Import of products
Question
We are interested in exporting various products from our domestic country, Czech Republic, to your country. The products we intend to export are primarily targeted at children under 3 years of age, including diapers, cosmetics, toys, textiles, paper products, and wood products.
To ensure compliance with your country’s regulations, we would appreciate information regarding the following requirements for product packaging:
Ingredients: Is it necessary to list the ingredients of the products on the packaging/wrap in your official language, or is it acceptable to have them written only in English?
Producer: Should the word “PRODUCER” be written in your official language on the packaging, or is it sufficient to have it written in English?
We kindly request your guidance on these matters to ensure that our products meet the necessary requirements for export.
Answer
Having regard to your query on the matter of product labeling, the Department of Internal Market and Market Surveillance of the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic provides you with the following information.
In the matter of placing products on the market, requirements for placing products on the market and for product labeling are set out in the Directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on general product safety (“Directive”) as well as in the specific Community harmonized legislation (“harmonized legislation”). The Directive determines the requirements for all the products which do not fall under the harmonized legislation. The harmonized legislation, on the other hand, determines requirements for specific products (such as toys, and cosmetics), whose nature requires a stricter approach to product safety than is determined in the Directive. Within the Slovak legislation, requirements for placing products on the market and for product labeling are determined in Act No. 250/2007 Coll. On Consumer Protection (“Consumer Protection Act”), available on https://www.mhsr.sk/obchod/ochrana-spotrebitela/legislativa-v-oblasti-ochrany-spotrebitela-v-anglickom-jazyku and in the Government Order of the Slovak Republic No. 404/2007 Coll. available on https://www.slov-lex.sk/pravne-predpisy/SK/ZZ/2007/404/20070901(unfortunately available only in the Slovak version). These two legal acts implement the provisions of the Directive and represent the legal framework of general product safety in Slovakia.
Information obligations of the economic operators as well as labeling of products that do not fall under the harmonized legislation are more specifically determined in Section 10a to 12 of the Consumer Protection Act. According to the Section 12 (1), the producer is obliged to mark the product with data that truthfully and completely informs the seller about the characteristics of the product; if the producer fails to fulfill his obligation, the product shall be marked by the importer if the importer does not mark the product either, the product shall be marked by the distributor. Further obligations related to product labeling are set out in Section 12 (2) of the Consumer Protection Act, which states that the seller must ensure that the product sold by him is clearly marked with information on the producer or also on the importer or distributor, on the extent or quantity, on the use and maintenance of the product and on the danger arising from its misuse or maintenance, on storage conditions of the product as well as the risk associated with the service or information provided under the special regulations. This obligation is also applicable to producers, importers, and distributors. According to the Section 13 of the Consumer Protection Act, if the information referred to in Section 10a to 12 is provided in writing, it must be in the codified form of the state language. The possibility of simultaneus use of other designations, especially graphic symbols and pictograms, as well as other languages, is not affected. Physical and technical quantities must be expressed in legal units of measurement.
Following the above we can therefore conclude that in the case of products that do not fall under the harmonized legislation (such as diapers, paper products, and wood products), ingredients marked on the packaging do not have to be translated, however, the information on the producer (including the word “Producer”) must be stated in the Slovak language.
As regards to the textiles, labeling of the fiber composition of the textile products are determined in the Regulation (EU) No. 1007/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2011 on textile fiber names and related labeling and marking of the fiber composition of textile products and repealing Council Directive 73/44/EEC and Directives 96/73/EC and 2008/121/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (“Regulation”).
Article 16 of the Regulation states:
“1. When making a textile product available on the market, the textile fiber composition descriptions referred to in Articles 5, 7, 8 and 9 shall be indicated in catalogs and trade literature, on packaging, labels, and markings in a manner that is easily legible, visible, clear and in print which is uniform as regards its size, style, and font. This information shall be clearly visible to the consumer before the purchase, including in cases where the purchase is made by electronic means.
3. The labeling or marking shall be provided in the official language or languages of the Member State on the territory of which the textile products are made available to the consumer unless the Member State concerned provides otherwise.”
According to the above-mentioned legal regulation, we can therefore conclude that in the case of textiles, ingredients as well as the producer (including the word “Producer”) must be translated to the Slovak language when written on the package. In this context, we would also like to point out, that Annex V to the Regulation, includes the list of textile product which has an exception from the above-mentioned obligation. Given the fact that the textile products mentioned in your email were not specified, we recommend checking whether your textile products fall under these exceptions or not.
As regards the toys, these do not fall under general product safety. Obligations of economic operators related to the toys are determined in Act No. 78/2012 Coll. on the Safety of Toys (“Safety of Toys Act”), Decree of Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic No. 225/2013 implementing certain provisions of Act No 78/2012 Coll. On the Safety of Toys (“Decree”) and Act No. 56/2018 on Product Conformity Assessment and Placing Designated Product on the Market (“Conformity Assessment Act”). The above-mentioned legal regulation does not determine the obligation to write ingredients on the package of the toys in the Slovak language, however Section 10 (1) of Safety of Toys Act in connection with part B of Annex 1 to the Decree state the list of allergenic fragrances which shall be listed on the toy, on any affixed label, on the packaging or in an accompanying leaflet, if added to a toy, as such, at concentrations exceeding 100 mg/kg in the toy or components thereof. Also, according to the Section 10 (5) of the Safety of Toys Act, all warnings related to toys shall be written in the Slovak language. As regards to the producer indicated on the package of the toys, according to the Section 5 (k) of the Conformity Assessment Act, the producer is obliged to indicate on the product its trade name and in the national language the registered seat or place of business, if this is not possible, the required information must be provided on the packaging or in the accompanying documentation of the product.
As regards cosmetic products, these fall under harmonized legislation and have individual language requirements for product marking. This product category falls within the competencies of Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic to which your request has been forwarded.
In this context, we would like to point out that in addition to the product marking, the above-mentioned legal regulations contain also other obligations that the economic operators must comply with when manufacturing and selling the product and this statement focuses only on the issue of language requirements related to the ingredients and producer written on the product packaging. At the same time, knowledge of the above-mentioned legal regulations is essential for all economic operators.
In conclusion, we would like to add that the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic is not entitled to provide a binding interpretation of laws or legal advice, therefore consider this statement as legally not binding.