In order to encourage the sale of products made from Romanian raw materials and to help consumers easily identify such products, a new legislative proposal has come to the attention of the Chamber of Deputies. This proposal introduces new obligations for economic operators, manufacturers, and traders to properly label products made from raw materials produced exclusively within the national territory so that consumers can easily identify them.
Starting from the general obligation of economic operators to provide consumers with truthful, complete, correct, and precise information regarding the products they offer, the legislative proposal obliges both producers and traders to label products made from Romanian raw materials by incorporating the Romanian flag on the products being sold. This obligation applies to both traditional (offline) commerce conducted in physical stores and online commerce.
Who is targeted by this legislative proposal?
Clearly, producers are the first to be affected by these new obligations, but they are not the only entities that will have to comply with the provisions of this proposal, should it be adopted. Those who merely sell products obtained from Romanian raw materials also fall within the scope of the legislative proposal, even though such traders may face the challenge of ensuring the certainty that the products they sell indeed contain national raw materials, as declared by the producer. Therefore, the discussed legislative proposal, in the version that has reached the Chamber of Deputies, stipulates that these traders will need to request a competent institution in the field to issue a specific document to validate the accuracy of the information provided by economic operators placing such products on the market. However, an alternative is provided for these traders to declare on their own responsibility that the products they sell truly contain products made from Romanian raw materials.
What is the proposed penalty for non-compliance?
The legislative proposal states that the failure to apply the aforementioned flag to the products in question may be subject to fines as follows:
- From 1,000 to 10,000 LEI if economic operators have a turnover of up to 2,000,000 EUR;
- From 10,000 to 100,000 LEI if economic operators have a turnover exceeding 2,000,000 EUR;
- Between 1,000 and 10,000 LEI for traders without a determined turnover in Romania or for those whose turnover cannot be determined.
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Mihaela Bălău – Attorney at Law