Russia’s SPS standards

Russia’s SPS standards are extremely prescriptive with detailed requirements for facilities and production processes. Russia has attempted to impose these requirements on trading partners by accepting imports only from facilities that are certified as complying with Russian requirements.

This has created difficulties for U.S. exporters of a range of products, including dairy, feed, and pet food.

Overall, Russia’s application of unwarranted SPS measures has had a significant negative effect on U.S. exports. The entry into force of the proposed Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus Customs Union could further complicate these matters as it is the three countries’ intention to harmonize their SPS measures. The three countries have stated they will produce harmonized SPS standards by April 1, 2010 for implementation by July 1, 2010.

U.S. exporters face systemic issues in Russia related to the certification of agricultural products. For example, Russia requires phytosanitary certificates for shipments of processed products like soybean proteins, corn gluten and distiller’s grain.

Russia requests certification that the United States is free from various livestock diseases. With regard to export certificates for milk and milk products, Russia has asked for U.S. Government verification of the Russian port of entry, identification marks, and the absence of Salmonella and other bacterial disease agents.

In November 2006, the United States and Russia signed a number of bilateral agreements to address SPS issues related to the trade in pork; the certification of pork and poultry facilities for exporting products to Russia; trade in beef and beef by-products; and trade in products of agricultural biotechnology. There have been implementation problems with several of these agreements, however.

Russia banned the importation and sale of chlorine-treated chicken on January 1, 2010, which essentially halted all imports of U.S. poultry. Russian regulations also place an upper limit on the amount of water content in chilled and frozen chicken.

In addition, the Russian government has issued a resolution banning the importation and sale of poultry that has been frozen for more than three months and is intended for further processing into food intended for use in baby food and special diets.

In 2011, the ban will extend to all further processing of poultry that has been frozen for more than three months. Negotiations on these issues are ongoing.

Exports of U.S. grain and oilseed products are severely limited due to Russia’s requirement for veterinary certificates for many grains and seeds certifying that these plant products are free of animal diseases.

The United States maintains that this certification is unnecessary as these products do not pose any animal health risks. As a result, to date the United States has not agreed to provide certificates for grains, soybeans, soybean meal and animal feeds of plant origin and Russia permits imports of these products only on a case-by-case basis.

Exercise 11. Give the general idea of the texts above.

Exercise 12. Read Text 4 to give the English equivalents for:

вымирающие виды животных; перевозчик; насекомые; инфекционные заболевания, передающиеся человеку; домашние животные; продукты животного происхождения; нарушать законы других государств; черепахи; ввозить беспошлинно; подходящие клетки; кормление; обеспечение питьем; справка о прививке против бешенства; подпись лицензированного ветеринарного врача.

Дата добавления: 2015-03-29