From September, stores will have to indicate the country of production of food products

The Food Circulation Monitoring Law has been supplemented by Article 13.¹ article, which states: “The retail company indicates the country where it was produced for the food product at the point of sale of food. The country concerned shall be indicated in writing or with an image of its flag.”

The law also stipulates: “If a food product is produced in the Russian Federation or the Republic of Belarus, this shall be indicated only in writing.”

Therefore, it will not be possible to display the flags of Russia or Belarus at the points of sale.

The transitional rules provide that the requirement will be applied from September 1, 2024.

The Cabinet of Ministers, on the other hand, must determine by May 31:

• criteria for identifying the country where the food product was produced;
• requirements for the design of the mentioned indications (written information or image of the flag) and their placement;
• exceptions when placement of signs is not mandatory.

The law, supplementing Article 33 with the second part, also provides for administrative responsibility for non-fulfilment of the requirement. If the country of manufacture of the food product is not specified at the food point of sale, a warning or a fine of up to 200 euros will be applied to the natural person, and up to 1000 euros to the legal person.

As explained in the annotation of the draft law, consumers are often misled about the true country of origin of various food products, so their decisions may not reflect their true will. According to the authors of the bill, the new requirement will increase consumer awareness in order to make a decision based on personal values ​​and priorities.

The origin of food products is especially important in the current geopolitical situation, when a large part of Latvian society does not want to support the aggressor countries and buy their products, the authors of the bill emphasize.

Until now, it was stipulated that the country of origin should be indicated on price tags only for certain food groups, such as meat, fresh fruit and vegetables.