Moldova adjusts legislation on agro-food production to European Union's one
17:55 | 14.11.2018 Category: Economic
Chisinau, 14 November /MOLDPRES/ – The Cabinet of Ministers has approved today the draft law on organic agro-food production and labelling of organic products, a project that is in line with the acquis communautaire. The new law will allow Moldova to be recognised by the European Union as a third country in the export of organic products.
At present, the EU accredited international certification bodies are required to be accredited at national level. With the adoption of the draft law, international control bodies will no longer be obliged to reallocate themselves at national level. Also, the producers which certify their production to international bodies will be able to receive subsidies. At present, they can not access grants, as international certification bodies are not recognised at national level.
The national certification bodies are not internationally recognised, i.e. producers which contract these organisms can not export their production with the mention "ecological".
The document establishes the legal framework for activity of obtaining organic agro-food products at all stages of production, processing and distribution of organic products and their control, use in labelling and advertising of the indications applicable to organic production. As a result, the producers will be able to export their production with the mention "organic".
The illegal use of "ecologic", "biologic", "organic", or their abbreviations such as "bio", "eco" as trademarks or use throughout the chain from production to distribution is sanctioned by a fine of 300 – 500 conventional units for the individual, with a fine of 1,000 – 1,500 conventional units for the legal entity. The fines are also imposed for the sale of organic food products in the absence of the documents of operator.
The draft law will be submitted to Parliament for consideration. The Law on organic food production and labelling of organic products comes into force 6 months after the date of publication.