Amendments to legislation on labeling organic products
The State Duma of the Russian Federation in the second and third readings, adopted a law on labeling organic products with the designations “eco” and “bio”. It will come into effect on September 1, 2024.
The document amends the law “On organic products and on amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation.” According to the authors, the changes are designed to eliminate difficulties in identifying organic products with different labels by their consumers. Such products are defined as agricultural products, raw materials and foodstuffs, the production of which meets a number of requirements. In particular, we are talking about the isolation of its production, a ban on the use of certain agrochemicals, pesticides, antibiotics, growth and fattening stimulants for animals, hormonal drugs, food additives, as well as a ban on the use of genetic engineering methods, and so on.
Now the inscriptions used to label such products may contain the word “organic”, as well as its abbreviations or words derived from this word, alone or in combination with the name. According to the changes, the words “biodynamic”, “biological”, “ecological”, “environmentally friendly”, “green” or words similar in meaning or their abbreviations, or the designations “eco”, “bio” can also be used.
However, these requirements do not apply to the labeling of certain types of products. Firstly, if in the formation of names, regardless of the method of production of products, technical regulations allow the use of the designation “bio”. Secondly, if the word “green” is used in the labeling to indicate the color of the product or the degree of its maturation. And thirdly, if the phrase “green standard” is used to label agricultural products, agricultural raw materials and food with improved characteristics.
