To promote consumers’ awareness about products, on Thursday, the 1st of February, the Latvian parliament conceptually supported a proposal to make it mandatory to state the country of origin on product price tags.
Economic, Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Policy Committee’s members mentioned at a previous meeting that the planned amendments would allow buyers easily identify the origin of products in stores, as well as reduce the possibility of consumers being misled about the country of origin of products, the Saeima press service reports.
Currently it is required to state the country of origin of only specific groups of goods, such as meat, fresh fruits and vegetables.
The country of origin of various products is information that is especially important in the current geopolitical situation, because many Latvian residents don’t want to support aggressor countries and their products. Consumers have the right to choose freely and based on different aspects, as authors of the legislative draft stress.
Saeima deputies stressed at a meeting of the committee that there are some retailers that still sell food products made in Russia and Belarus. The mention of the product’s country of origin on the price tag is important to inform consumers and so that they do not accidentally purchase products of those countries, deputies stress. Deputies previously said that the country of origin and the producer country may not be the same for a product, asking authors of amendments to clarify the information that needs to be listed on the price tag. Members of the Saeima will continue discussions about the information that should be included on price tags.
For amendments to come into force, they have to be passed by the Saeima in two more readings.
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