BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 6. A meeting of Azerbaijan's Parliamentary Committee on Agricultural Policy has discussed an amendment to the law on "Food safety", reflecting the establishment of new conditions for the production or import of alcoholic beverages, Trend reports.
According to the amendment, registration or approval of a food object producing or importing beverages or registration of a food subject operating without a food object will be carried out in compliance with the national law “On licenses and permits”, given the opinion of the body (institution) determined by the relevant body of executive power.
The amendment envisions the production or import of alcoholic beverages under the following conditions:
- absence of overdue obligations for taxes and other mandatory payments in Azerbaijan,
- absence of a valid decision that the entity is a risky taxpayer according to the national Tax Code;
- installation of control and measuring instruments that determine production volumes at a food facility where vodka, which is a type of alcoholic drink, is produced
To note, the production of alcoholic beverages in Azerbaijan experienced growth in 2023. Thus, production of vodka reached 1.41 million decaliters, up 13.4 percent from 2022; beer production grew by 12.4 percent up to 5.26 million decaliters; grape wine by 34.9 percent up to 1.27 million decaliters; and cognac and whiskey more than threefold up to 310,460 decaliters.
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