Historical Apoplexy · State Legislative Adaptations · Lithuania
Lithuania Food, Resource, and Commodity Assurance Act
A Westminster-Parliament adaptation of Historical Apoplexy
SEIMAS OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas
2024-2028 Term / 2026 Session
ĮSTATYMO PROJEKTAS / DRAFT LAW
PATEIKĖ ________ (Seimo nariai) INTRODUCED BY ________ (Members of the Seimas)
DĖL LIETUVOS MAISTO, IŠTEKLIŲ IR PIRMOJO BŪTINUMO PREKIŲ UŽTIKRINIMO PROGRAMOS
CONCERNING THE LITHUANIAN FOOD, RESOURCE, AND COMMODITY ASSURANCE PROGRAMME
ĮSTATYMAS / A LAW
LONG TITLE / ILGAS PAVADINIMAS
LIETUVOS RESPUBLIKOS ĮSTATYMAS DĖL MAISTO, IŠTEKLIŲ IR PIRMOJO BŪTINUMO PREKIŲ UŽTIKRINIMO
A LAW OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA concerning the establishment of the Lithuanian Food, Resource, and Commodity Assurance Programme; the establishment of Lithuanian Food Assurance Centres (Lietuvos maisto užtikrinimo centrai, LMUC) in every Lithuanian county and major municipality; the conferral of an at-cost basic-needs commodity entitlement on every Lithuanian citizen ordinarily resident in the Republic, identified by Asmens kodas (Personal Code), enrolled through the existing Valstybinio socialinio draudimo fondo valdyba (State Social Insurance Fund Board, SODRA) and Elektroniniai valdžios vartai (e-Government Gateway, www.epaslaugos.lt) infrastructure; coordination with UAB ILTE (the Lithuanian state-owned national development bank) for capital investment; coordination with the Nacionalinė mokėjimo agentūra (National Paying Agency, NMA) for rural distribution and the Lithuanian agricultural cooperative sector; coordination with the Naujos kartos Lietuva (New Generation Lithuania) Recovery and Resilience Plan (€3.85 billion EU NextGenerationEU allocation; €2.26 billion / 58.7% cumulative paid-to-date as of January 2026); coordination with Lithuanian consumer cooperatives in the kooperatinis judėjimas tradition; coordination with the Lithuanian Red Cross (Lietuvos Raudonasis Kryžius) and Maisto Bankas (Lithuanian Food Bank) for delivery partnership; consistency with the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania (1992), particularly Article 46 (the State shall regulate economic activity so that it serves the general welfare of the Nation) and Article 53 (the State shall take care of people's health); consistency with the philosophical heritage of Vytautas the Great, Vincas Kudirka, Sąjūdis, the Baltic Way of 23 August 1989, the January Events of 1991, and the Dainų šventė cooperative-cultural tradition; explicit declination to establish any new Lithuanian income tax (gyventojų pajamų mokestis), value added tax (pridėtinės vertės mokestis, PVM), excise duty (akcizas), or other Lithuanian tax of any kind for the funding of the Programme; and provision for connected purposes.
LEGISLATIVE ROUTING NOTE
This Draft Law (Įstatymo projektas) is for introduction in the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania during the 2024-2028 term, 2026 Session, under the legislative-initiative provisions of the Constitution (Article 68).
Suggested committee referrals following First Reading:
- Socialinių reikalų ir darbo komitetas (Social Affairs and Labour Committee) — for the welfare-related provisions - Biudžeto ir finansų komitetas (Budget and Finance Committee) — for the fiscal provisions - Kaimo reikalų komitetas (Rural Affairs Committee) — for the agricultural-cooperative and rural-distribution provisions - Ekonomikos komitetas (Economic Affairs Committee) — for the ILTE coordination provisions - Europos reikalų komitetas (European Affairs Committee) — for the Naujos kartos Lietuva coordination provisions - Švietimo ir mokslo komitetas (Education and Science Committee) — for the education-modernisation provisions
Following Seimas passage on Third Reading, the Law is submitted to the President of the Republic for promulgation in the Teisės aktų registras (Register of Legal Acts) and published in the Teisės aktų informacinė sistema (TAIS).
