​ONLY 5 MOLDOVAN COMPANIES MAY RESUME EXPORTING WINE TO RUSSIA

Only five Moldovan companies of 13 recently inspected by RosPotrebNadzor [Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being] experts will be allowed to resume wine exporting to Russia.

According to the website of the Russian sanitary agency, the results of checking the materials, received by RosPotrebNadzor experts while familiarizing with the work of competent authorities of Moldova concerning the issues on ensuring wine product safety, companies Cricova, Chateau Vartely, Castel Mimi, Lion-Gri and MoldIugVin were allowed to present samples for getting permit.

Transnistrian winery KVINT and the Gagauz Kazayak-Vin, who have the permit to supply wines to Russia, were allowed to present samples of the new produce, not exported before.

The message says that the supplying of Moldovan wines to Russia will be conducted in the single-window regime.

Earlier, after the results of visit, RosPotrebNadzor Chairwoman Anna Popova said that the production of most of 13 inspected Moldovan winemaking enterprises meet Russian market requirements. According to her, they will be able to supply their goods to the Russian market after conducting laboratory research and the final assessment of the presented documents.

This was confirmed by President Igor Dodon, who stated that he agreed on extending Moldovan wine and fruit and vegetables while meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow in mid-January.

As Infotag has already reported, RosPotrebNadzor suspended on September 11, 2013 the import of Moldovan wines under the pretext of identifying lots of Moldovan goods, which did not comply with safety requirements. The RosPotrebNadzor appeared in the run up to initialing the EU-Moldova Association Agreement in Vilnius in November 2013.

Before 2006, Moldovan wines accounted for over 60% of the Russian market. After the first embargo on Moldovan wines, introduced in 2006-2007 under the pretext of their low quality, Moldova managed to regain by 2013 only around 5% of the Russian market. Many winemakers, due to the obstacles, put by RosPotrebNadzor, gave up on exporting to Russia, reorienting it to other countries.

In conditions of ban on Moldovan wines, RosPotrebNadzor allowed the supplying only to several winemaking companies from Transnistria and Gagauzia, the authorities of which are standing against the European integration and for approaching with the Eurasian Economic Union.