MINSK, 19 June (BelTA) – A number of Belarusian companies are ready to export agricultural products to Russia as from 1 July using digital certificates. The news was released by Vitaly Dubikovsky, Head of the State Veterinary Inspection Office of the Veterinary and Food Oversight Department of the Belarusian Agriculture and Food Ministry, at a press conference on 19 June, BelTA has learned.
The official said that in line with the action plan the sides signed in January 2018 the Belarusian and Russian systems for tracking agricultural products should have synced their operation already in order to feed digital information about all Belarusian exports to Russia to the Russian system Mercury as from 1 July. However, the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance of Russia (Rosselkhoznadzor) has failed to do its part. A new action plan was agreed. Only the Belarusian companies, which know how to operate the system properly, will start submitting digital information about their shipments as from 1 July, provided Rosselkhoznadzor makes sure the data is received in pre-arrival information exchange stations at the border. A number of Belarusian companies are ready but the Russian side has yet to make sure the data is received. “We sent a letter to Rosselkhoznadzor yesterday with a request to arrange a trip to the pre-arrival information exchange stations in order to polish the procedure,” said Vitaly Dubikovsky.
Apart from that, the sides have decided that Belarusian agricultural products can be exported to Russia using digital and paper veterinary certificates till 1 January 2019. “The Russian side has promised there will be no problems with transporting the goods across the border,” noted the official.
There are plans to phase out paper certificates later on. In line with the plan all Belarusian companies will ship agricultural products to Russia using digital veterinary certificates as from 1 January 2019.
