Definitions of vegetarian and vegan (Russia)
There are no specific legal regulations for vegetarian and vegan foods in the Russian Federation. However, according to the Federal Law No. 184-FZ dated December 27, 2002 “On Technical Regulation” it is possible to register products on voluntary certification system.
The purpose of voluntary certification system is obtaining a vegan/vegetarian certificate. The certificate is issued on a voluntary basis, i.e. at the request of the applicant. The applicants can be manufacturers, sellers, importers or ca-tering (i.e. various catering facilities as restaurants, cafes, home delivery, etc.).
If compliance check with voluntary certification system for vegetarian/vegan products was successful, a vegan certif-icate is issued to the applicant. Since then, the company can apply a special quality label (e.g. “VEGAN”) on the prod-uct packaging.