Environmental Law

Many business activities today involve a variety of different environmental-law issues. These range from problems of contamination of land by previous owners when buying property to set up a business, the clarification of environmental issues before beginning production operations as far as questions governing the disposal of industrial waste and waste water etc.

The import and distribution of products from other countries requires compliance with numerous statutes and regulations that frequently represent the national implementation of EU directives. The German Electronic-Equipment Act (Elektro- und Elektronikgerätegesetz) deals with the avoidance of waste in electrical and electronic equipment and implements the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances (“WEEE”, “ RoHS”).

REACH regulations (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) must be complied with when importing chemicals into the European Union; these chemicals must be registered with the ECHA European Chemicals Agency in Helsinki.

Our advisory services include answers to all of these questions, as well as the development of new concepts and examination and evaluation of a company prior to acquisition (“environmental due diligence”).