The President has signed the Law of Ukraine on food information for consumers

05/ 02/ 2019

Yesterday, on February 4, the President signed the Law of Ukraine On food information for consumers. The law is intended to ensure a high level of protection of consumers’ health and interests. The document defines progressive requirements for food information, which will help consumers to make informed choices about food products. Oksana Zharkova. EBA Food Committee Coordinator. The law embodies a step forward in informing consumers about food products, their quality, composition, etc. It will ensure the fulfillment of the obligations assumed by Ukraine within the framework of the Association Agreement and will help bring the legislation of Ukraine in accordance with EU legislation. And both consumers and market operators will benefit from this. Among the key innovations are the obligations of food market operators. The law defines the specifics of labeling/marking and state control of food products (the size of mandatory information on the marking should be no smaller than 1.2 mm for standard packaging). It establishes what kind of mandatory information should be indicated for small-sized goods in order to avoid the accumulation of tags. It introduces the regulation of requirements for the provision of information on allergens (marked in bold font, style or color in the list of ingredients). In addition, there is a provision for labeling products with or without GMOs in accordance with current legislation. Recently, the label Without GMO marked all products, even those of them that even a priori could not contain GMOs, such as water. At the same time, it differentiates the terms minimum durability date and use-by date”. From now on, products with unlimited durability will no longer have to write these phrases, as this provides irrelevant information. For dairy products, there is now a legally fixed definition of the term natural. The signed law increases the responsibility of food market operators, who are responsible for food information, by 4 times for misleading consumers. It is envisaged that any given changes to the markings will come into force in 2 years. This will give the business opportunities and time to make qualitative changes in the markings and will avoid creating collapse at work. The European Business Association welcomes the signing of this Law. The business community thanks the experts and government officials who took part in its development.

Yesterday, on February 4, the President signed the Law of Ukraine “On food information for consumers”. The law is intended to ensure a high level of protection of consumers’ health and interests. The document defines progressive requirements for food information, which will help consumers to make informed choices about food products.

Oksana Zharkova EBA Food Committee Coordinator

The law embodies a step forward in informing consumers about food products, their quality, composition, etc. It will ensure the fulfillment of the obligations assumed by Ukraine within the framework of the Association Agreement and will help bring the legislation of Ukraine in accordance with EU legislation. And both consumers and market operators will benefit from this.

Among the key innovations are the obligations of food market operators. The law defines the specifics of labeling/marking and state control of food products (the size of mandatory information on the marking should be no smaller than 1.2 mm for standard packaging). It establishes what kind of mandatory information should be indicated for small-sized goods in order to avoid the accumulation of tags. It introduces the regulation of requirements for the provision of information on allergens (marked in bold font, style or color in the list of ingredients). In addition, there is a provision for labeling products with or without GMOs in accordance with current legislation. Recently, the label “Without GMO” marked all products, even those of them that even a priori could not contain GMOs, such as water.

At the same time, it differentiates the terms “minimum durability date” and “use-by date”. From now on, products with unlimited durability will no longer have to write these phrases, as this provides irrelevant information.

For dairy products, there is now a legally fixed definition of the term “natural”.

The signed law increases the responsibility of food market operators, who are responsible for food information, by 4 times for misleading consumers.

It is envisaged that any given changes to the markings will come into force in 2 years. This will give the business opportunities and time to make qualitative changes in the markings and will avoid creating collapse at work.

The European Business Association welcomes the signing of this Law. The business community thanks the experts and government officials who took part in its development.