Russian Vets visiting South Korea to help with Russian seafood export sales through Busan Auctions
A meeting between the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance and the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea was held in Busan on 29.06.2012. The Russian delegation was headed by Deputy Head of the Rosselkhoznadzor N.A.Vlasov. Also representatives of the Rosselkhoznadzor's central office and the Rosselkhoznadzor Administration for the Primorsky Krai and the Sakhalin Oblast and the FGBI "Primorskaya Inter-Oblast Veterinary Laboratory" took part in the meeting on behalf of Russia, reports http://www.megafishnet.com/ based on FSVPS early July statement.
The Korean side was represented by the central office and regional offices of the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea, authorities of Busan city, director of the Fishery Department of the Mayor's Office Song Yang Ho, Director of the Wholesale Busan International Fish Market, main business operators dealing within the port.
The purpose of the meeting was to search for solutions to problems associated with certification of Russian marine products in the port of Busan. The problem is related to certification mode of Russian products sold at auctions in the port of Busan. In order to provide barrier-free business environment this mode shall be simple and time required for certification after the auction shall not lead to downtime after the auction. It is not feasible to achieve such a speed when certifying products in Russia since transfer of documents necessary for certification and issuing certificates in Russia takes much time during which the products will have to be stored.
The Korean side understood Russia's wish to make this process faster, providing on-line certification for both stages of consignment delivery: first, their storage in bonded warehouses (temporary storage without customs cleaning for import into customs territory to Korea), second, during customs cleaning before the auction.
During the consultations both sides developed a mode of joint operations in the port of Busan which will enable them to certify Russian products in Busan for 1 day after sale. This agreement is preliminary and requires an approval from the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea. The Korean side was rather optimistic about receiving this approval. The Rosselkhoznadzor will prepare a corresponding written official appeal to competent authorities of the Republic of Korea before 7 July 2012.
In order to implement this operation mode, the Russian side will create a special information recourse that will enable an authorized specialist to prepare certificates together with the Rosselkhoznadzor's territorial administration that will be provided with a direct remote access to the resource. Primary certification of products exported is carried out at the Rosselkhoznadzor's territorial administration and expert on foreign economic policy submits documents necessary for certification after the business deal and receives the prepared certificate at the authorized specialist's office. The authorized specialist's office is located directly in the office building of the auction center, thus, providing conditions for quick and comfortable work of the business community. In addition, Russia will retain the current certification mode as an alternative and it is an economic entity (exporter of products) that will choose the mode.
Besides, an agreement was achieved that the Korean side would send a list of Korean aquaculture products to the Rosselkhoznadzor, the Korean side would approve a list of Russian fish-processing plants/vessels - exporters of fish, fishery and fish edible offals and both sides would exchange information on veterinary and sanitary requirements.