According to the document, economic agents, food operators, can sell at a reduced price food whose shelf-life expires shortly, or transfer it by donation to charities or directly to end consumers as food for human consumption or as animal feed. Food may be transferred by donation by the food business operator either to the charity or to the consumer within the last 1/3 of the shelf life of the product. In the case of food with a shelf life of less than 48 hours, food business operators may only donate it to final consumers.

At the same time, food business operators, including caterers, are entitled to donate up to 5 units of any food product per day to each final consumer requesting it, and in the case of culinary products, the amount of the donation is determined by each individual operator.

Now the Government, within 6 months from the date of publication of the law, must draw up the necessary documentation to enable food operators who transfer food by donation to benefit from tax deductions and/or tax relief.

The draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Economy with the support of the International Finance Corporation and the Secretariat of the Economic Council, will enter into force 6 months after the date of publication in the Official Gazette.

At the moment, traders are not entitled to return to the producer food products whose shelf life has expired or is about to expire. This means that traders have to bear a whole series of costs to destroy these products, in many cases wasting perfectly edible food.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund, and the International Finance Corporation’s Investment Climate Reform Project funded by the Government of Sweden’s International Development Agency.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund.