Romania forces supermarkets to sell local products

The Romanian Parliament voted in favour of new legislation, that requires at least 51 % of a supermarket’s product range to come from Romania. It is however very unlikely that such a protectionist law would be allowed within the European Union.

Mixed response

If Romanian congressmen get their way, every supermarket with more than two million euro in annual turnover, has to update its product range in meat, vegetables, fruit, milk, eggs, honey, bread and pastry to include at least 51 % Romanian products. The law, which the Romanian president still has to sign, also wants to create a legal framework for the origin of meat and a seven day payment period for fresh food, according to Foodnavigator.

Both retailers and the federation for the Romanian food industry have reacted negatively, but the food industry’s labour union are in favour of the new law as they feel major international food retailers, that dominate the Romanian market, often treat local products unfairly.

However, there is very little change the European Commission will accept this protectionist legislation, despite the fact Romania is not the only one who is concerned about its local manufacturers: Slovakia also wanted to force supermarkets to inform customers at the entrance of the number of Slovakian products in the store. Recently, the Polish government introduced a “supermarket tax” on all major (and therefore foreign) retailers, something Hungary already did earlier.