The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the draft law No.8450 “On Information for Consumers on Food Products”. The BRDO Office supports its adoption and believes that providing accurate and clear information on food products to consumers is an important step in respecting their rights and protecting their interests.
The constant development of production technologies and the growth of a variety of food product choices in the stores make consumers careful and scrupulous about choosing goods on shelves.
On 6/12/2018, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Draft Law of Ukraine No.8450 “On Information for Consumers on Food Products”, aimed at ensuring an adequate level of consumer awareness, defining general standards for food labeling and unifying the rules to provide consumers with information, in the second and final readings.
In particular, the draft law No.8450 provides for:
* the mandatory provision of accurate, reliable and clear information to consumers;
* determining unified requirements for providing information about food products sold both in stores and remotely;
* the possibility of producers to use a “without GMO” marker subject to confirmation that there are no GMOs in food products in accordance with the current legislation;
* requirements for providing information on the use of vegetable oils and fats in food products with the mandatory indication of the list of plants they are derived from;
* the minimum size of the text for indicating the mandatory information on a food product on its package;
* establishing requirements for the list of ingredients of food products, including the use of flavors, nanomaterials and products causing allergies;
* determining information that is required to provide as well as additional mandatory information;
* the need to indicate information about the processing of food products, such as drying or freezing;
It will be prohibited:
* to use of the word “natural” in the name of dairy products, if milk components are replaced, or fats or non-diary proteins, or any stabilizers and preservatives are used;
* to mislead consumers by indicating characteristics of food products they do not have, including medical or medical purposes.
The introduction of new requirements for the labeling of food products will ensure the right of consumers to protect and obtain complete, and most importantly, reliable information on food products.
It should be noted that the draft law No.8450 was developed to bring the domestic legislation in line with the provisions of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) No.1169/2011 of October 25, 2011, on the provision of food information to consumers.
You can find the text of the draft law here.