Legal News Board
Emily Longstaff
Dear Retailer,
I hope that this email finds you well. We have received a complaint from representatives on behalf of Volkswagen AG that products are being sold on the Fruugo website that infringe its intellectual property rights, particularly the ‘DSG’ Brand. Below is the EUIPO number to the Design Right that has been the subject of this intellectual property violation: 001017730.
This also applies to any other intellectual property owned by Volkswagen AG.
Fruugo takes matters of this nature seriously and therefore, for the protection of all concerned we have suspended the relevant product listings.
In addition as per our Retailer Terms and Conditions you are also required to liaise and cooperate with the representatives of Volkswagen AG should they reach out to you to discuss this matter further. Failure to do so will also lead to the escalation of your account.
Please ensure that you remove any listings, and cease the listings of any products going forward that may infringe upon this intellectual property. Should you fail to follow this instruction, your store may be escalated to our Account Management Team for further disciplinary action in line with our internal Standard Operating Procedure, that may, where required, lead to permanent removal from the Fruugo platform.
In addition as per our Retailer Terms and Conditions you are also required to liaise and cooperate with the representatives of Volkswagen AG should they reach out to you to discuss this matter further. Failure to do so will also lead to the escalation of your account.
Thank you for your cooperation. Should you have any further queries about this, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Please note this email has been sent to all Fruugo retailers and can be ignored if this is not relevant to your product listing, thanks
Kind regards,
Fruugo Legal Team
Dear Retailer,
Re: Joboo Registered Design
We are contacting you today as all retailers on Fruugo are prohibited from selling balance stepping stones which infringes on the Registered Design of Joboo. They may have a variety of descriptions and titles including but not limited to "Balance Training Step Stone", "Stacking Stones", or "Stapel stone". We request that you do not list for sale on the Fruugo platform any of these products or similar.
Joboo has registered a design in the European Union for balance stepping stones. This means that Joboo owns the exclusive rights over the appearance of the product in the European Union. Images of the design can be viewed below.
Joboo's registered design can be viewed using the below hyperlink:
Registration Number: 003733534-0001
Please remove all products which may infringe on the registered design from Joboo from the platform with immediate effect. You must NOT relist these products on Fruugo, and failure to comply with these instructions will result in disciplinary action being taken against your account.
We advise you to seek external Legal Advice if you are unsure if your product infringes on Joboo's registered design.
Kind regards,
Fruugo Legal Team
Dear Retailer
The Sale of Plant Protective Agents – German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL)
I hope that this email finds you well.
We write to you today to notify you that we have received a letter from the BVL in Germany regarding the sale of plant protective agent products. The see the below translated excerpts of the relevant legislation that we have been provided with.Under Section 24 of the Plant Protection Act (PflSchG), para 1 the Sale of Plant Protection Products: “Anyone who uses plant protection products for commercial purposes or in the context of other economic Companies place on the market or import for commercial purposes or jointly, this must be done by the person responsible for the place of business and the place of work, in the case of the import of the goods responsible for the place of business or branch of the person entitled o dispose of the goods authority before starting work, stating his name, address and Telecommunications data.”Para 2 the Brokering of the Sale of Plant Protection Products: “Anyone who, for commercial purposes or in the context of other economic undertakings the placing on the market, intra-community movement or import of plant protective equipment in or into the country or assistance for the import or offers joint movement of plant protection products, must notify the Federal Ministry The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection is empowered to issue by law without the consent of the Federal Council, the detailed provisions on the notification and The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety makes the list of notifications received available to the competent authorities under state law to carry out their duties under Section 59.”If you sell products that you believe may fall under the term of a ‘plant protection product’ and will require this notification to be made, we encourage you to do this as soon as possible. On the website of the BVL are links to where the relevant notification forms can be found: http://www.bvl.bund.de/psmhandel (‘notification of sales or brokerage’).For any questions regarding the specifics of the legislation and whether it may apply to you, please contact the BVL directly with your queries.Under Section 68 of this Act, anyone that intentionally or negligently fails to report could be subject to a fine.
In addition, as per our Retailer Terms and Conditions you are also required to liaise and cooperate with the representatives of the BVL should they reach out to you to discuss this matter further.
Failure to comply with this instruction could lead to your account being escalated for disciplinary action with our Account Management Team and could potentially lead to a permanent removal of your account.
Thank you for your cooperation. Should you have any queries on this, please reach out to your relevant Account Manager.
Kind regards
Dear Retailer,
Children's Car Seat Head Straps
Please see the below letter issued by the ACCC in regards to children's car seat head straps.
Fruugo has made the decision to remove such products from sale on our platform, and we instruct that you remove all car seat head straps from sale immediately.
