REGULATION

LATVIA

Latvia strictly regulates both the sale and advertising of energy drinks. The Law on Handling of Energy Drinks:

• prohibits selling energy drinks to minors;
• prohibits involving minors in handling energy drinks;
• prohibits offering energy drinks to minors for free tasting, gift or compensation for purchasing another product or service;
• prohibits the sale of energy drinks in or around educational institutions;
• requires retail stores to separate energy drinks from other products in order to easily identify them.

The same law also restricts advertising:

• energy drink advertisements must warn the audience about the negative effects of the excessive use of energy drinks as follows: at least 10% of the advertisement must be allocated for the warning; the warning must be provided at the bottom of the advertisement in black letters on a white background, where the letters must be large enough to fill as much of the allocated space for the warning as possible;
• advertisements for energy drinks (including audio/audio-visual advertisements) cannot be addressed to or make use of minors;
• advertisements for energy drinks are prohibited: in, before or after radio and television programmes intended for minors as well as in advertising in the press targeted at minors;
• advertisements cannot give the impression that energy drinks are used: with alcohol, or when participating in sports competitions, or when carrying out individual or organised activities for maintaining or increasing physical health, or for restoring hydration during such activities;
• energy drink advertisements cannot be placed in/at education institutions.

The restrictions are in force since 1 June 2016.

Links to the relevant legislation (in Latvian):

• The Law on Handling of Energy Drinks