Regulation to diminish food waste, such as donating food close to expiration data, will no longer be mandatory but optional for retailers as of February 2019.

Moreover, the current law will be suspended until next year, local Profit.ro reported. The Government even mulled cancelling it due to strong controversy raised and difficult-to-apply provisions.

The law provides that food retailers and producers have to donate food which is 3 days away from expiration date to poor families or to sell it to social organizations at around 3% of its price. The law was approved in 2016 and should have been enforced as of May 2017, but the authorities decided to suspend it due to its complex provisions.

The MPs reassessed it and concluded that it was harmful, so they proposed to suspend it and asked the Government to work on a new proposal to regulate food waste.

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