DIVISION I — FOOD ASSURANCE
ARTICLE 1. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE LITHUANIAN FOOD, RESOURCE, AND
COMMODITY ASSURANCE PROGRAMME.
(1) There is hereby established the Lithuanian Food, Resource,
and Commodity Assurance Programme (Lietuvos maisto, išteklių
ir pirmojo būtinumo prekių užtikrinimo programa, "the
Programme"), administered by the Ministry of Social Security
and Labour (Socialinės apsaugos ir darbo ministerija) in
coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture (Žemės ūkio
ministerija), the Ministry of Finance (Finansų ministerija),
the Ministry of Economy and Innovation (Ekonomikos ir
inovacijų ministerija), and the 60 municipal local
governments (savivaldybės).
(2) The Programme shall operate Lithuanian Food Assurance Centres
(Lietuvos maisto užtikrinimo centrai, "LMUC") in every
Lithuanian county (apskritis) and major municipality on the
effective date of this Act, with priority deployment in the
counties of Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai, Panevėžys,
and the rural counties of Alytus, Marijampolė, Tauragė,
Telšiai, and Utena.
ARTICLE 2. ENTITLEMENT TO PARTICIPATE.
(1) Every Lithuanian citizen ordinarily resident in the Republic
of Lithuania, identified by Asmens kodas (Personal Code), is
automatically entitled to participate in the Programme.
(2) Foreign nationals lawfully resident in Lithuania who hold an
Asmens kodas (including holders of EU residence rights and
Lithuanian residence permits) are likewise entitled.
(3) Participation is voluntary. No citizen is required to obtain
goods through the Programme; the existing commercial retail
market continues to operate unaffected.
ARTICLE 3. PROGRAMME GOODS AND AT-COST PRICING.
(1) LMUC outlets shall offer for distribution at production cost
plus reasonable distribution allowance:
(a) Staple foods (rye bread / ruginė duona, wheat bread,
potatoes / bulvės, oats, grains, pulses, cooking oils,
sugar, salt, tea, coffee);
(b) Protein sources (pork, chicken, eggs, freshwater fish
from Lithuanian inland fisheries, Baltic herring / silkė
and other Baltic fish, dairy products including curd /
varškė and sour cream / grietinė consistent with
Lithuanian dietary tradition);
(c) Vegetables and fruits sourced where possible from
Lithuanian producers including beetroot, carrots, cabbage,
cucumbers, apples, and seasonal berries;
(d) Basic clothing including weather-appropriate outerwear
suitable for the Lithuanian climate, school uniforms
aligned with national-curriculum requirements,
undergarments, and footwear;
(e) Hand tools, household goods, basic kitchen and cleaning
supplies;
(f) Educational supplies for students through the
developmental window extended to age 25;
(g) Basic baby and child supplies;
(h) Emergency-preparedness supplies (water, non-perishable
food, basic lighting) given Lithuania's strategic-security
exposure on the NATO eastern frontier, including the
Suwałki Gap and the Lithuanian-Belarusian and Lithuanian-
Kaliningrad borders.
(2) Pricing shall be calculated on the at-cost basis.
ARTICLE 4. COORDINATION WITH AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES AND THE
NACIONALINĖ MOKĖJIMO AGENTŪRA.
(1) The Minister of Agriculture, in coordination with the
Nacionalinė mokėjimo agentūra (NMA, National Paying Agency),
is directed to enter partnership agreements with Lithuanian
agricultural cooperatives, including those affiliated with
the modern KB Lietuvos kooperatyvų sąjunga (Lithuanian
Cooperative Union), for the supply of Lithuanian-grown
agricultural commodities to the Programme.
(2) The partnership shall preserve cooperative autonomy and
membership governance and shall coordinate with European
Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and European Agricultural
Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) administration.
(3) The Lithuanian cooperative tradition of more than one hundred
and fifty years — beginning with the first Vilnius consumer
cooperative of 1869, the Cooperative Societies Law of 1919,
and Lithuanian membership in the International Cooperative
Alliance from 1920 — is recognised as a Lithuanian
institutional resource and is expressly preserved by this Act.
