The Trade Ministry has said that all food items manufactured or imported to the Maldives from June for the purpose of trade should contain information about a product in Dhivehi or English on its packaging.
The new requirements will call for information concerning the ingredients used, the weight or measurements of the finished product, the country and date of origin, shelf-life and instructions on usage to be included on any goods being sold.
”The deadline set for labelling of food items already imported to the Maldives in accordance with the above requirements is 31 May 2011,” said the Trade Ministry in a press release.
The ministry said this announcement was made under Article 12 of Act number 1/96 (Consumer Protection Act) and any business found by officials of violating the ruling will see its owner fined Rf100,000 (US$7843).
”If an imported food item does not include the above information, it should be labelled in English or Dhivehi prior to the trading of the item in any inhabited island of Maldives,” the statement said.
“If any food items are not labelled according to these requirements after 1 June 2011, the owner of the business will be fined up to the amount of Rf100,000.”
The Trade Ministry was unable to comment further on the decision at the time of going to press.
Correction: An earlier headline for this story stated that labels would be required to be dual language. This has been clarified as English or Dhivehi.
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I am dumbfounded. Nowhere else in the developed world do they require items to be labeled in two languages. Who is going to bear the cost of labeling? Is the Economic Minister Mahmood Razee who sells non food products going to bear the cost? Or do we the public have to bear this cost in addition to the rise in food prices due to the business profit tax and the shortage in foreign currency, forcing businessmen to purchase on black market? How come it is only food products that have to be labelled in two languages? Substances in non-food products such as Shampoo and cosmetics can do more harm to humans than most food products.
We do not have Dhivehi words for most of the contents on a standard food label such as carbohydrates, protein, caffeine, etc. Most of these words mean nothing to a person who cannot read or understand english. So it makes no sense to require all food products to be labeled in english and dhivehi. So my feeling is that Economic Minister Razee and the rest of the government officials at a decision making level are a bunch of fools or they are hell bent in making life difficult for businessmen and the public.
Who is the fool who made this regulation. Dhivehi is spoken by only 300,000 people. How can you expect all the food items to be labeled in Dhivehi. Crazy crazy fool. If businesses are to do that it will incur addional cost as they have to print it themselves. Most of the food items are bought from wholesalers and not from the manufacturer. Mahmood Razee is the bigest fool. If the law says something stupid try to correct it instead of trying to impelemtn it.
good one, but rather useless unless ofcourse the requirement is extended to all goods, including imported food!
afterall divehi is not to be found outside maldivians.
now, i can just imagine the bevy of foreign exporters ready to label in divehi for a few hundred consumers...
the thought counts though. three cheers!
In all civilised countries food lables in local languages are mandatory. The Maldives traders have had their carnival of exploiting people and feeding them toxic food.. Those exploiters would react and it would be nice to know who they are...
Bravo Razee
this surly int a bad idea considering Dhivehi is our national language.
Hopefully they wont borrow worlds from Arabic this time.
This Act is not fair for all businessmen or individuals.it should be equal and fair for all.it should be in Dhivehi too.
This Act should be amended before implementing.
its always good to know about the product and ingredients of the product too.it will help people to learn and understand what they consume.
This is to discourage selling food items. Instead people should buy non food products like perfumes and other cosmetic items wholesale from shops like Le Cute.
This is a ridiculous law that will not be possible enforce. This kind of regulations unintentionally leads to criminalization of business. How on earth will the importers have bilingual labeling on their goods?
From July onwards, all perfumes must be labeled clearly in Dhivehi.
And that goes to Duty fee shops, LeCute, etc.
Dhivehi will become next UN lingo. Smarties, Mars bars, Cadburys chocolates,, Coca cola, Johnny Walker, Red Bull, etc must all have labels in Dhivehi.
this is sick.. this would inflate the prices of food items.. it will be almost impossible to re-label most of the food items imported. big importers might be able to do it but at a cost. how about the small impoters...?? pls. pls. look at the consequences before you take any actions.........
Are we trying to promote dhivehi language here or protect consumer rights? If the latter is the aim, well then sure businesses can put a dhivehi label on all products, but consumers be prepared to pay the extra costs involved in that. Despite what the government or some member of the public think, businesses do not have a bottomless pit of operating capital and businesses are not subsidized by the government when they make a loss, so high costs will mean high prices for consumers! And please note that from this year, business will be paying tax and they are already shouldering a large burden of the STELCO bill and paying additional costs in purchasing US$ at a much higher rate than the official rate. IS THE GOVERNMENT TRYING TO RUIN ALL PRIVATE BUSINESSES? Don't the economists in the Government know what will become of the economy without private sector growth?!! For gods' sake think and then act!
This is not the right thing to do? Only reaction is that it will increase the cost of the products.. Mainly the smaller business men who imports 30-40 cases of each is going to suffer and put them out of business>> I THINK THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD RECONSIDER>>
WHY?
WHAT IS THE POINT?
small minded fools.
”.....it should be labelled in English OR Dhivehi ......" does it mean dual language? For me it means it should be in at least either one of the two languages.
Its EITHER english OR Divehi, not both. Minivan News, check the press release.
http://trade.gov.mv/downloads/4d69e06e2b487_A-14-2011%20Labelling%20of%20food%20items%20in%20shops%20in%20both%20English%20and%20Dhivehi.pdf
Its still means a lot of European goods meant for resorts will be affected. 31st May is too early for something like this.
Most of those who commented did not understand the requirement...it says Dhivehi OR English, meaning English only will also be enough. This is a good move, as i have seen a lot of food items labelled only with Asian languages like Thai, Chinese etc., which Maldivians commonly don't understand. Consumers have a right to know details of the product they are buying, and with food products, it is essential to know the ingredients of the product you are consuming.
Menivah news, Editor and all English Financial Backers from Salisbury.
We the readers of Menivah News, read the articles hoping to find accurate information. But lately, say since late 2009 the content, the english and information are failing to do justice to what this website meant for us before that time. Please get yourself better journalists, provide accurate information and please I am begging you please get your damn english correct. The reason why the title of this article and the information went wrong is because of that.
On the subject of the article I think it is a good news that the trade ministry has decided such. According to the act products meant for resorts does not need this labeling
Food labeling must be at least in English. For that matter other products such consumable items such as those used in close contact with the body..detergents, amenities such as shampoos, even anything that we may breath in like toxics from paints etc. It is very important to know what is in the environment we live in - not just food