Russian vets implementing new regime of importation from EU countries
As of 1 January 2009 the importation of fish and non-finfish products from the EU countries onto the territory of the Russian Federation will be permitted only from the processing plants inspected and approved for export by the Russia's Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Rosselkhoznadzor, reports http://www.fishnet-russia.com/ (www.fishnet.ru) with the reference to the official release of the vet body.
More specifically, such an agreement was achieved on 9 October 2008 during the meeting in Hague between the Head of Rosselkhoznadzor Mr. Sergey Dankvert and Deputy Director-General for Health and Consumer Protection Ms. Paola Testori Coggi. According to the agreement, the European Commission is to submit before 1 November 2008 the list of European seafood processing establishments interested in exportation onto the territory of the Russian Federation as well as the guarantees of the competent bodies of the quality and safety of the seafood products exported to Russia.
Besides, Mr. Dankvert acquainted Ms. Paola Testori Coggi with the numerous facts of incompliance of vegetable food products from EU with the Russian food safety regulations as well as with the memorandum of safety food supplies from EU to Russia in terms of content of pesticides, nitrates and nitrites. Russian vet authority also noted cases of the product incompliance with the EU regulations. In this situation, the European Commission's delegation admitted the absence in the EU of the system of regular control of the compliance of the EU vegetable food products with the Russian legislation.
As a result, the parties agreed that in the next few weeks each EU country interested in supplies to the Russian Federation is to submit a plan of measures to provide for safety of food products exported to Russia. Exporters to Russia are to provide the lists of the companies intending to supply their vegetable products for human consumption to Russia. The Russian vets underlined the importance of direct supplies onto the territory of Russia avoiding the current re-export system of exportation via the territory of Lithuania and the Netherlands that has been contributing to illegal supply mechanism development.