intended purpose.

Sometimes products are so small that it is difficult to add other indications on the labels: then the regulation provides that a QR code can be print, with a link to a web page, where all the information is available to the consumer.

These new indications had to be in place on products already on sale by 31st December 2021, but at the end of last year this deadline was extended to 30th June 2022 and then to 31^st December 2022. However, even after that date, companies can sell products that are already on the market or that are already labelled on 1st January 2023, even though they do not have the environmental labelling requirements, until stocks are sold out.

Given that the extension came at the last minute, it is quite possible that products bearing the new packaging recycling information are already on the market.

It is important for companies to know that these are mandatory rules and that failure to comply with them will result in heavy fines. But with the deadline being extended to 30th June 2022, it is to be expected that everyone will comply, to take another step in the direction of a greener economy.

updated June 2022

Will your social networks be disclosed to your relatives? -

With the widespread use of digital data in the most diverse spheres, the question increasingly arises: if the holder is deceased or has become incapacitated, who can obtain all the digital data of the person in question from the various entities, banks, social networks, health facilities?

The question is not one of mere entertainment, but concerns different and broad spheres of personal rights, economic and property rights as well as personality rights.

A practical solution that I suggest, is to collect access keys and passwords for loved ones in a special document: one can also think of indicating them in the will. This allows family members to access and dispose of the data. But what happens if this is not done? Who has access?

The solution adopted consistently in recent years by the Italian courts is to apply a specific rule, introduced in 2018 and namely Article 2-terdecies, of Legislative Decree 196/2003, according to which a person's rights can be claimed, in his absence, by those who have an interest of their own, or by those acting on his behalf as a proxy, or even by those acting on his behalf for family reasons worthy of protection. Moreover, the same rule prevents these third parties from accessing the digital data, if the person in question has expressly forbidden it.

Starting with the latter statement, it is reassuring to know that any of us can decide not to allow our heirs access to our digital data, especially the most confidential and personal data.

It is equally reassuring that the Italian courts, with the specificities of each individual case, normally grant this right to third parties, relatives or heirs, of the deceased person, in the event that they request not only to have access to, but also to dispose of and keep all the digital data of the person in question. This has important implications, since even after death a relative can for instance obtain the medical records of the deceased. Another case is social security and pension data, held by public and private bodies, which can be used to obtain survivor's pensions or other benefits.

To the question of what to do in this matter, that I was asked recently, I can give the same answer here as well: be aware of your digital identity, data and digital assets and think in advance about what you would like to do with them, when you won’t be around. Like family jewellery.

updated July 2022

Der Europäische Gerichtshof (EuGH) hat am Donnerstag die Beschwerde der Schweiz gegen die deutsche Verordnung zum Flugverkehr aus dem Jahr 2003 in letzter Instanz abgewiesen. Seit im Jahr 2003 das Nachtflugverbot in Kraft getreten ist, dürfen Flugzeuge im Anflug auf Zürich wochentags zwischen 21 und 07 Uhr und an Wochenenden und Feiertagen zwischen 20 und 09 Uhr nicht mehr über deutsches Gebiet fliegen. Die Schweiz hatte gegen dieses Nachtflugverbot geklagt.

Das höchste EU-Gericht wies diese Klage mit der Begründung ab, dass Verbote und Beschränkungen für den Anflug über deutsches Hoheitsgebiet nicht gegen das Luftverkehrsabkommen zwischen der Schweiz und der EU verstoßen. Bereits im September letzten Jahres empfahl der Gutachter des Gerichts die Klage abzuweisen.

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