Online trade: Thanks to new EU law, shopping will be safer from September
Created: 08/26/2022, 17:34
By: Stella Henrich
From September 1st online shopping will be safer for consumers.
A new EU law makes the supply chains easier to understand.
Munich – The corona pandemic has increasingly lured consumers in this country to online shops.
Well-known cult brands such as Doc Martens can sing a song about it.
Despite the pandemic, the shoe manufacturer was able to increase its sales in the second and third quarters of 2021 by 18 percent year-on-year to £318 million.
The reason: during the corona lockdown, the manufacturer's online sales boomed.
According to the company, online trading now accounts for a fifth of sales.
But not only since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 have more and more consumers been buying groceries online.
They use delivery services such as Flink, Getir or the now ailing delivery service Gorillas for spontaneous orders and quick cravings.
Away from the established online delivery services of Rewe, Penny and Co.
Online shopping: trade has not been adequately monitored to date
So far, there has not been sufficient monitoring of trade, "which means that products can be traced back to the manufacturer more difficultly," reports the consumer
platform
Chip.de.
This becomes a problem when a perishable food product is subject to a recall and consumer health is at stake.
As in the current example from Baden-Württemberg.
Food tracking: That changes on September 1st
Monitoring of online trade
in perishable food, cosmetics and consumer goods will be improved.
Monitoring authorities are allowed to anonymously place online orders for verification.
From September 1st, information on the traceability of products must be transmitted electronically to the authorities
within 24 hours in
order to trace supply chains and avert dangers for consumers.
Official control rights in the event of suspected violations
by online marketplaces.
They must remove unsafe products from the platform.
The new regulation - adaptation of the German Food and Feed Code to current EU law - is intended to make shopping for food on the Internet just as safe as shopping in stationary retail - i.e. the local shop.
The
Food and Feed Code (LFGB)
is the umbrella law of German food law.
Food safety is the top priority.
The code covers all stages of production and processing and applies not only to food and consumer goods but also to animal feed and cosmetics.
The purpose of the
LFGB
is to protect consumers by preventing or averting a risk to human health.
It also wants to
protect against deception
in the trade in food, animal feed, cosmetics and consumer goods
and, finally, ensure the protection of animals in the case of animal feed
.
Manufacturers, dealers or distributors must ensure the perfect quality of the goods.
The traceability of the products must be guaranteed at all processing stages.
(
Source: www.bundesregierung.de)
Consumer advocates have long been demanding that retailers must specify the ingredients, allergens and storage conditions as well as the consumption period of food in their online shops.
According to a report by Stiftung Warentest, compliance with the cold chain is difficult to understand even when shopping online.
Consumers should therefore never buy foods such as eggs, tomatoes, berries, fish and meat, but also avocados on the Internet.
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