ACCESS TO INFORMATION AS A DETERMINANT OF THE CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AT THE FOOD MARKET

The article discusses1 the right to information as one of the most important foundations for protection of consumer rights in the context of The Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011. The authors present the definition of a consumer under the Polish law and principal EU regulations. They discuss changes in consumer needs which took place over the last 30 years, and expectations consumers have regarding the food products. They evaluate disclosure requirements as set forth in the Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers in light of those needs and expectations. For now this assessment needs to be restricted to legal aspects as the implementation aspects will not be evident until 2014 when the Regulation comes into effect for food producers.