Polish consumer office advises shoppers how to boycott Russian products

Poland’s consumer authority has called on shoppers to show solidarity with Ukraine by boycotting Russian and Belarusian goods and services. It has issued advice on how to use barcodes on produces to distinguish their country of origin.

“We encourage everyone to take part in the action of boycotting products and services from companies in Russia and Belarus,” said Tomasz Chróstny, president of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK), a state authority.

His office noted that many of the biggest chains operating in Poland have already removed Russian products from their shelves, with Aldi, Carrefour, Netto, Rossmann and Stokrotka being among the first to do so.

“We appreciate retail chains withdrawing such products from their offer,” said Chróstny. “Let us be in solidarity with Ukraine, we oppose Russian military aggression.”

UOKiK also advises consumers that they can “make a conscious decision to avoid products made in these countries on the supermarket shelves” by checking the barcodes on their purchases. Codes on products made in the Russian Federation begin with 46, while those from Belarus start with 481.

Other large companies that are no longer stocking Russian and Belarusian products include Castorama, Żabka, Lidl, and Lisek. Another to remove them from their shelves is one of Poland’s largest supermarket chains, Biedronka.

“We support our Ukrainian staff,” Maciej Łukowski from the company told Wirtualne Media. As well as working with aid organisations to donate products, “the next step of solidarity with Ukraine is not accepting the presence of Russian and Belarusian products,” he said. “Even if there were only a dozen or so, we think this is the right thing to do.”

Immediately after Russia’s invasion, Biedronka announced that it would give all of its 1,800 Ukrainian employees a payment of 1,000 zloty (€216) as a “gesture of solidary”.

The Polish Food Market Chamber of Commerce and Trade has previously issued an appeal to companies to “withdraw all Belarusian and Russian goods, products and services sold in your businesses”, reports Gazeta.pl.

It has also produced posters which firms can print out and display so that “all Poles know that you do not give economic support to Belarus as well as Russia, which has brutally attacked Ukraine and is carrying out armed actions against the civilian population”.

Tweeting in Polish, English and Ukrainian, UOKiK also says it has signed a joint statement with its counterparts in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia condemning Russia’s violation of “the fundamental rights of…the well-being of citizens, businesses and society as a whole”.

Main image credit: UOKiK

Ben Koschalka

Ben Koschalka is a translator and senior editor at Notes from Poland. Originally from Britain, he has lived in Kraków since 2005.