This Practice Note is aimed primarily at brands wishing to engage with influencers (or other talent) for social marketing campaigns and advertising promotions in China. Influencer endorsement Influencer ‘endorsement’ is mainly regulated under the Chinese Advertising Law (CAL), which is the main body of legislation governing commercial advertising activities in China. The CAL applies broadly to commercial advertising activities in which commodity dealers or service providers directly or indirectly present goods or services marketed by them within China. Up until 2015, the CAL contained no provisions in relation to endorsements or influencer activities. When a new version of the CAL was adopted in 2015, however, a definition of ‘endorsers’ and specific provisions directed at endorser activities were enshrined in it. Endorsers are defined in a broad and neutral way as: ‘natural persons, legal persons or other organisations other than advertisers that recommend or demonstrate products or services in their name or image in advertisements’ (see Article 2 of CAL) and therefore would cover ‘Key Opinion

This Practice Note is aimed primarily at brands wanting to use influencers for particular social marketing campaigns and advertising promotions to the French public. Overview of the French regulations applicable to influencers A new law with international reach The French law pertaining to influencers and how social media influencers should interact publicly with consumers with respect to brands and companies (the ‘Influencers Law’) is aimed at preventing scams and abusive practices by influencers on social media. Since this enactment of this law, for the first time, some influencer practices are forbidden or highly regulated. The Influencers Law establishes a comprehensive legal framework for those who promote products or services on their social media. The Influencers Law is applicable whenever an influencer targets the French audience, thereby extending its jurisdiction to foreign influencers who engage with French audiences. Ordonnance No. 2024-978 of November 6, 2024 amended certain provisions of the Influencers Law to ensure compliance with EU law. Notably, it introduced a new Article 5-1, which specifies

This Practice Note deals with influencer marketing in Germany. It is aimed at social media talent (influencers) as well as at brand owners engaging in advertising. This Practice Note focuses on labelling and disclosure requirements, sanctions, and how disclosure is regulated. Subsistence of copyright in the sponsored content and key provisions in relevant agreements are also covered. The nature of social media influencers Influencer marketing is a common form of advertising in which companies hire a person, the influencer, to promote their products (Higher District Court of Hamburg GRUR-RS 2020, 18139, para. 55; Zurth/Pless, ZUM 2019, 414 (414 et seq.)). Influencers are interesting contract and advertising partners for a company as they have built either a large following guaranteeing a broad reach for their posts (so-called celebrity influencers) or a following of a (small) homogeneous group of followers interested in the same topic (so-called micro-influencers) (cf. Draheim/Mittelstädt—HL Engage Influencer Snapshot, see Ins and outs of celebrity influencers). In the latter case, the influencer

This Practice Note is aimed primarily at brands and advertising agencies wishing to engage with social media influencers (or other talent) for social media marketing campaigns and advertising promotions in Poland. It covers: • Influencer marketing as a form of advertising • Disclosure requirements • Applicable advertising regulations • Sanctions for inadequate disclosure • Ownership of influencer content • Key provisions in influencer contracts Influencer marketing as a form of advertising While influencer marketing is highly popular in Poland, there are no laws which target this activity specifically. Influencer marketing is treated by law as a form of advertising, which means that in practice all relevant regulations on advertising apply to it. However, in September 2021, the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) initiated an investigation into the proper marking of sponsored content by influencers. This was followed in September 2022 by the publication of an official guidebook on marking advertising content by influencers in social media. The guidebook

This Practice Note is aimed primarily at brands wishing to engage with influencers for social marketing campaigns and advertising activities in Portugal. It is intended to give an overview of the key issues relevant in Portugal, including issues to be considered when negotiating an influencer agreement. In the last decade there has been a gradual but undeniable shift from the use of traditional media, such as TV and outdoor and print advertising to digital platforms, including social media platforms. Influencers produce digital content, frequently using social media platforms, and have the ability or potential to influence consumer habits, which make them very attractive to brands. In Portugal, there are no specific legal rules applicable to influencers. The Portuguese regulatory authority with jurisdiction over consumer issues (Direcção-Geral do Consumidor) analysed the phenomenon of influencers, and specifically the relationship between brands and influencers, and decided in 2019 that no legislative change was necessary. It is the view of the consumer watchdog that the existing rules regarding advertising and unfair commercial practices

This Practice Note is aimed primarily at brands and companies wishing to engage influencers for social marketing campaigns and advertising promotions in Spain. The nature of social media influencers Influencers are an attractive prospect for companies and brands to promote their products or services. Influencers enable brands to obtain important visibility for their products through massive communication channels such as their social networks and on media platforms and allow them to take advantage of the proximity that influencers generate with end-users of products. Influencers have thousands (or millions) of followers whom they ‘influence’ and impact with their way of communicating and presenting messages or through the content they produce, which makes them a very powerful marketing tool for brands and companies to reach potential clients in a swifter, more direct way than compared to other advertising channels that have been used for decades such as TV, radio or static advertising. In accordance with the 2025 Code of Conduct on Advertising Through Influencers drawn up by the Spanish Association

