MP Anisim on Belarusian language on labels


Will we see Belarusian language on the labels of the local goods?

Belarusian labels on products are a rarity. The cause of this lies with the technical regulations of the Customs Union. The use of the Russian language on the labels of Belarusian products is mandatory, and the Belarusian language is added as a supplement, in case there is an extra desire on the producer’s part.

Soon the parliament will consider amendments to the law “On Protection of Consumers’ Rights”.

Ministry of Trade and antitrust regulation, which was engaged in the preparation of the project, believes that the mandatory addition of Belarusian language to the packaging is impractical, because producers will bear additional costs or even losses.

The MP and Deputy Chair of the Belarusian Language Society Alena Anisim told “Belsat” that the reasons for the Ministry of Commerce not to add the Belarusian language on labels are flimsy.

“For the changes to be introduced into the consumer protection legislation, they need to be better formulated and Belarusian needs to be in daily use by all those who want to protect their rights.

The Ministry says that it does not want to introduce information in the Belarusian language, as it supposedly increases the cost of goods. But one can cite the example of foreign companies that supply goods to Belarus, which are even cheaper than the Belarusian products. They, however, do contain not one but several languages, including Belarusian.

“These flimsy reasons indicate only that in fact many manufacturers of Belarusian products do not respect the consumer,” says Alena Anisim.

‘Belsat’ journalists asked Minskers what they thought about Belarusian language on the labels of the local goods.

“I want everything to be written in Belarusian,” says the man.

“It would be more logical to read the inscriptions in Belarusian in Belarus than it would be in Russian,” said the woman.

“I would like it more, if the labels were in Belarusian,” said a passer-by.

“I mostly speak Russian, so it’s questionable for me. But it would be nice to have it in both languages,” says the young man.

belsat.eu

TWITTER