A report on the subject will be delivered by David Byrne, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection.
At the beginning of June of this year, the Russian veterinary service refused to accept veterinary certificates of the countries of the enlarged EU, demanding that the European Commission introduce a single European document confirming the safety and quality of the products supplied.
At the same time the Russian side suspended for a time the import of meat, dairy and fish products from EU countries into Russia.
Following high-level consultations the ban was lifted and agreement was reached for the sides to complete their negotiations on veterinary certificates before September 30 of this year.
Annual meat, fish and dairy exports from the EU to Russia are estimated at 1.3 billion euros.
The Russian moratorium was clamped down because Russia does not have a uniform system of certificates with 10 new members of the European Union (Hungary, Cyprus, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia). Before they joined the EU on May 1 each of them had separate agreements with Russia on checking the safety of imported meat and special veterinary certificate forms - they indicated the producing country. Meat from EU old-timers came to Russia under certificates which did not specify the country of origin.
Now the EU should also guarantee the safety of meat supplied to Russia from the 10 countries that entered the Union. To do so, there must, however, be an agreed new and single certificate form.