Influencer marketing through social media influencers has achieved giant growth in the advertising sector. Brands, including global and local ones, co-operate with social media influencers to advertise their brands, goods and services because social media influencers are very capable of directing the consumers’ buying habits into certain brands via the presentations, recommendations and compliments they make. Similarly, based on global research statistics, Türkiye ranks number 11 in the world for the highest number of social media users. In 2023, there were 69.55 million social media users in Türkiye, with predictions that this will reach up to 79.6 million by 2029. Until 2021, Türkiye did not have specific laws, regulation or self-regulation relating to advertising through social media. However, the general advertising rules and principles contained in Consumer Protection Law No. 6502 (the Consumer Protection Law) and the Commercial Advertisement and Unfair Commercial Practices Regulation (the Advertising Regulation) applied to social media advertisements. Advertisements published on social media and via influencer marketing were therefore generally

This Practice Note is aimed primarily at brands wishing to engage with influencers (or other talent) for social marketing campaigns and advertising promotions in the US. Overview Social media influencers have become ubiquitous as a tool for modern marketing, shaping how brands communicate their message to consumers across industries—from fashion and beauty to technology, politics, and economics. Creator‑driven advertising continues to surge, with US annual creator‑economy ad spend estimated at USD37.1 billion last year and forecasted to reach USD43.9 billion by 2026. As the influencer market has matured, so too have the US regulatory guardrails surrounding it, with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) playing an increasingly active role in defining the rules of engagement. The FTC regulates influencer marketing primarily under its authority to prohibit unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce. To explain how these principles apply in the influencer context, the FTC issued updated guidance directed to both influencers and the companies that engage them, including the Endorsement Guides and Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers. Together,

This Practice Note is aimed primarily at brands wishing to engage with social media influencers (or other talent) for social marketing campaigns and advertising activities in the Netherlands. It is aimed at social media talent as well as at brand owners engaging in advertising. It focuses on key regulations, codes and guidelines, labelling and disclosure requirements, sanctions and oversight for insufficient disclosure. Subsistence of copyright in the sponsored content and key provisions in relevant agreements are also covered. Influencer endorsement—key regulations, codes and guidelines In essence, influencer endorsement is a marketing activity by an advertiser that is directed at causing influencers to communicate about a product or brand, sometimes on the direct instructions of the advertiser. The advertiser rewards the influencer for this activity by way of payment or other benefits (eg by granting a discount, or providing free products or services). An ever-present issue is the difficulty in distinguishing advertising (where advertising rules apply) from original content (falling within the scope of freedom of

This Practice Note is aimed primarily at brands wishing to engage with influencers (or other talent) for particular social marketing campaigns and advertising promotions in the UK. What constitutes an influencer? In the UK: • content is considered an influencer ‘endorsement’ or advertising where an influencer works with a brand to create content that they will post on their own channel and: ◦ the influencer has received ‘payment’ by a brand in relation to that content, and ◦ the brand has some form of ‘control’ over that content Both ‘payment’ and ‘control’ must be present for the content to constitute an advertisement and therefore be regulated by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). However, consumer protection legislation will apply if there has been ‘payment’ but there is no ‘control’—this is enforced by Trading Standards and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) • ‘payment’ is defined widely and includes monetary compensation, gifts, experiences, events and the promise of future payment (of any kind). Payment can also be indirect: if the

This Practice Note examines issues that may arise where an employee is experiencing work-related stress (or occupational stress), ie stress that may be caused or exacerbated by work, or mental ill health affecting the employee’s work or attendance. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) defines stress as ‘the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them’. Stress is not in itself an illness, but can make individuals ill, eg by leading to conditions such as anxiety and depression. Stress, anxiety and depression can also increase the risk of conditions like heart disease, back pain, gastrointestinal illnesses or skin conditions. According to Acas guidance on supporting mental health at work, common mental health issues include stress (this is not classed as a medical condition but can still have a serious impact on wellbeing), depression and anxiety. Less common ones include bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. In some cases, these conditions may amount to a disability—see: Disability issues, below. This Practice Note covers: • the benefits

Although suppliers are generally unsecured creditors (unless they establish a valid retention of title (ROT) claim) they may be key to a successful turnaround or pre-pack sale. Equally, the support of customers is often an essential part of a successful turnaround business plan. In this Practice Note, we discuss how a company in financial difficulties should deal with a variety of suppliers and customers, and how to approach ROT claims put forward by suppliers. Suppliers The initial due diligence on the company will identify key suppliers who are critical to the ongoing trade of the company, ie those who are sole suppliers of products/services essential to the business or where there would be a long lead time to switch suppliers (eg credit card machines, IT systems or computer and accounting software often embedded into the company's business). The company will prioritise dealing with these suppliers through a proper communications plan. Suppliers providing non-key products/services and those charging excessively (where contracts will need to be renegotiated or replaced by cheaper suppliers) will likely