Agreement between the EU and Russia for the resumption of trade in vegetables
June 23, 2011
The agreement occurred after talks between Russian authorities and a delegation from the EU, led by the European Commissioner John Dalli.
Each Member State exporter of fresh vegetables to Russia will have to certify, for a limited period of time, the origin of the products and the absence of e. coli 104 (the strain responsible for the outbreak in Germany), under the general system of supervision of this strain that works on their territory.
The European Commission reported on sense esete to Rospotrebnadzor (Russian health authority) the names of the competent national authorities empowered to sign the certificate, will be recorded in the batch exported to Russia, and the names of accredited national laboratories to follow up the vegetables. The rapid transmission of this information will allow the resumption of exports to the Russian authorities.
The certification scheme will be temporary, as shall apply until the tenth day following the finding, the authorities of the States members of the EU, has that not been declared human no new cases linked to the bacterium e. coli O104. The Directorate-General for health and consumer protection (DG Sanco) informed Rospotrebnadzor of the day that have been no identified cases of e. coli O104 in humans.
Frozen vegetables are normally traded outside the framework of the agreement.
The European Union and Russia agreed, moreover, intensify their cooperation in matters relating to infections caused by the toxin Shiga of e. coli, including the exchange of strains between the official laboratories.
John Dalli, Commissioner for health and consumer protection, said here: "after the agreement of today hope an early resumption of exports from the EU to Russia both sides have shown willingness to make sure that we can overcome this incident".
