LAW OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

of December 15, 2017 No. 279

About informing consumers concerning foodstuff

This law shifts:

- Regulations (EU) No. 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and Council of October 25, 2011 about provision to information users about food, about modification of Regulations (EU) No. 1924/2006 and (EU) No. 1925/2006 of the European Parliament and Council and about cancellation of the Directive 87/250/EEC of the Commission, the Directive 90/496/EEC of Council, the Directive 1999/10/EU of the Commission, the Directive 2000/13/EU of the European Parliament and Council, Directives 2002/67/EU and 2008/5/EU of the Commission and Regulations (EU) No. 608/2004 of the Commission published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 304 of November 22, 2011 with the last changes made by Regulations (EU) 2015/2283 European Parliament and Council of November 25, 2015;

- The directive 2011/91/EU of the European Parliament and Council of December 13, 2011 about the specifying or signs identifying batch number to which food belong published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 334 of December 16, 2011;

- Executive regulations (EU) No. 828/2014 of the Commission of July 30, 2014 about requirements to provision to information users about lack of gluten or its availability in foodstuff in limited quantity published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 228 of July 31, 2014;

- Executive regulations (EU) No. 2018/775 of the Commission of May 28, 2018 establishing rules of application of part (3) Article 26 of Regulations (EU) No. 1169/2011 of the European parliament and Council about provision to information users about foodstuff concerning rules of specifying of country of source or the place of origin of primary ingredient of foodstuff, published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 131 of May 29, 2018.

Chapter I. General provisions

Article 1. Subject and scope

(1) This law establishes obligatory information concerning foodstuff for ensuring high level of consumer protection taking into account distinctions of perception and those needs for informing, providing at the same time proper functioning of the market of the Republic of Moldova.

(2) This law establishes the general requirements and responsibility regulating information concerning foodstuff, in particular concerning marking of foodstuff. Also the law provides guaranteeing methods to consumers of the right to informing and procedures for provision of information concerning foodstuff, considering need to provide sufficient flexibility concerning future changes and new requirements concerning information.

(3) This law is applied to operators of the food sector at all stages of food chain if their activities belong to informing consumers concerning foodstuff, and also to all foodstuff intended for the final consumer including to the foodstuff delivered by catering establishments and the foodstuff intended for delivery to them. This law is applied to the services of public catering provided by transport enterprises.

(4) Governed concerning the marks specified on foodstuff about nutrition value and usefulness, rules of marking of nutritional supplements, and also rules of marking of foodstuff of special dietary purpose affirm the Government.

Article 2. Concepts

For the purpose of application of this law the concepts determined in the Security act of foodstuff No. 306/2018, are used and the following basic concepts are in addition determined:

nutritional supplement – any substance which is usually not consumed as foodstuff and not used as characteristic ingredient of foodstuff, having or not having nutritional value which deliberate introduction in foodstuff in the technology purposes in production process, conversions, preparations, processings, packagings, transportations or storages gives or can lead, with sufficient share of probability, to the fact that substance or its by-products become directly or indirectly component of such foodstuff;

technology additive – any substance, which:

a) it is not consumed in food in itself;

b) it is specially used in conversion of raw materials, foodstuff or their ingredients for achievement of particular technology purpose during processing or conversion;

c) can bring to inadvertent, but technically to inevitable content in end product of remaining balance of the corresponding substance or its derivatives provided that they do not represent risk for health and do not make any technology impact on end product;

saturated fatty acids – fatty acids without double communications;

transfatty acids – fatty acids with at least one integrated double communication (and interrupted by at least one methylene group) carbon-carbon, in trans-configuration;

fatty monounsaturated acids – fatty acids with double communication in line item tsis;

fatty polyunsaturated acids – fatty acids with two or more double communications tsis or methyl communications intermittent cis-;

packaging – the material made in a special way and having special origin intended for packing of foodstuff for the purpose of ensuring their protection and used for their transportation, the treatment of them and their realization;

fragrances – products:

a) which are not intended for consumption in this form, added to foodstuff for giving to them of smell and/or changes of their taste;

b) consisting or created from aromatic substances, aromatic medicines, fragrances received by means of heat treatment, precursors of fragrances, other fragrances or their mixes as they are determined in the Section 4 of appendix 6;

field of vision – all surface of packaging which can be read from one point of view;

the main field of vision – packaging field of vision most of which likely will be the consumer seen at first sight at the time of purchase and which allows the consumer to determine without delay by it nature or the nature of product and, by circumstances, by the trademark. If on packaging there are several identical main fields of vision, the main field of vision is that field which is chosen by the operator of the food sector;

meat – edible parts of hoofed pets, poultry, zaytseobrazny, the shot game, the game which is grown up on farm, the small shot game, the big shot game, including blood;

the meat of mechanical boning (MMB) – the product received by department of meat from the bones covered with meat after boning or from carcasses of birds with use of mechanical means which cause destruction or change of structure of muscle fibers;

cleaning – removal of peel, thin skin from fruit, vegetables or egg shell;

final date of consumption – the date established by the producer for foodstuff which from the microbiological point of view is perishable and can constitute direct health hazard of the consumer after short period of time. The mark "Expires …" shall precede the final date of consumption specifying number, month and year;

the minimum expiration date – date to which foodstuff keeps the characteristic properties on condition of proper storage;

date of production - the date established by the producer upon completion of engineering procedure on production of foodstuff. Date of production is specified according to appendix 9 provisions;

the declaration of nutrition value or marking regarding nutrition value belong to information about:

a) energy value; or

b) energy value and amount of one or several nutrients:

– fats (saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids);

– carbohydrates (sugar, polyols, starch);

– salt;

– cellulose;

– proteins;

– any vitamins or minerals specified in Item 1 of the Section 1 of appendix 12 and which are present at significant amount as it is provided in Item 2 of the Section 1 of appendix 12;

the general name – the name which is accepted consumers as the name of foodstuff needlessly in additional explanations;

the descriptive name – the name giving the description to foodstuff and, if necessary, methods of its use in rather clear form allowing the consumer to determine true nature of foodstuff and to distinguish it from other products with which it could be mixed;

the official name – the name of the foodstuff sold to the final consumer or catering establishments, confirmed with the regulation;

food enzyme – the product received from vegetable or animal organisms or from microorganisms or from their derivative products, including from the products received in the course of fermentation with use of microorganisms;

marking – marks, the instructions, trademarks or trade names, images or signs relating to foodstuff and attendees at any packaging, the document, the announcement, the label, ring or cuff who accompany the corresponding product or concern to him;

the label – label, the trademark, the image or other written, printed, stamped, marked, engraved or printed on packaging of foodstuff or attached to packaging or packing of this product description;

cellulose – the carbohydrate polymers consisting of three or more monomeric units which are not digested and are not soaked up by thin department of intestines of the person and belong to one of the following categories:

a) the food polymeric carbohydrates which are present at natural state in the consumed foodstuff;

b) the food polymeric carbohydrates received from primary food raw materials by physical, fermental or chemical method, having the useful physiological impact confirmed with the commonly accepted scientific data;

c) the food polymeric synthetic carbohydrates having the useful physiological impact confirmed with the commonly accepted scientific data;

obligatory information on foodstuff – marks which according to this law shall be provided to the final consumer;

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