Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Russia imposes ban on Serbian pears
Rosselkhoznadzor temporarily suspends pear imports from Serbia both directly and through the third countries since February 14, 2018, reports RBC.
The Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) repeatedly voiced concerns to the National Quarantine and Plant Protection Organization of Serbia about presence of horticultural produce in the Russian markets, which varieties were unusual for Serbia.
Nevertheless, during inspections of retail chains in February 2018, Rosselkhoznadzor experts revealed some cases of sales of Conference pears indicated as fruits of Serbian origin.
The Russian import ban on the range of agricultural products, fruits, vegetables, etc. was imposed on the EU, the USA, Canada, Australia and Norway in August 2014. This restriction has become a counter-measure against the sanctions imposed by listed countries on Russia due to the annexation of Crimea and the situation in eastern Ukraine. Then Russia added 5 more countries to its blacklist: Albania, Montenegro, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Ukraine. In July 2017, the import ban was extended to December 31, 2018.
The first restriction of apple imports from Serbia was imposed in April 2015 due to numerous fruit origin falsifications of phytosanitary certificates. In December, the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) restricted shipments of fruits and vegetables from Kazakhstan because of “Serbian” apples. This ban was connected with more attempts to export banned products or those with invalid phytosanitary certificates through this country to Russia.