
Dietary supplements on marketplaces – increased control
On August 18, 2022, Rospotrebnadzor sued the founder of the Wildberries marketplace, Tatyana Bakalchuk. The reason for going to court was improper control over the dosage of vitamin D sold on the marketplace, the excessive use of which can be dangerous for humans. In this regard, Rospotrebnadzor demanded that the entire section with vitamins and nutritional supplements be closed. In December, the court denied the claims.
However, this situation has not gone unnoticed by the marketplace. At the end of February 2023, the Wildberries marketplace withdrew tens of thousands of offers (about 65 thousand) for the sale of dietary supplements without special documents.
Currently, about 70 thousand items of vitamin complexes that have passed verification are presented on the marketplace. The wildberries platform was the first in the e-commerce market to fully integrate with the register of certificates of state registration of dietary supplements and vitamin complexes of the Eurasian Economic Commission. To verify their products, when filling out product cards, sellers must provide documents for goods, the authenticity of which is confirmed by special algorithms and reconciliation with the official state register. Products are displayed on the Wildberries platform only when their originality is confirmed.
Previously, for the sale of dietary supplements on the marketplace, it was enough to present a certificate of state registration. Since October, these rules have changed - now sellers need to go through the online verification of the authenticity of the certificate.
In general, until 2020, it was forbidden to sell dietary supplements via the Internet. Remote sale of dietary supplements in Russia was prohibited by SanPiN 2.3.2.1290-03, approved in 2003. It was possible to sell them through pharmacies, pharmacy stores and kiosks, specialty stores selling dietary products and grocery stores.
As part of the implementation of the “regulatory guillotine” mechanism, the aforementioned SanPiN was included in the list of repealed regulations from January 1, 2021. Thus, the online sale of dietary supplements became possible.
References:
- https://pharmvestnik.ru/content/news/Rospotrebnadzor-podal-v-sud-na-osnovatelnicu-Wildberries.html
- https://mos-gorsud.ru/rs/ostankinskij/services/cases/kas/details/6347f691-22bc-11ed-920a-5de6f585c54a?participants=%D0%91%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%87%D1%83%D0%BA
- https://pharmvestnik.ru/content/news/Wildberries-otozval-desyatki-tysyach-predlojenii-o-prodaje-BAD-bez-specialnyh-dokumentov.html