Public events

Everyone who sells and/or prepares food at a public event must have previously informed the Agriculture and Food Board (AFB) of their activity.

For this, a notice of economic activities must be submitted to the regional centre of the AFB:

  1. temporary retail/catering must be notified to the center where the activity takes place
  2. mobile retail/catering must be notified to the center where the business has its legal address

Notice of economic activity can be sent to AFB in three ways:

  • via internet through the customer portal of the Ministry of Rural Affairs
  • by post to the address: Põllumajandus- ja Toiduamet, Väike-Paala 3, 11415, Tallinn, Estonia
  • by e-mail to the regional AFB centre if the documents are digitally signed. Contacts can be found here

Notice is free of charge.
AFB does not send confirmation letter about the notice. All approved notices can be found here.

Sellers and producers of food at a public event are a temporary and/or mobile company.

For temporary retail/catering:

  • the sale or preparation of food lasts no more than 3 months
  • the company is engaged in retail in only one sales area
  • the notice of economic activity is submitted separately for each event (public event, fair, market, trade fair, festival, etc.)
  • when the notice of economic activity is submitted, the dates of commencement and termination of the activity are indicated on the notice of economic activity
  • the food business operator (FBO) is not obliged to inform the AFB of the termination of activities

For mobile retail/catering:

  • any movable (can be assembled and demounted and moved from one location to another) handling unit or installation (sales car, trailer, tent, etc.)
  • the AFB is informed once upon the commencement of the activities based on the legal address of the company
  • only the date of commencement of activities must be indicated on the application
  • each handling unit or installation must be reported separately (e.g. when a food business operator has 3 counters, they must report each counter separately, i.e. 3 notices of economic activity must be submitted)
  • the notification obligation is fulfilled by the submission of the notice of economic activity and the FBO no longer has to notify the AFB separately of each event where they plan to go with their mobile unit
  • the FBO has an obligation to inform the AFB of the termination of the activity by submitting a notice (a notice of economic activity or a free-form signed declaration)
  • If the movable caterer is used for food processing permanently, all-year-round, on one sales area, this operator is deemed as fixed and must file a retail/ catering economic activity notice / application for an activity licence

Notification is not required if the food is prepared, stored and offered randomly (does not indicate a certain continuity) by private person (charity events, school fairs etc). Such a person is not considered an operator and is therefore not subject to the requirements of the EU food hygiene legislation.

NB!
If you want to sell home-prepared food at a fair, you must, in addition to the above, submit an additional notice of economic activity to the AFB regarding the handling of food at a private dwelling-house.

What to keep in mind, when selling and/or making food at public event:

  • Everyone who sells and/or prepares food at a public event must have previously informed the AFB of their activity
  • Every FBO must draw up a self-control plan and keep it available for each event that it participates in. Guidance material for the preparation of a self-control plan can be found here
  • To ensure the traceability of food, records must be kept of food purchased and sold
  • Food has to be stored at the prescribed temperature
  • Food must be properly labelled. Additional information on food labelling can be found here
  • FBO must have knowledge of food hygiene / safety and must have completed food hygiene / safety training
  • Personnel must have health certificates
  • Instructions for water used in food handling can be found here;
  • Additional requirements for the sale of alcohol can be found in here.

Last updated: 29.07.2021