The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine has asked Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn to consider draft law No. 10495 on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Food Safety.
According to a letter published on Wednesday, the document aims at
correcting some drawbacks of the national state supervision system in
the safety of foodstuff and preventing negative consequences for
domestic foodstuff market players, importers and consumers.
Among such drawbacks is several state bodies being empowered with
similar control duties in the same area, which leads to the large number
of checks, the existence of ineffective state regulation instruments
that hinder the promotion of domestic food to foreign markets, and the
absence of proper penalties for law infringements.
The Chamber also said that the requirements of the draft law foresee
the harmonization of the Ukrainian law in food safety with the
requirements of the European Union, they make regulation more
transparent, clear and easy to apply, as well as toughen the
responsibility of market players and representatives of power bodies.
As reported, cabinet draft law No. 10495 on amendments to some
Ukrainian laws regarding the safety of food was registered in parliament
on May 21, 2012.
The document foresees amendments to 12 laws, in particular, the
Criminal Procedural Code, the Code of Administrative Punishment, the
Criminal and Economic Codes, the laws on the safety and quality of food,
on baby food, on the protection of consumer rights, on the withdrawal
and disposal of unsafe and hazardous products from sale, and on
veterinary medicine.
In addition, the document proposes to change clauses defining the
functions, tasks and powers of the executive power bodies in the sphere
of monitoring safety of food. The government proposes to focus the
powers on state control of food safety in a single body – the State
Veterinary and Biosecurity Service of Ukraine.
The amendments proposed by the government specify the notions of
“safe food” and “unsafe food,” define criteria used for their
assessment, clarify the procedures for the introduction of the Hazard
Analysis and Critical Control Points system, provide for the
transparency of all production stages and food trade stages, etc.
In addition, the draft introduces stricter penalties on producers for
violating their liabilities, as defined in the Ukrainian law on food
safety.
According to the law, foreseen are a fine from 225 to 370 non-taxable
minimum personal incomes is imposed for the circulation of unsafe food,
which causes a trivial injury, of community work for a period of from
150 to 240 hours or corrective work for a period of up to one year. If
medium bodily harm is caused, corrective works of from one year to two
years or imprisonment for two-five years are foreseen. Actions causing
death of people are punished by imprisonment for a period from five to
ten years.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine represents the interests
of leading international companies operating in the agrarian and food
sectors of Ukraine.
