EU/RUSSIA: MOSCOW BANS EU FOOD IMPORTS FOR THREE DAYS IN CERTIFICATE ROW
The Russian Agriculture Ministry said on June 2 that it would only accept new certificates for EU exports -
certificates which the EU said had not yet been agreed. "This kind of behaviour is not the kind of behaviour one
would expect from a potential WTO member", said Commission spokesman Reijo Kemppinen on June 3. He blasted the
suspension of imports as "unjustified", saying there was no scientific basis for imports to be suspended.
The de-facto ban was lifted after Commission President Romano Prodi called Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov to
clear the air. A Commission spokesman said Mr Fradkov had accepted the EU's views and had promised Mr Prodi that
the Russian government would stop the restrictions and allow trade in foodstuffs to continue freely from now on. Mr
Prodi had emphasised that the EU applied very strict measures and high standards to ensure the safety of the food
consumed in the EU and the food exported to Russia. The Commission said it was unclear why Russia had announced the ban,
and it countered speculation that food safety standards had weakened after the accession of 10 new Member States on May
1: enlargement had not changed the EU's food safety rules, insisted health spokesman Thorsten Munch. Some food
products in the new countries come from producers which do not meet the EU's standards, but these must be clearly
stamped and can only be sold on the domestic market.
In a flurry of EU activity, Food Safety Commissioner David Byrne also sent a letter to Russian Agriculture Minister
Alexey Gordeyev and both Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy and External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten contacted their
Russian counterparts. The EU and Russia on May 21 signed an agreement paving the way for Russia to join the World Trade
Organisation (WTO).
According to the Commission, 13 Member States saw their trade with Russia affected by the ban: Germany, the
Netherlands, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Denmark, Austria, Finland, Ireland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, France and
Belgium. The ban affected all products of animal origin, including meat, poultry, eggs and dairy goods. The Commission
said any talk of compensation was premature as operators still had to assess any losses resulting from the three-day
ban.
Russia wrote to all EU Member States in November 2003, warning that it would not accept bilateral certificates after
May 1. Russian authorities told several Member States that they were not planning to negotiate new bilateral
certificates and exports should be discussed in the context of the proposed EU/Russia Veterinary Agreement. Russia
proposed 15 model health certificates for exports from all EU countries and threatened a ban if an EU-level system could
not be worked out. The European Union said such a system would mean changing EU legislation by transferring certain
responsibilities to the Commission. It wants to keep the current bilateral system. EU officials have met with the
Russian authorities several times in recent months without reaching any result. Irish Presidency officials held talks in
Moscow on June 2 but the meeting was also inconclusive. One complicating issue has been the personnel shake-up at the
Russian Agriculture Ministry with the creation of a new Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Service, headed by former
Deputy Agriculture Minister Sergey Dankvert.
In a related issue, the EU and Russia agreed last July to hold talks on a Veterinary Agreement. Russia's Mission
to the European Union argued that the EU applies “double standards” in the way it assesses veterinary quality and safety
of animal products on its domestic market on the one hand and exports to Russia on the other. There were, it said,
“cases of insufficient control by EU veterinary authorities of export of animal products to Russia which lead to
deliveries of low quality and dangerous products from the veterinary point of view”. An EU-Russia Veterinary Agreement
(as distinct from bilateral agreements between Russia and EU Member States) could help address this situation by giving
the European Commission an EU-level competence over standards for both Russian imports and exports.
The main areas of concern are certificates for pork and live pigs, dairy products, live cattle, beef, poultry and
poultrymeat. The EU wants to see disease restrictions applied only when there is a clear scientific basis for a ban.
Russia slapped a "disproportionate" month-long ban on all EU livestock and animal products in March 2001 after
foot-and-mouth disease broke out in only three countries: the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands. It is also
looking for assurances that animal feed is free of genetically-modified organisms.
-- Russia wants the EU to issue one single EU veterinary certificate for food products. The Commission said this is
not legally possible. Veterinary certificates are issued by Member States authorities to prove that food meets food
safety rules agreed with Russia. Moscow has veterinary experts stationed in some Member States to carry out inspections
and can send teams from Russia to check individual EU producers. There are some differences between the certificates
issued by each country. The EU said it will discuss how it can harmonise the certificates and possibly give Russia some
kind of guarantees at the EU level.
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