Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka Enacts New Legislation for Food Labeling and Advertising

The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka’s (Sri Lanka) Ministry of Health recently introduced the Food (Labeling and Advertising) Regulations (2022). These new regulations regulate the labeling and advertising requirements of packaged food effective January 1, 2024, replacing the current Food (Labeling and Advertising) Regulations (2005). The Sri Lankan government notified the new regulations (dated January 17, 2023) in the Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka – Extraordinary (official gazette) on February 14, 2023. As per the new regulations, common names must appear in bold type in all three languages (English, Sinhala, and Tamil) used in Sri Lanka. For imported food products, the country-of-origin, the importer's name and address must appear. When food is imported in bulk and repackaged, the date of manufacture and repackaging must be labeled.