Bulgaria’s plan to require all food sold in the country to have original packaging printed in Bulgarian – and ban retailers or importers from adding the information later – violates EU law, European retail body EuroCommerce has claimed.
The proposal, part of a wider food act Bulgaria is lining up, has been notified to the European Commission. The notification standstill period, during which Brussels and other member states look at proposed regulations to see if they meet EU rules, runs until 30 September.
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The act covers areas including the registration for food production and marketing sites; the terms and conditions for placing food for special purposes and food additives on the market; and the creation of a national food council as a permanent advisory body coordinating government policy in the food sector.
However, EuroCommerce has pinpointed the proposal that will cover the information put on packs, insisting it will “deny consumers choice and raise prices”.
EuroCommerce insisted it “fully supports” product information important to consumers and their safety being required in a language understandable to them. It said for foreign food products it is “common practice, and allowed by EU law” to add a sticker with this information if the producer has not already provided this in a particular language.
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In a statement, the organisation said: “By prohibiting this relatively efficient way of providing mandatory information, the Bulgarian government is creating a significant trade barrier and potentially denying their consumers access to a whole range of foreign products. Foreign food sold or produced in low volumes will be hit hard. The costs of repackaging could mean that foreign small-volume and speciality goods will simply not be available on the Bulgarian market.”
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By GlobalDataChristian Verschueren, director general of EuroCommerce, added: “This is starting to become a trend. Different member states have in recent years introduced discriminatory laws targeting foreign retailers and foreign products. The beauty of the single market is that it has opened the door for consumers everywhere in Europe to the diversity and richness of Europe’s food products. Now, one government after the other, today the Bulgarian, is shutting that door on foreign food products.
“This approach pays no attention to consumers’ interests, and is effectively saying that state regulation should decide what consumers can buy and how much they pay for it. We welcome the action the Commission has taken in the past, and hope that they will in the future, to guarantee consumer choice.”
