Ministerial Order on Displaying Product Labels in the Lao Language
部长令——关于以老挝语张贴商品标签
ຄຳສັ່ງ ຂອງລັດຖະມົນຕີວ່າການ ກ່ຽວກັບການຕິດສະຫຼາກສິນຄ້າ ເປັນພາສາລາວ
Summary
This Order, issued by the Minister of Industry and Commerce, to elaborate Articles 18, 19, 20, 60, and 61 of the Consumer Protection Law, requires producers, importers, and wholesale/retail distributors to affix product labels in the Lao language before sale, and specifies label content, exemptions, penalties for violations, and implementation deadlines.
Articles
Article 1
The provincial and capital Departments of Industry and Commerce, in coordination with the district (municipality) Offices of Industry and Commerce within their jurisdiction, are tasked with conducting in-depth dissemination and guiding producers, importers, wholesalers, and retailers to affix product labels in the Lao language as follows: 1) Producers engaged in manufacturing, assembly, processing, or packaging within the Lao People's Democratic Republic, as well as importers and sellers who conduct wholesale trade or act as sales agents for a product based on a business registration, must first affix product labels in the Lao language before selling to consumers or supplying goods to retailers. If trade inspectors find that supplied goods lack labels in the Lao language, they shall be subject to warnings, fines, orders to cease operations, or revocation of the business registration certificate. 2) Operators engaged in retail trade: when receiving goods for sale, they may only accept goods that have labels affixed in the Lao language; likewise, they may only display for sale goods that have labels affixed in the Lao language. If trade inspectors find goods displayed for sale without labels in the Lao language, they shall be subject to warnings, fines, seizure, or confiscation of such goods. 3) For goods produced or imported for sale prior to the effective date of this Order, retailers must coordinate with the supplier to obtain Lao language labels; if the supplier is unable to print them, the Vientiane Capital Department of Industry and Commerce, in coordination with the district Office of Industry and Commerce, shall conduct field inspections, register such goods, and subsequently track their sale in stages until the entire batch of goods is sold out.
Article 2
The label content must include the following main information in accordance with Article 19 of the Consumer Protection Law No. 02/ສພຊ, dated June 30, 2010: 1) Category or type of goods; 2) Registered trademark of the producer and the importer-seller; 3) Place of production and the importer-seller, country of production of the goods; 4) Price, quantity, capacity, quality, volume, ingredients with specified proportions, instructions for use, warnings, date of manufacture and expiry date (use-by date). The label must be affixed securely, placed in a visible location, and must be affixed simultaneously to the product itself and to the outer packaging box or various types of containers. For goods imported from abroad, the content of the Lao language label must correspond to the content of the foreign language label.
Article 3
The following categories of goods are exempt from the requirement to affix labels as stipulated in this Order: 1) Goods temporarily imported for re-export, goods temporarily imported for display at trade fairs (markets) and subsequently re-exported, and goods in transit; 2) Donations and gifts; 3) Fresh food, processed food without packaging that is sold directly to consumers; 4) Unpackaged raw materials imported for supply to factory production or construction.
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