Russian producers of organic products have suspended their shipments abroad due to new requirements from the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor).
As stipulated by the department, before goods are exported to other countries, they must be subjected to chemical disinfection (fumigation). Companies that do not comply with the requirements of the Law on Plant Quarantine have not received phytosanitary certificates since summer 2020. The difficulty lies in the fact that in the European Union the fumigation of organic matter is considered unacceptable; therefore, Russian products lose their organic status once they meet the requirements from the Rosselkhoznadzor. Russian companies cannot fulfill the agency's requirements and at the same time sell chemically disinfected products to foreign partners.
The Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation estimates the potential value of the organic exports suspended at 10-25 billion Euro per year.
According to the executive director of the National Organic Union, Oleg Mironenko, exporters have been supplying goods abroad since 2018. During all this time, the Rosselkhoznadzor did not require companies to enforce the current regulation, although in some cases manufacturers faced such claims.
The National Organic Union has issued a request to the Rosselkhoznadzor to change the current regulation. An open letter to the head of the service, Sergei Dankvert, was sent on August 28, but the Union did not receive an official response, and the situation has not changed.
The National Organic Union asked the Rosselkhoznadzor to change the current regulation. An open letter was sent to Sergei Dankvert, head of the service, on August 28, but no official response was received by the Union and the situation has not changed.
"We sent a request to the European Commission to clarify this issue, taking into account the concerns of market participants. To date, no answer has been received. At the same time, European Union directives do not prohibit decontamination of warehouses and shipped products with fumigants, the residual content of which is not detected in the products," said the press service of Rosselkhoznadzor.
Source: fruitnews.ru