Gabriele von Hasseln Gess

BA LLB LLM (International Trade Law) (cum laude)

Gaby Gess as she is known in the agri-food business is a practicing attorney of the High Court of South Africa (1995) with additional rights of appearance in the High Court of South Africa, and is currently enrolled for a PhD at the University of Hamburg (2021).

She served as a State Advocate in the Office for Serious Economic Offences (1992-1994) where she was part of a multi-disciplinary team that investigated fraud, theft and corruption in the public and private sectors. In 1994 she assisted the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs in the deregulation of control boards in the agricultural sector and served in this process on the Deciduous Fruit Board, Citrus Board, Deciduous Fruit Industry Trust and Citrus Industry Trust. She served on the De Meyer Land Commission to review state leases and land dispositions, and subsequently assisted the South African government with forensic inquiries into state tenders and procurement processes.

Recently, in 2021, she served as the chairperson of an appeal board constituted in terms of the Agricultural Products Standards Act in respect of a matter arising out of the grain industry.

Focus on the Fruit Industry

Following the deregulation of the South African fruit industry in 1997, in which she participated, she has focused on the fruit industry, particularly fruit producers and customers in the global agri-food trade, through its supply value chains. In 2008, as part of a sustainability project, she established a fruit retail platform in the Netherlands to facilitate cooperation between small, medium and large-sized fruit producers in Africa to supply fruit directly into retail programs in the United Kingdom, European Union and Russia. Through this she gained an intimate knowledge of the requirements for a sustainable supply chain from the farm directly into the retail.

She also assists clients and other attorneys in litigious and commercial matters in the fruit industry, including cross-border jurisdiction litigation especially in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany.

During the course of her work, she has visited fruit farms and supply chain channels in South Africa, China, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the European Union. She has a detailed understanding of the practical side of the international fruit trade, including production, packing, cold chain management, transportation, food safety and phytosanitary requirements, and supply chain due diligence legal requirements for human rights and environmental protection.

Her experience has allowed her to develop a legal understanding of the complex commercial and legal challenges facing clients and the assessment and amelioration of risk factors.

She is at present the legal consultant drafting regulatory provisions in respect of the management of perishable products exported from South Africa, regularly providing advice on public procurement and tenders, consulting to an agricultural fund based in the Netherlands, and giving legal-commercial advice to various clients carrying on business in the supply chain commencing on the farm and until the sale of the product.