You must NOT relist these products on Fruugo, and failure to comply with these instructions will result in disciplinary action being taken against your account.
In addition, as a retailer you have a responsibility to remove risks to the public by recalling unsafe products. As such, you should conduct an assessment of any car seat head straps supplied to determine is recall action is required. In doing so, you should consider if using the product will or may injure a person (even if it has no apparent defect) or using it in a reasonably foreseeable way, including foreseeable misuse, will or may injure a person.
Please take the time to read the below information from the ACCC.
Kind regards,
Fruugo Legal Team
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To whom it may concern,
Aftermarket children’s car seat head straps – proposed recommendation to the Minister The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is considering whether to recommend that the Minister publish a Safety Warning Notice in respect of aftermarket children’s car seat head straps (head straps). You have been identified as listing these products for sale to Australian consumers on the Fruugo platform.
Head straps come in various designs, however their common advertised purpose is to prevent a young child’s head from slumping forward, rolling around or dropping to their chest if they fall asleep in a child car restraint. During a motor vehicle accident, head straps may alter the alignment of the child’s head, neck, and spine while the torso moves forward which increases the risk of serious spinal cord injuries and potential death. There is also a serious risk of suffocation or strangulation if the head strap slips or drops around a child’s mouth or neck during a motor vehicle accident.
The ACCC is aware of a reported incident in the UK in 2021 involving an 8-month-old child who was strangled by the head strap in a car crash. Sections 129(1)(a) and 129(1)(b) of the Australian Consumer Law (as set out in Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010) provides that the Minister may publish on the internet a Safety Warning Notice containing:
a statement that consumer goods of a kind specified in the notice are under investigation to determine whether those goods will or may cause injury to any person, or a reasonably foreseeable use (including a misuse) of those goods will or may cause injury to any person; and/or
a warning of possible risks involved in the use of consumer goods of a specified kind.
If the Minister decides to publish a Safety Warning Notice, we are considering recommending that any Safety Warning Notice published will:
alert consumers to the serious risk of injury or death to infants and young children arising from the use of head straps;
advise consumers to stop using head straps immediately; and
advise that the ACCC is investigating whether head straps will or may cause injury to any person, or a reasonably foreseeable use (including a misuse) of head straps will or may cause injury to any person.
If you wish to make a submission to be taken into account when the ACCC decides whether to recommend that the Minister publish a Safety Warning Notice, your submission should be provided to the ACCC by 5pm AEST on Monday 17 June 2024 to ProductSafetyAssessment@accc.gov.au.
There will also be an opportunity for you to make further submissions as part of any safety investigation.
Yours sincerely
Natalie Attrill
General Manager
Risk Assessment and Operations Branch
Consumer Product Safety Division
IMPORTANT - General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) Mandatory Preparation for Retailers
Dear Retailer,
Please take the time to read, and understand the below information.
The GPSR is an EU Regulation which comes into effect on 13th December 2024, and replaces the General Product Safety Directive. The GPSR introduces new requirements for the sale of most non-food consumer products sold in the EU, Switzerland, Norway and Northern Ireland.
All retailers selling non-food products in these countries on the Fruugo platform will be required to comply with the new requirements set out in the GPSR. We recommend that you begin your compliance preparations now.
You will be required to do the following:
Ensure that all products that you sell on Fruugo meet all existing EU Labelling and traceability requirements.
Ensure all products that you sell on Fruugo are correctly labelled, including but not limited to, labelling the product with the contact information of the manufacturer, responsible person and if applicable the importer of the product.
Ensure that all products that you sell on Fruugo are labelled correctly with the type, batch or serial number, or any other information to make it possible to identify that product.
Ensure that all products are correctly labelled with all of the safety information and warnings applicable to the product, and where applicable, in the language of the country of sale.
Ensure that you have a designated Responsible Person based in the EU for all products sold on Fruugo. This contact must be authorised by the product’s manufacturer.
Display the name and contact information, including postal and electronic address, for the designated EU Responsible Person on each product page.
Display the name and contact information, including postal and electronic address, for the manufacturer on each product page.
Display a product picture, and any other product identifiers needed to identify the product on each product page.
Display the warning and safety information in the language of the country of sale for each product on the product page.
We advise that you begin to prepare for the General Product Safety Regulations ahead of 13th December 2024 and we will soon update you with further instructions on how to provide the information required shortly via a retailer mailer and our designated Wiki Page. (Legal & Compliance
Fruugo will take a zero-tolerance approach to any non-compliance by retailers with the GPSR. Please note that products will not be published on the Fruugo platform if they do not satisfy the appropriate legislative requirements.
Please check the Wiki Page at regular intervals for further updates.
If you have any queries in the meantime, please contact your designated Account Manager.
Kind regards,
Fruugo Legal Team