United States

New REACH Law Takes Effect in the EU

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In June 2007, the controversial new REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) law came into effect in the European Union. Taking seven years and 1,000 pages to pass, REACH is the most complex law in EU history.

Aiming to protect consumers and the environment from harmful and unsafe chemicals, the law requires manufacturers to ensure that over 30,000 chemicals have been tested and reviewed by the newly created European Chemicals Agency (EChA). For 1,500 high risk substances, manufacturers will have to prove “adequate control.” The EChA will ban ingredients posing a significant threat and ensure that cosmetic and other companies use alternatives.

The law also advocates using alternatives to animal testing, so that data on toxicity to humans is obtained using means other than experiments on vertebrate animals. Since the passage of REACH, L’Oreal has announced that it will conduct safety tests on human skin cells and tissue from animals slaughtered for food, rather than live animals, to collect the new information required by the law.

REACH replaces 40 separate chemicals laws in the EU. It also extends prior cosmetics laws that were based upon risk assessment and responds to ongoing calls from the scientific community for bans on confirmed and likely carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic substances in cosmetic products.

Although there was little existing safety information on 99% of the man thousands of chemicals developed in the EU before 1981, the EU had banned several dangerous chemicals that remain legal in the United States, including phthalates in cosmetics.

REACH is expected to put more pressure on law makers in the United States to impose tougher controls on the usage of toxic chemicals, since under the countrys Toxic Substances Control Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has little legal authority to ban or restrict chemicals in use before 1976 because it must first prove they pose “an unreasonable risk.” It should be noted, however, that there are several shortcomings to the new European law. First, manufacturers have 11 years to register product ingredients, leaving more than a decade until all the ingredients in cosmetics products will be fully disclosed. Also, if a product was manufactured outside the EU and imported, it is not regulated under REACH.

Get Your Product Patented By A Good Law Firm

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When a piece of work, may be of art or of science is invented, it is the creators intellectual property that has been instrumental in the creation of the product. In such a case, it is very important that he or she takes care that all rights that are related to this invention are secured in his or her favor.

The reason behind this is that, if there is no copyright on that physical or intellectual product, then your rivals may take advantage of your invention, misuse it and negatively use it for their benefits. In this case, copyright is very important. In case of business ideas, you should get trademarks and to know the trademark law Scottsdale, you should hire a good law firm.

An invention usually takes place after a thorough research and hard-work, and thus the inventor uses his invention to make some profit. In the same manner, a writer would sell his book to a publisher to earn money or a music composer will sell music to another. To make sure that these products or intellectual properties are not misused and manipulated by others, copyright law is important. If you live in Arizona, you need to find copyright law Arizona, so that you are on the safe side.

What are the features that you should look for while choosing a law firm?

When you have your own piece of art in your hands and you do not want others to take advantage of it, you can hire a copyright law Scottsdale firm that have the knowledge and procedure to get a copyright for your piece of art work. As there are many non-lawyer agents as well who can misguide you and take advantage of your product, you should hire a good law firm.

Only a good firm will be able to deliver best settlements with the trademark offices and courts. They would also take care of all your filing procedures so that you do not have to worry about anything. So, if you also have a vulnerable product, hire a good patent law firm today.

Experience is very important because, without experience a trademark law Arizona firm would not be able to offer you best services. Therefore, when you choose a good company, you must find one that has knowledge and understanding of the subject as well as a thorough idea of all laws of the United States of America.

The Evolution And Rise Of Corporate Law Practices

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Corporate law is the law of business or companies. Business organization’s law is a derivative of England’s common law even though it has evolved during the past century.

Most recognized and addressed forms of common law in most countries are:

Limited company
Corporation
Not for profit corporation
Unlimited company
Limited partnership
Partnership
Sole proprietorship
Limited liability partnership

Among the largest of companies are those which are listed on the stock exchanges throughout the world and even the single individual or sole trader has the ability to incorporate themselves, thus limiting their liability to carry on a business. Each law pertains to the country in which the company conducts its business.
Statutory forms of business, proprietary limited companies are formed in several countries such as Australia. And many countries forms of business are unique to that country and its laws. Limited liability limited partnership or LLLC companies as well as Limited liability partnerships which are also known as LLC are noted to be business conducted in the United States.

Dominant business enterprises go by corporate law in conducting their business. This type of law is intended for the study of how directors, shareholders, employees, creditors, and others who have a stake in the success of that business such as consumers and the community conduct themselves under the rules and guidelines of firms in which business is conducted. This law is part of business associations or company’s law which can include partnerships or even trusts or pension funds.

Among the purposes of laws of the corporation are the creation of laws and bylaws aimed at the purpose of protecting companies and businesses from outside interference as well as protection from themselves. Bylaws of a corporation state how the business is to be conducted and additionally set out the powers and rights of directors, shareholders, and officers of the corporation. And while shareholders don’t own the corporation, they do own shares of it and so have a vote in how that business or corporation is run.

While legally a corporation is owned by the shareholders and under the control of the directors, those directors are obligated to perform in the best interest of those shareholders and their investment in the company. They must concentrate on that business exclusively.

