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Experience and career history

Dr. Gunnar Sachs, Maître en droit (Paris) is Counsel in the Düsseldorf office of the global law firm Clifford Chance and Expert Lawyer for Intellectual Property Law (Fachanwalt für Gewerblichen Rechtsschutz). Gunnar Sachs is an active member of the firm's worldwide industry groups Consumer Goods & Retail as well as Healthcare, Life Sciences & Chemicals and in charge of the subgroups Food & Feed as well as Cosmetics. He is also a recognized EU expert in the EU-China Project as well as in the EU-Turkey Project on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, member of the Deutsche Vereinigung für gewerblichen Rechtsschutz und Urheberrecht (German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property, GRUR) as well as an active member of the Clifford Chance Franco-German cross-border team.

Gunnar Sachs represents national and international clients in court and other proceedings and works on transactions as well as in relation to any other out-of-court aspects with a focus on pharmaceutical, medical device, food, chemicals and cosmetics law.

Gunnar Sachs is also currently working as external General Counsel for and has assumed the direction of the German legal department of one of the biggest US retailers and the world's leading TV shopping network.

During his legal clerkship, Gunnar Sachs has further worked, inter alia, for the World Trade Organization in Geneva, for the French Ministry of Economics, Finance and Industry in Paris, for the French Ministry of Defense in Paris, for the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Paris, for the German Institution for Arbitration in Bonn as well as for the State Parliament North Rhine-Westphalia in Düsseldorf.

Gunnar Sachs has published numerous articles in his areas of expertise mentioned above. He is also a sought speaker at all relevant law events and lectures at the University of Düsseldorf. Further, Gunnar Sachs is author of a handbook on "Ethics for Arbitrators" (2008; vol. 22 of the publication series of the German Institution of Arbitration [DIS]), co-author of a handbook on medical devices law as well as co-author of the "WiKo Kommentar zum Medizinprodukterecht" (WiKo legal commentary series on medical devices law).

Universities of Münster, Paris and Cologne (Dr. jur.)
Maître en droit international et européen (Paris)
Admitted as a lawyer in Germany 2006
Joined Clifford Chance 2006
Counsel since 2011

Speaks German, English and French

Publications

• Lebensmittel Zeitung (7 September 2012): "Nur doppelt statt dreifach" (legal analysis of the leading decision "Doppelherz" of the Federal Administrative Court (court file no.: 3 C 15.11)
• Zeitschrift für das gesamte Lebensmittelrecht (ZLR 4/2012): legal comments on the leading decision "Doppelherz" of the Federal Administrative Court (court file no.: 3 C 15.11)
• MPR 2/2012: "Der beihilferechtliche Arzneimittelbegriff – wo Medizinprodukte noch Arzneimittel sind" (legal comments on a judgment rendered by the Administrative Court of Appeal Rheinland-Pfalz on 11 November 2011, court file no.: 10 A 10670/11)
• Lebensmittel Zeitung (24 February 2012): "Vorsicht bei Transaktionen - Die rechtlichen Besonderheiten bei Kauf, Verkauf, Umstrukturierung und Joint Ventures von Lebensmittelunternehmen"
• GRUR-Prax (01/2012): review of a leading decision of the Court of Appeal Düsseldorf on misleading advertising for cosmetic products with recommendations of physicians (court file no.: I 20 U 110/11)
• Recht / Die Zeitschrift für europäisches Lebensmittelrecht (4/2011): "Werden diätetische Lebensmittel abgeschafft?"
• Interview in the Lebensmittel Zeitung (2 December 2011) on the approval of the food additive Steviolglycoside ("Stevia")
• Recht / Die Zeitschrift für europäisches Lebensmittelrecht (3/2011): "Neues aus Brüssel – wichtige Änderungen im Verbraucherschutz- und Lebensmittel-Kennzeichungsrecht"
• Interview in the Lebensmittel Zeitung (7 October 2011) on the new European regulation on biocidal products
• Zeitschrift für das gesamte Lebensmittelrecht (ZLR 5/2011): "Tabakwerbeverbot: Zur Abgrenzung von Imagewerbung und produktspezifischer Absatzwerbung" (review of the leading decision "Unser wichtigstes Cigarettenpapier" of the German Federal Court of Justice (court file no.: I ZR 137/09)
• GRUR-Prax (16/2011): review of the leading decision "RENNIE" of the German Federal Court of Justice (court file no.: I ZR 172/09)
• Interview in the Lebensmittel Zeitung (5 August 2011) on a judgment of the District Court Berlin (court file no.: 16 O 259/10) regarding health claims used by the German Association of Brewers (Deutscher Brauer-Bund e.V.)
• Interview in the Lebensmittel Zeitung (22 July 2011) regarding the legal implications of the German internet platform www.lebensmittelklarheit.de
• Deutsche Molkerei Zeitung (13/2011): "Wann muss drin sein, was drauf steht? Zu dem für die          Kennzeichnung von Lebensmittelinhaltsstoffen maßgeblichen Zeitpunkt"
• GRUR-Prax (10/2011): review of a leading decision of the Higher Administrative Court Munich on dangers caused by foodstuffs designed for children (court file no.: 9 ZB 09.2116)
• GRUR-Prax (9/2011): review of a leading decision of the Administrative Court Berlin on food labelling (court file no.: Vg 14 A 44/07)
• Interview in the Lebensmittel Zeitung (15 April 2011) regarding a leading decision of the Higher Administrative Court Munich on dangers caused by foodstuffs designed for children (court file no.: 9 ZB 09.2116)
• Deutsche Molkerei Zeitung (5/2011): "Die Health Claims-Verordnung auf dem Prüfstand"
• GRUR-Prax (3/2011): review of two leading decisions of the German Federal Court of Justice on food additives (court file no.: I ZR 99/09 and I ZR 123/09)
• Recht / Die Zeitschrift für europäisches Lebensmittelrecht (1/2011): "Hygienestandards für Lebensmittel tierischen Ursprungs"
• European Food and Feed Law Review (EFFL –1/2011): "Health Claims Regulation – Current Rulings"
• Interview in the Lebensmittel Zeitung (14 January 2011) regarding a leading decision of the German Federal Court of Justice on food additives (court file no.: I ZR 123/09)
• GRUR-Prax (22/2010): "Die Health Claims-Verordnung zwischen Anspruch und Wirklichkeit"
• Recht / Die Zeitschrift für europäisches Lebensmittelrecht (4/2010): "Sicherheit geht vor! Pflichten von Lebensmittelunternehmen bei Verstößen gegen die grundlegenden Anforderungen an die Lebensmittelsicherheit"
• European Food and Feed Law Review (EFFL – 3/2010): "The new European Legislation on Food Additives, Flavourings and Enzymes"
• BioRecht (3/2010): "Die neue europäische Gesetzgebung zu Lebensmittelzusatzstoffen, ‑aromen und ‑enzymen"
• BioRecht (2/2010): "Streng unvertraulich! Daten der Lebensmittelhersteller werden bei der EFSA nicht vertraulich behandelt"
• BioRecht (1/2010): "Rechtspolitik – Health Claims Verordnung. Das HCVO-Zulassungsverfahren nimmt Fahrt auf"
• Lebensmittel Zeitung (14 January 2010): "Die neuen europäischen Regeln für Lebensmittelzusatzstoffe treten in Kraft"
• Wettbewerb in Recht und Praxis (WRP - 1/2010): "Werbung für kosmetische Mittel mit Studien- und Fachveröffentlichungen"
• Interview in the Lebensmittel Zeitung (20 November 2009) on the status quo of the health claims authorization proceedings