Brussels, 02/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - Despite further guarantees from the European Commission, Russia has maintained its decision to impose a ban as of 1 July on imports of potatoes, either seed or food, from the EU. The Commission declared that it regretted that it had had to read in the press that Russia was maintaining the ban.
The Russian agency responsible for veterinary and health issues, Rosselkhoznadzor, warned last January that, due to phytosanitary concerns, it would be banning imports of EU potatoes on 1 April. This deadline was postponed until 1 July. According to Rosselkhoznadzor, phytosanitary checks on potato imports into Russia from Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Spain, Lithuania, Netherlands, Finland, France and the Czech Republic between 2010 and 2013, detected three kinds of problems out of more than 100 cases: golden nematodes, potato moths and nematodes on potato roots.
The Commission asserts that the “EU has sought to cooperate, clarify and provide a response to these concerns by way of meetings and letters”. On 18 June, DG Health and Consumer Protection sent “concrete proposals” providing “further guarantees to reassure Russia about the phytosanitary safety of our exports” but Russia had not as yet responded to these proposals. The Commission's health services criticised the Russian government for misleading the public on this subject. Almost 21,000 tonnes of potato seeds have been exported by EU member states to Russia. The biggest supplier is the Netherlands.
In 2012, Russia imported around 460,000 tonnes of potatoes, much of which came from EU countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium and France, according to the Russian federal statistics service (Rosstat). (LC/transl.fl)