Manufacturing, Retail & Distribution

The manufacturing industry is a strong asset for the European economy and an important driver of employment and prosperity. This sector also plays a key role in research and innovation, being responsible for 64% of private sector research development expenditure and 49% of innovation expenditure in Europe. What is more, the EU plans to mobilise up to EUR 50 billion of public and private investments in support of the digitisation of industry. VdA has assisted its clients in the past with Horizon 2020 projects such as the Factories of the Future Public-Private Partnership and has the necessary know-how to continue doing so under Horizon Europe.

With regards to the retail & distribution sector, in the 2015 Single Market Strategy the Commission announced it would look at restrictions in the retail sector and identify best practices for facilitating retail establishment and reducing operational restrictions. With this set of best practices included in the “A European retail sector fit for the 21st century” Communication of 19 April 2018, the EU provides guidance for EU countries’ efforts to create a more open, integrated and competitive retail market. VdA has been assisting its clients in adapting to the digital age and complying with the applicable regulatory frameworks, including those imposed by the growth of e-commerce and arising also from new rules on platforms, digital services, digital market, product liability, contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services, the sale of consumer goods,  online intermediation services, as well as consumer protection. In addition, VdA has detailed know-how on the technology related opportunities and challenges arising out of the European Commission’s Digital Single Market strategy.

VdA has relevant experience in advising companies in the development, testing and commercialisation of technologies relevant to the manufacturing and the retail & distribution sectors, including 3D printing, robotics and AI and taking into consideration not only the applicable regulatory framework, but also other relevant legal and regulatory frameworks, including, for instance, on telecoms, data economy, cybersecurity, Intellectual Property, import/export, tax, environment, software licenses, hardware supply, among others.

Technology has the capacity to boost intra-country and inter-country trade in the African market and subsequently promote socio economic development in African countries. This is even more relevant in the light of the recent African Continent Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The African Union Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy (STISA) for Africa places science, technology and innovation at the epicentre of Africa’s socio-economic development due to the impact they can have across critical sectors such as agriculture, energy, environment, health, infrastructure development, mining, security and water, among others.

While e-commerce ventures continue facing inefficient logistics and issues such as informal home addressing systems, African e-commerce has experienced a major boost from lockdowns across the continent during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, which are helping to accelerate a change in attitudes with consumers in many countries exploring e-commerce out of necessity.

With relation to manufacturing, technology is also playing a fundamental role in Africa. 3D Printing, for instance, presents an enormous opportunity to improve community livelihoods in developing countries by letting the local manufacturing firms (in urban and rural areas) design and produce innovative, robust and cost-effective products that can overcome the existing deficit in manufacturing value chains, support lives and increase income. In Uganda and South Sudan, for example, 3D printing technology is used to create 3D-printed prosthetic limbs.

VdA and VdA Legal Partners are well aware of the African Union’s approach to invest and mobilize funds for Technology, as well as of the specific challenges African countries deal in the manufacturing and the retail & distribution sectors. VdA has relevant experience in advising Governments on policy and legal matters associated with these sectors, as well as the private sector in the development, acquisition, sale and implementation of technology, taking into consideration not only the applicable regulatory framework, but also other relevant legal and regulatory frameworks, including, for instance, on telecoms, data economy, cybersecurity, Intellectual Property, import/export, tax, environment, software licenses, hardware supply, consumer protection, among others.