ARTICLE
25 June 2025

Client Update: May 2025 - Intellectual Property And Consumer Protection Law

AC
Arthur Cox

Contributor

Arthur Cox is one of Ireland’s leading law firms. For almost 100 years, we have been at the forefront of developments in the legal profession in Ireland. Our practice encompasses all aspects of corporate and business law. The firm has offices in Dublin, Belfast, London, New York and Silicon Valley.
The Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Network of national consumer authorities and the European Commission notified Shein of several practices on its platform that infringe EU consumer law.
Ireland Consumer Protection

Consumer Protection – Enforcement - Shein

DATE OF UPDATE: 26 May 2025

LINKS: Commission and national authorities urge SHEIN to respect EU consumer protection laws

CURRENT STATUS

The Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Network of national consumer authorities and the European Commission notified Shein of several practices on its platform that infringe EU consumer law. The online marketplace and e-retailer must respond within one month to the CPC Network's findings and propose commitments on how they will address the identified consumer law issues.

WHY IS THIS APPLICABLE TO CLIENTS?

The consumer law obligations that the CPC Network is invoking can be found in the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, the Consumer Rights Directive, the Price Indication Directive, and the e-Commerce Directive, which have been transposed into Irish law.

Intellectual Property Protection and Enforcement

DATE OF UPDATE: 22 May 2025

LINKS: Register of Commission Documents - SWD(2025)131

CURRENT STATUS

The Commission published a Staff Working Document 'Report on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in third countries'.

The main objective of the Report is to identify third countries in which the state of IPR protection and enforcement gives rise to the greatest level of concern for the EU. It establishes an updated list of so called "priority countries", which are those where deficiencies are deemed to cause the greatest economic harm to EU interests.

WHY IS THIS APPLICABLE TO CLIENTS?

Among other things, the report aims to inform rightholders about potential risks to their IPR when engaging in business activities in certain third countries and thus to allow them to design business strategies and operations to protect the value of their intangibles.

NEXT STEPS

Review the Report where of relevance to client's business activities.

Consumer Agenda 2025-2030

DATE OF UPDATE: 19 May 2025

IMPLEMENTATION/DEADLINE DATE: The feedback period closes on 11 August 2025.

LINKS: Consumer Agenda 2025-2030 and action plan on consumers in the Single Market

EU Consumer Protection – New Principles for Virtual Currencies in Video Games

EU Digital Fairness Fitness Check Shines Light on Deceptive Pattern s

CURRENT STATUS

The Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, Michael McGrath, has been tasked to present a Consumer Agenda 2025-2030. This should include an action plan on consumers in the Single Market, to ensure consumers do not face unfair discrimination, keep benefits when crossing borders and are protected when buying goods or services.

A consultation has been launched to gather feedback and input from stakeholders to inform the development of the priority areas and actions.

WHY IS THIS APPLICABLE TO CLIENTS?

The action plan aims to target several gaps in consumer legislation and will be of interest to organisations supplying products and services to consumers, to include online games or other non-intermediated content.

This article contains a general summary of developments and is not a complete or definitive statement of the law. Specific legal advice should be obtained where appropriate.

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