Saeima’s Economic, Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Policy Committee supported in the third reading amendments to the Handling of Alcoholic Beverages Law, which provided that small breweries would be allowed to produce drinks using berries, fruit and plants that grew in the wild or cultivated in gardens in Latvia.
Amendments are intended to define that small breweries are private persons that produce wine, fermented beverages and other alcoholic beverages using products grown in gardens they own in Latvia.
It is also planned to establish that if the brewery is owned by a private person, it will be allowed to purchase raw materials from relatives or spouse who own garden that produces specific products. Legal persons will have this option open to them if one of its members who has relatives or spouse with ownership of a garden owns no less than 35% of capital shares. Ownership of said shares must be registered for at least nine months prior to signing the supply contract.
“Changes to the law will help strengthen the core of what makes family enterprises without burdening them with bureaucracy. This will also help ensure that products made by those businesses used only local fruits and berries,” explains chairman of the committee Romans Naudins.
For amendments to come to force, they have to be approved by the Saeima in the final reading. (BNN/Business World Magazine)
