good condition; undergo a health check and take hygiene courses; have and use cleaning and disinfection products (Aktualu verslo naujokams, 2025). If you want to engage in non-animal food activities, you need to: fill out an application for registration of a food entity; submit a plan of the premises with the layout of the equipment; submit a description of the food handling entity; select and submit a self-control system plan; submit a premises lease agreement if the premises are rented and submit vehicle registration documents if the food will be transported (Aktualu verslo naujokams, 2025). If you are opening a restaurant, cafe or canteen, it is also very important to decide on the legal form of the legal entity. After choosing the legal form of the company’s activities (individual enterprise, private limited company, small partnership, etc.), the legal entity must be registered with the State Enterprise Center of Registers. And then you need to apply to the State Food and Veterinary Service for the issuance of a Food Handling Entity Certificate. Registration of a food handling entity, i.e. granting the right to carry out food handling activities to a food handling entity and its inclusion in the list of Food Handling Entities maintained by the State Food and Veterinary Service, by providing an identification number. The State Food and Veterinary Service, having established a violation of the Food Law of the Republic of Lithuania related to the safety of food or products and materials in contact with food, shall issue warnings or fines to the food handling entity or the manufacturer and/or supplier of products and materials in contact with food (Article 12 of the Food Law of the Republic of Lithuania). Article 12(2) Part 2 of the Food Law establishes that food handling entities, manufacturers and/or suppliers of products and materials in contact with food, who have placed unsafe food or unsafe products and materials in contact with food on the market, shall be issued a warning or a fine of from 300 to 3,000 euros. Food handling entities, who have produced and/or placed counterfeit food, shall be issued a fine of from 3,000 to 14,000 euros. The State Food and Veterinary Service may impose the fines provided for in this Article no later than within two years from the date of the violation, and in the case of a continuous violation - within two years from the date of detection of the violation. It is important to note that the State Food and Veterinary Service has signed a Declaration on the first year of business, which commits not to apply sanctions in the first year of an economic entity’s activity, except in cases where a risk to consumer health is caused. This is called the “Tolerance Period”, when violations of 666 JOLANTA VILKEVIČIŪTĖ
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