While a corporation is conducted like a dictatorship there is no dictator as neither the directors nor the shareholders have the responsibility or control of the company in regards to its purpose and its actions. Corporate social responsibility is the most commonly used and most popular ideology through which companies claim they’re good for society as well as the environment today.

Corporations have key legal aspects or features and as such are considered separate legal personalities which may otherwise be identified as artificial persons or a personhood, this being established in 1895 in an English law case involving the House of Lords. This separate legal personality allows many corporations or corporate groups to be quite flexible with their relationship to tax plans and additionally, overseas operations conducted for the benefit of the corporation.

The United Kingdom, the United States, and most Commonwealth countries have a single board of directors and corporate law is the rule with shareholders playing a large part in the overall conduct of business.

New York Immigration Marriage Law

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United States is through a lawful marriage to a U.S. citizen. As a result, the Immigration Service saw many sham or business marriages. To protect the agency and the country from fraudulent applications and marriages, Congress passed Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments of 1986.

Marriage Residence status

Marriage now results in conditional residence status unless it is more than two years old at the time of granting the immigrant status. Two year period is measured from the time residency is granted. Conditional residence status may be terminated if before the second anniversary of the grant of conditional residence, the new york Immigration Service determines:

1) marriage was judicially terminated, such as a divorce
2) marriage was entered into to gain an immigration benefit
3) the couple failed to petition (Form I-751)

The Immigration Service to remove conditions within 90 days prior to second anniversary of conditional residence or the couple failed to attend their interview, unless the noncitizen has filed Form I-751 seeking a waiver of the joint filing requirement. Conditional residence becomes permanent residence after second anniversary of status if it is not terminated for any of the above reasons.

Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments Act covers spouses

If the new york Immigration Service suspects that an alien has entered into a sham marriage, that alien is subject to removal from the United States. For that to happen, the marriage must be fraudulent at its inception or from the very beginning.

To determine whether the marriage was fraudulent at inception, the Immigration Service looks at several factors. The question that becomes relevant is: did the bride and groom intend to establish a life together? The government looks at the subjective state of mind. However objective factors are also considered. The conduct of parties before and after the marriage is relevant. To prove validity of the marriage, the couple must present evidence which may include, but is not limited to, insurance policies, property, leases, income tax, bank accounts, etc. Additionally, the couple must be consistent in its answers to the immigration officer.

Digitally Resolving the Challenge of the Menu Labeling Law

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The new Federal law passed through healthcare reform legislation is projected to affect over 200,000 restaurants throughout the United States.

The Food Labeling Law is outlined at: http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/FoodLabelingNutrition/ucm223408.htm. The highlights are as follows:

Was signed into law March 23, 2010 and requires nutrition labeling of standard menu items for chain restaurants, retail food establishments and corporate caterers with 20 or more locations, food delivery establishments, convenience stores, movie theaters, bakeries, cafeterias, airlines and trains as well as chain vending machines, food carts, lunch wagons and cookie shops.
Three major requirements are: calorie count must appear on menus and menu boards (includes desserts, beverages, takeout, and website menus); a statement must appear on the menu that puts the calorie information in the context of a total daily caloric intake; and additional nutritional information must be available upon request.
All standard menu items (including meat, poultry and alcoholic beverages) will be required to display the calories count in a type size that matches the name or price of the menu item (whichever is larger) and with the same color or contrasting background as the menu item.
Compliance is required by March 2011.

This new law presents some major challenges that restaurant owners and food services are finding daunting. These include:
Obtaining proper nutritional analysis from suppliers
Regulating specific portion control
Finding aesthetic solutions for displaying nutritional information
Updating these as suppliers change portion sizes and recipes

Restaurant owners are in a flurry trying to figure out how to display the mandated information within the confines of existing menu boards. Printed signage does not allow the flexibility for changes and updates.

But if restaurants take a digital approach to requirements of the law the last two challenges in the above list are easily solves. Now is the time for restaurants to change to digital menu boards. Why?

1.Easy to design and maintain an attractive menu board that meets the requirements of the law and stays true to restaurant brands.
2.When linked to databases, digital menu boards are dynamically updated as nutritional content changes are made and as a bonus, promotions can be scheduled to automatically start and stop at specified times.
3.Hardware and software for digital menu boards is becoming more cost effective and energy efficient.
4.Eateries using digital boards portray a sleek, updated appearance that customers are coming to expect.

Digital menu boards allow restaurants to have the flexibility to create, design and redesign until they find something that works with their particular establishment. This experimentation is missing with printed signage. Also, consider that errors of last minute changes can be fixed in a matter of seconds in one store or over a network of hundreds of stores.

Printed signage does not offer that kind of flexibility. Static menus require a complete remake of the menu board for one small error or change, not to mentions the fees involved in redesign, shipping and the wait for new menus to arrive.

Restaurant owners and franchises are rightfully concerned with the potential consequences of not meeting the requirements of the law by failing to reflect nutritional values correctly or in a timely manner. But digital menu boards free food service providers from fear since information changes are reflected immediately.

It is without question a necessity for restaurants to switch to the use of digital menu boards to meet upcoming regulation deadlines.

Where is the most reliable source for digital menu boards that will change the food service world?

With over 30 years of technology experience, Noventri provides the food service industry with digital menu boards that are at the lowest prices, the easiest to deploy andare the greenest option avai