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How do wine merchants and winemakers avoid warning letters?
Time and again, wine merchants and winegrowers are sent warnings. Wine sales via the internet in particular harbour many problem areas that competitors, competition associations and consumer protection associations exploit to send warning letters.
A warning letter is a letter in which the recipient is accused of having violated competition laws. The recipient is requested to sign a so-called cease-and-desist declaration - which is enclosed with the letter - and thus to promise to cease and desist from the illegal conduct of which he is accused in the future. The cease-and-desist declaration is enclosed with the letter. In the event that he then violates this cease-and-desist declaration, i.e. once again violates the competition laws mentioned therein, the warned party is threatened with a high contractual penalty. The warning letter itself is also "invoiced" at several hundred euros.
A warning letter is therefore always a very annoying and expensive matter. German wine merchants and winegrowers can be warned off, for example, if they sell organic wines over the internet and do not have organic certification or if they sell wines online and in doing so do not implement the Packaging Act, which has been in force since 1 January 2019, by being entered in the packaging register and registered with a dual system. Compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO), which has been in force since 25 May 2018, is also extremely important and subject to warning. Other frequently occurring reasons for issuing warnings are, for example, violations of the Food Information Regulation (LMIV), the Price Indication Regulation (PAngV) as well as missing or inadmissible formulations in the General Terms and Conditions (GTC), for example regarding the cancellation policy.
Anyone who receives a warning letter should by no means ignore it, but take it seriously and seek legal advice immediately. A lawyer will check to what extent the warning letter is justified at all and write an appropriate reply to the sender. Legal correspondence should definitely be left to professionals. The lawyer can assess and explain the consequences of the alleged (warning) infringement and also of signing the cease-and-desist declaration with a penalty clause. Further hints and advice can be found in the following magazine article: Correct behaviour in the event of a competition law warning letter
It is best not to give any reason for warning letters in the first place by designing your own online shop and by your own entrepreneurial behaviour. Business Premium members of wein.plus, for example, can use simple and inexpensive solutions to organic certification and to Packaging Act implement this.
For comprehensive legal advice, wein.plus cooperates with the lawyer and internet expert Hans-Peter Kröger, who specialises in the wine trade and grants wein.plus Premium members preferential conditions for certain services. Details can be found in the wein.plus world of benefits for members: Competent legal advice
RA Kröger offers Business Premium members of wein.plus a free initial consultation after receiving a warning letter: To the initial consultation