What do philology and regulatory affairs have in common?

It would seem nothing. However, at the end of February, amendments to Federal Law No. 53 of June 1, 2005 “On the State Language of the Russian Federation” came into force, tightening the rules for the official use of Russian as the state language.

Now state bodies and organizations must conduct official correspondence in Russian. In addition, the use of the Russian language is mandatory in information materials intended for consumers of goods. And here the impact of these amendments on the pharmaceutical industry begins to be traced.

Thus, participants in the dietary supplement market wondered whether it would be necessary to make changes to the packaging and information about the product. The organization “Union of dietary supplement manufacturers” applied to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Rospotrebnadzor with a request to prepare clarifications on this matter.

The organization indicated that the new requirements differ from the rules of the Technical Regulations, which establishes the procedure for labeling dietary supplements. Information about the government institutes response has not yet appeared in open sources.

However, it is worth noting that Federal Law No 53 contains exceptions for the use of a foreign language in trade names, trademarks and service marks. This rule allows manufacturers to use, for example, English names for medicines, dietary supplements, medical devices, if these names are registered as trademarks.

In addition, the law allows manufacturers of consumer goods to use the Russian language, taking into account the specifics of such activities. For example, the EAEU sanitary standards for cosmetics allow specifying the list of ingredients in accordance with the International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients (INCI). Also, the names of manufacturers of dietary supplements and cosmetics and their addresses can be indicated in English or another foreign language.