ARTICLE 5. DELIVERY PARTNERSHIP WITH LITHUANIAN RED CROSS AND
MAISTO BANKAS.
(1) The Programme is authorised to enter delivery-partnership
agreements with Lietuvos Raudonasis Kryžius (Lithuanian Red
Cross) and Maisto Bankas (Lithuanian Food Bank) for last-mile
distribution at municipal level.
(2) Partnership agreements shall preserve the independent
governance of those organisations and shall not transfer
Programme commodities for any purpose other than the at-cost
distribution mandate of this Act.
DIVISION II — PUBLIC HEALTH PROMOTION
ARTICLE 6. PUBLIC HEALTH PROMOTION.
(1) The Programme operates in coordination with the Ministry of
Health (Sveikatos apsaugos ministerija) and the State Health
Care Accreditation Agency to monitor and to contribute to the
reduction of basic-needs food insecurity and stress-mediated
public-health conditions in Lithuanian counties.
(2) The Ministry of Health shall report annually to the Seimas
on the relationship between LMUC access in each county and
Lithuanian population health indicators, consistent with
Article 53 of the Constitution.
DIVISION III — EDUCATION MODERNISATION
ARTICLE 7. EDUCATION PIPELINE AND THE EXTENDED DEVELOPMENTAL
WINDOW.
(1) The Lithuanian education system is acknowledged by this Act
as a foundation for the developmental pipeline proposed by
the Vitruvian Quotient framework (Cooper, 2026) — the
existing 12-year general education plus post-secondary
vocational, college, and university education, with an
extension of the developmental window to age 25 consistent
with the Compendium's broader proposal.
(2) The Minister of Education, Science, and Sport (Švietimo,
mokslo ir sporto ministras) is directed to prepare a report
to the Seimas within twenty-four months of the effective
date of this Act on the operational steps required to extend
developmental and competency-maintenance arrangements beyond
the current post-secondary structure, in coordination with
Vilnius University (founded 1579, the oldest university in
the Baltic region), Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas
University of Technology, Vilnius Gediminas Technical
University, the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences,
and other Lithuanian universities.
(3) The Vitruvian Quotient framework (Cooper, 2026) is
recognised by this Act as the conceptual instrument for the
developmental pipeline. Detailed implementation of a
Lithuanian Education Modernisation Law is the subject of a
separate Įstatymo projektas.
DIVISION IV — FUNDING
ARTICLE 8. INITIAL APPROPRIATION.
(1) For the financial year 2027 there is appropriated from the
Lithuanian state budget the sum of €120 million for the
establishment of the Programme and the initial operation of
LMUC outlets, scaled to the Lithuanian population of
approximately 2.87 million on a per-capita basis comparable
to the Latvian programme appropriation.
(2) Subsequent annual appropriations shall be made in the
ordinary annual budget Law.
ARTICLE 9. COORDINATION WITH UAB ILTE.
(1) LMUC infrastructure capital investment may, by agreement
between the Programme and UAB ILTE ("Investicijos Lietuvos
ekonomikai"), the Lithuanian state-owned national
development bank, be co-financed from ILTE's loan, guarantee,
or venture-capital instruments where consistent with ILTE's
statutory mandate under the Law on the National Development
Bank of the Republic of Lithuania and with the bank's
operational strategy, up to a cumulative outstanding
principal of €400 million.
(2) ILTE's role as the sole national development bank of
Lithuania, with statutory capital increased fourfold (from
€53 million to €203 million) in late 2025 to expand the
bank's leverage capacity for the national-development-bank
conversion, makes it the natural Lithuanian indigenous
chassis for Programme capital investment. This Act does not
direct, instruct, or constrain any ILTE financing decision;
coordination under this Article is by agreement only.
ARTICLE 10. COORDINATION WITH THE NAUJOS KARTOS LIETUVA PLAN.
