New rules: inspections of business in Ukraine will begin in April

On April 4th, the Law “On State Control and Compliance with Legislation on Food, Fodder, Animal By-Products, Animal Health, and Welfare” comes into force, writes Agro-Center.

The new law is part of a large-scale reform of the state control system for food safety in Ukraine. Previously, the law “On the safety and quality of food products” was adopted. The new law defines how manufacturers will be checked. Market operators (manufacturers, carriers, stores) will be rated by the risk level.

“A European food quality and food safety system is very strict. The new law implements it in Ukraine. It will benefit consumers as they will get safe food, and businessmen as new requirements of product quality will increase the competitiveness of enterprises. Companies will have a greater chance of delivering their products to international markets,” said the deputy chairman of the Rivne Regional State Administration Igor Tymoshenko.

The new law will create conditions for ensuring better quality and safety of food products for consumers, as well as introduce clear and transparent inspection procedures that minimize corruption risks and promote a development of fair competition. The key innovations of the new law are an approach to market operators’ inspections and an implementation of the Verification Act.

The way companies are checked will depending on the risk they may cause to life and health of people (for example, the risk is lower in a store where packaged long shelf life products are sold than in a store that offers consumers fresh meat). According to the new law, inspectors of the State Committee for Proprietary Services will carry out inspections in accordance with the Verification Act. This document will contain a number of questions for verification and will be public, minimizing corruption risks.

A violation of the new law will bring strict sanctions. The amount of fine for legal entities can reach 70 thousand hryvnias; depends on the committed offense. In case of an identification of factors that are dangerous for life and health of people, an inspector may decide on the temporary cessation of the production and/or circulation of food and/or fodder.