The Berger Case: Food Risk and Public Information. Professional Secrecy and Reputation. Judgement of the Court of Justice (Fourth Chamber) of 11 April 2013.

In its recent Judgement of 11 April 2013 the Court of Justice had the opportunity to adjudicate on the interpretation of Article 10 of Regulation 178/2002 and how the obligation to inform the public of food risks is regulated. Since the communication of a food risk can potentially have devastating economic effects, Food Law specialists would be very interested in any judicial interpretation providing criteria to help assess when and how food authorities should inform the public of a food risk. Although the Judgement does not specifically elaborate on this question – the interpretative criteria – but rather on when the authorities are able to communicate a food risk or, more specifically, when they are not prevented from doing so, this is still an interesting decision because it deals with an extremely important matter: the question of the balance between the right to information and the right to reputation in the food sector.