The Lithuanian Free Market Institute has examined the draft Ministerial Order of the Ministry of Agriculture on the approval of labelling criteria for raw milk and dairy products that requires the originating country of milk, used as an ingredient, to appear on the labelling, and formulated its comments and proposals.
The proposed regulation imposes an obligation to indicate the originating country of milk, used as an ingredient, on the labelling of dairy products, as well as to indicate all Member States and third countries in case there are several countries of origin. In LFMI’s view, such overextended regulation poses additional administrative burden and imperatively requires the originating country of milk to appear on the labelling of all dairy products produced by Lithuanian processors and marketed in Lithuania.
As such, the requirement does not contribute to the attainment of the primary objective to restrict unfair practices of raw milk processors and collectors in raw milk purchase and sale transactions. Moreover, forced labelling results in higher end-user prices and administrative burden on dairy processors, sellers and the authorities responsible.
Given the aforementioned, LFMI calls for the withdrawal of the Order.
The full position paper (in Lithuanian) is available at http://www.llri.lt/naujienos/ekonomine-politika/ekpertize-del-pieno-produktu-zenklinimo/lrinka
