In accordance with the Law for the Promotion of Healthy Eating for Children and Adolescents (Law Nº 30021) and its Regulation (approved by Supreme Decree Nº 017-2017-SA), processed foods and non-alcoholic beverages that exceed the technical parameters established in the Regulation, specified through the Advertising Warnings Manual, must include Advertising Warnings (Octagons) on the front side of the label of the products, informing the consumer if the product is “HIGH IN SATURATED FAT”, “HIGH IN SUGAR”, “HIGH IN SODIUM” and/or “CONTAINS TRANS FATS”.
For food and beverages manufactured in Peru, the Advertising Warnings must be printed on the label of the products, that is, they must be indelibly marked on the label and may not be partially or totally covered by any other element.
For foreign manufactured food and beverages that are imported into the country, the Government initially authorized the use of stickers containing the Advertising Warnings (Octagons) for a certain period of time. This period of time was constantly extended by the Government through several Supreme Decrees, the last of which, Supreme Decree Nº 002-2022-SA, extended the use of stickers with the Advertising Warnings (Octagons) on imported products until June 30, 2023.
However, with the publication of the recent Supreme Decree Nº 017-2023-SA. 017-2023-SA, the Government has put an end to the need to be issuing Supreme Decrees to extend the term for the use of stickers containing the Advertising Warnings (Octagons) on imported products and, through an amendment to the Advertising Warnings Manual, has established that in the case of imported products the “use of stickers or indelible printing on the front side of the label” is allowed and that the stickers or indelible printing on the front side of the label is allowed for imported products, has established that in the case of imported products “the use of stickers or indelible printing on the front side of the label” is allowed and that the stickers “must be of a permanent nature, difficult to remove, indelible, resistant to low or high temperatures depending on their use and of good adherence for the type of surface used, not covering information to the consumer and complying with the provisions set forth in this Manual”. Thus, permanently, there would be no obligation for foreign-manufactured food and beverages imported into the country to contain the Advertising Warnings (Octagons) indelibly on their labels, and it would be sufficient to include them on stickers.
This is a positive rule for importers of food and beverages of foreign origin and seeks to correct what had already been declared as a non-tariff trade barrier (for lack of reasonableness) by the Specialized Chamber in Defense of Competition of the INDECOPI Court.
For further information, we invite you to learn more about our practice area: Life Sciences.
