Ministry of Industry and Trade asks to speed up the introduction of labeling
Last week, the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade held a meeting with representatives of the operational headquarters for monitoring the situation on the introduction of mandatory labeling of dairy products. As it became known to The DairyNews, following the results, the regions were instructed to strengthen work with the enterprises of the sector, both milk processors and peasant farm holdings.
In particular, the instruction was given to hold a meeting with representatives of dairy producers, as well as "printing houses and enterprises that produce packaging for dairy products in order to prepare in time for the entry into force of the requirements for mandatory labeling of dairy products" by February 20, 2021. According to the department, it is necessary for the authorized representatives for the protection of the rights of entrepreneurs to participate in these meetings.
Meetings in the regions, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, should facilitate the registration of participants in the circulation of dairy products in the state information system for monitoring the circulation of goods subject to mandatory labeling; registration in the system of labeled products; ensuring timely preparation of economic entities for the entry into force of the requirements for mandatory labeling of dairy products in terms of ordering/installing the necessary equipment for labeling; determination of the plan for the purchase of packaging of dairy products with applied labeling codes fr om printing houses, if the manufacturer chooses the typographic method of applying the labeling code to the packaging as a priority.
In addition, as a number of sources reported to The DairyNews, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is currently discussing the issue of changing the GTIN of products in connection with the introduction of mandatory labeling of the dairy category. It has to be reminded that GTIN is the global number of commodity products in the unified international product database GS1. Also, the ministries responsible for the implementation of the labeling system are concerned about the situation with the introduction of labeling in Southern Federal District.
The dairy industry of Southern Federal District is almost massively opposed to its introduction. Earlier, during the Soyuzmoloko Congress, General Director of Southern Dairy Union, Konstantin Sinetsky, noted: ‘The discussion on this issue has begun, we constantly receive promises from government agencies on this issue. However, it is too early to believe them – everything that is done in terms of introduction is documented, and promises are still only in words. The cost of QR codes is questionable, we see that companies pay for everything – for equipment, for integration, for application. Wh ere is the cost price for the CATD? It's too early to close this discussion. The key question here is why the industry is doing this? How will the declared issues of the introduction of labeling be resolved?’.
Konstantin Sinetsky also reminded that among the enterprises of Krasnodar region, which together produce 70% of the products of the market, a study was carried out on the costs of labeling equipment. For them, the amount will be about 1.6 billion to start.
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