July 11 (SeeNews) - Romania's president Klaus Iohannis signed into law on Monday a bill under which at least 51% of short food supply chain products such as meat, vegetables, fruits, eggs, dairy products and bread sold in supermarkets should come from local producers, the president's office said.
At the beginning of June, the bill was adopted unanimously by the country's parliament.
Traders with an annual turnover of up to 2 million euro ($2.2 million) are exempt from the law.
Commenting on the new legislation, the association of the big retail chains in the country, AMRCR, said that it goes against the competition mechanism and principles of the free market.
In their opinion, it will have an adverse impact on their financial operations and ultimately fuel inflation.
"The law will have a few negative effects on financial plans: higher commodity prices for Romanian products, consumer migration to a non-taxed market and cancellation of the beneficial effects of reduced VAT on food products. This will inevitably lead to a rising in inflation," AMRCR said in a press release.
AMRCR also said that it will continue to analyze the compatibility of this law with European standards.
Commenting on the issue in a press release in June, the country's anti-trust regulator said that the new legislation will not work because of the small number of domestic producers.
($=0.9038 euro)