MOSCOW, 11 January (BelTA) – Belarusian products of animal origin meet all the veterinary and sanitary requirements of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), BelTA learned from Member of the Board (Minister) for Industry and Agribusiness of the Eurasian Economic Commission Sergei Sidorsky.
The press service of the Eurasian Economic Commission told BelTA that acting within its scope of authority, the Eurasian Economic Commission has passed the main necessary documents regulating veterinary and sanitary control of animal origin products in accordance with the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty. The veterinary and sanitary control systems of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia have been recognized as equivalent to each other. The authorized agencies of the countries are supposed to take actions in the area of veterinary control (oversight) in line with the Customs Union Commission's decision No.317 of 18 June 2010. According to the document, veterinary control and oversight with regard to ready-made products of animal origin is performed “only with regard to epizootic wellbeing”.
Earlier the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance of Russia (Rosselkhoznadzor) restricted the import of Belarusian animal origin products to Russia because the agency believes the products fail to comply with technical regulations of the Eurasian Economic Union.
According to Sergei Sidorsky, if violations other than those relating to veterinary risks are detected, such violations cannot be used to restrict the import of Belarusian products on veterinary control grounds.
A working meeting of representatives of the relevant departments of the Eurasian Economic Commission, Rosselkhoznadzor, the Agriculture Ministry of Russia, and the Belarusian Agriculture and Food Ministry took place. The meeting was held to address problems with shipments of Belarusian products to Russia as specified by the protocol dated by 19-21 December 2016. During the meeting the Belarusian side explained how concerns of the Russian side had been investigated and addressed. The documents presented before Rosselkhoznadzor and the Eurasian Economic Commission included investigation reports, product sample collection reports, lab test reports, photos and other materials.
Sergei Sidorsky stressed: “I believe that the documents have fully answered the raised concerns, however, Rosselkhoznadzor has so far failed to take steps to lift the restrictions. Since the Eurasian Economic Commission lacks the tools to influence national government agencies, Belarus can appeal to the Eurasian Economic Union Court in order to get the final solution to the problem.”
