Law No. HO-135-N “On food safety”.

This Law shall regulate the relations pertaining to the safety of food, substances in direct contact with food, safety in food chain and service provision stages of trade and public food sector, as well as shall establish the human health protection securities envisaged by the state against the harmful and unsafe effect of food and substances in direct contact with food. This Law applies to all the parties involved in food safety issues in food chain, as well as substances in direct contact with food, nutrient and biological active additives production and circulation stages. It does not apply to: a) preparing, processing, using or storing homemade food designated for private or family use; b) food transported through the Republic of Armenia, except for the cases when the transit transfer may threaten the health of the population and environment; and c) food made as a result of food processing and preparation work carried out for scientific-research and educational purposes, not subject to marketing. The main state policy principles and issues for ensuring food safety are: a) ensuring the fulfilment of the legal acts in food safety and the supremacy of using safe food and protecting consumers’ rights with the aim of protecting human life and health; b) ensuring human life, health and environmental security during the operations carried out in all food chain phases; c) ensuring cooperation and exchange of information with relevant international and regional organizations with the aim of food safety protection; d) ensuring the introduction of food safety international criteria and requirements in the Republic of Armenia; and e) adopting decisions on the changes in state policy based on scientifically grounded assessments while assessing the scientifically grounded risks of food safety and their management. The food and the substances in direct contact with food are considered unsafe if they: a) do not comply with the requirements on safety and food hygiene as defined by the legal acts in food safety; b) do not hold a safety approving document; and c) the validity period has expired. Unsafe food and substances in direct contact with food are subject to withdrawal from market for suspension of use or destruction in the prescribed manner. Genetically modified (genetically engineered, transgenic) organisms: an organism or several organisms, any non-cellular, single-celled or multicellular organism, capable of reproducing or transmitting hereditary genetic material, which differ from natural organisms obtained by the use of genetic engineering methods and contain are genetically engineered material, including genes, parts thereof or combinations of genes.