(1) LMUC infrastructure capital investment may, by agreement
between the Programme and the Ministry of Finance, be
co-financed from the Naujos kartos Lietuva (New Generation
Lithuania) Recovery and Resilience Plan allocation (€3.85
billion total: €2.3 billion grants + €1.55 billion loans;
cumulative €2.26 billion / 58.7% paid-to-date as of January
2026) where consistent with the Lithuanian investment and
reform lines approved by the European Commission and the
Council of the European Union.
(2) The Programme does not displace any existing Naujos kartos
Lietuva investment or reform line.
DIVISION V — GENERAL PROVISIONS
ARTICLE 11. NO NEW TAXATION.
(1) The Seimas declares that no new Lithuanian personal income
tax (gyventojų pajamų mokestis, GPM), corporate income tax
(pelno mokestis), value added tax (pridėtinės vertės
mokestis, PVM), excise duty (akcizas), or other Lithuanian
tax of any kind is established, extended, or increased by
this Act for the funding of the Programme.
(2) The Programme is funded through existing Lithuanian fiscal
infrastructure as enumerated in Division IV.
ARTICLE 12. EXISTING LITHUANIAN INSTITUTIONS UNAFFECTED.
This Act does not affect the establishment, functions, governance, or operation of:
(a) Lietuvos bankas (Bank of Lithuania, the central bank within
the Eurosystem);
(b) UAB ILTE (Investicijos Lietuvos ekonomikai), beyond the
coordination expressly authorised by Article 9;
(c) Ignitis Group, Litgrid AB, KN Energies AB, Altra (SE
Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in decommissioning), AB Lietuvos
paštas, and other state-owned or state-controlled enterprises;
(d) Valstybinio socialinio draudimo fondo valdyba (SODRA),
Valstybinė mokesčių inspekcija (VMI), Nacionalinė mokėjimo
agentūra (NMA), the Information Society Development Committee,
and other state agencies, beyond the coordination expressly
authorised by this Act;
(e) The Naujos kartos Lietuva Recovery and Resilience Plan,
beyond the coordination expressly authorised by Article 10;
(f) Lithuanian consumer cooperatives, agricultural cooperatives,
and the kooperatinis judėjimas tradition generally;
(g) Lietuvos Raudonasis Kryžius (Lithuanian Red Cross) and
Maisto Bankas (Lithuanian Food Bank), beyond the delivery
partnership expressly authorised by Article 5;
(h) The Seimas, the Government of the Republic of Lithuania
(Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausybė), the President of the
Republic (Lietuvos Respublikos Prezidentas), the
Constitutional Court (Konstitucinis Teismas), the Supreme
Court (Lietuvos Aukščiausiasis Teismas), and the Constitution.
ARTICLE 13. CONSTITUTIONAL CONSISTENCY.
(1) This Act is enacted consistent with the Constitution of the
Republic of Lithuania (1992), including Article 5 (state
institutions shall serve the people), Article 46 (the State
shall regulate economic activity so that it serves the
general welfare of the Nation), Article 51 (the right to
social security), and Article 53 (the State shall take care
of people's health).
ARTICLE 14. EFFECTIVE DATE.
(1) This Act takes effect on 1 January 2027, except that Article
8 (Initial Appropriation) takes effect on the date this Act
is promulgated in the Teisės aktų registras, and Article 1
(Establishment) takes effect ninety days after promulgation.
(2) The Government shall issue implementing regulations
(Vyriausybės nutarimai) within 120 days of promulgation.
(3) Initial Programme distribution is targeted for 16 February
2027 (Vasario 16-oji, Lithuanian Independence Day,
commemorating the Act of Independence of 1918).
ARTICLE 15. INTERPRETATION.
In this Act —
"the Programme" means the Lithuanian Food, Resource, and Commodity Assurance Programme established under Article 1;
"a LMUC outlet" means a Lithuanian Food Assurance Centre established under Article 1;
"Asmens kodas" means the Lithuanian Personal Code;
"ILTE" means UAB ILTE (Investicijos Lietuvos ekonomikai), the Lithuanian state-owned national development bank;
"Naujos kartos Lietuva" means the Lithuanian Recovery and Resilience Plan under the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility;
"kooperatinis judėjimas" means the Lithuanian cooperative movement;
"ordinarily resident" has the meaning given by Lithuanian residence law.