Spain implements restrictions on export to Russia
Russian veterinary watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor said that restrictions had been placed on 15 exporting companies because “the veterinary service of Spain had to admit that it could not give a guarantee that these companies are complying with the requirements of Russian legislation and the veterinary rules of the Customs Union”.
Several Spanish companies had already been banned from exporting to Russia by Rosselkhoznadzor and the head of Spain’s veterinary service, Valentin de Almansa Lara, assured Russian officials that these companies had not exported any products to the Customs union since the restrictions were implemented.
Self-restriction
Self-restriction is an effective tool to deal with Rosselkhoznadzor. By imposing self-restriction, Spain is following the example of Ukraine, which also introduced limits on the export of meat to Russia before such restrictions could be imposed by Rosselkhoznadzor.
“We introduced self-restriction because it meant the investigation of the issue took only three weeks, and exports have already been successfully restored. However, if the restrictions had been imposed by Russia, the various procedural formalities would have meant that exports would have been banned for at least three months, which would be very harmful to business,” said Ivan Bisyuk, first deputy minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.
Experts agree that this approach is the best day to deal with Rosselkhoznadzor.
“Russia’s veterinary department often goes too far - it imposes restrictions that operate longer than they should,” said an expert at the analytical agency Agrorucom.
“As an example we can note the restrictions imposed against a number of European countries - including the Baltic States - where pork imports to Russia were banned for nearly two years, despite the fact that the epizootic situation there is currently more than satisfactory. It is obvious that the introduction of self-restrictions can possibly help to avoid such situations."
