Until the last drop of "palenka"

Valery Draganov is ready to further tighten control on the alcohol market

The process of regulating alcohol products initiated by parliament and the government, which provoked a serious shortage of alcohol in the consumer market, does not seem to have ended. In the fall, a struggle may flare up again in the Duma over a new version of the law on state regulation of the production and circulation of alcohol and alcohol-containing products, the improper implementation of which led in mid-summer to a flagrant situation in the alcohol departments of stores in a market economy. Not to mention the real panic among alcohol producers and importers who suffered huge losses.

A number of deputies from United Russia intend to introduce amendments that soften the requirements of the law. According to Vladimir Gruzdev, United Russia coordinator for interaction with the business community, the package of amendments should be ready by the first plenary meeting. However, these amendments are unlikely to be adopted. Yesterday, this was made clear by an equally influential representative of United Russia, Chairman of the Duma Committee on Economic Policy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism Valery Draganov, one of the initiators of the bill that blew up the alcohol market. He stated that he intends, at a minimum, to defend the preservation of the law intact, and, at a maximum, to introduce amendments that would further tighten the procedure for monitoring market participants. “The state should have a monopoly on raw materials, including alcohol, and increase state regulation of the process of its circulation,” he told reporters.

Mr. Draganov is confident that the new law on alcohol circulation is fair and therefore “will never be discredited.” The theses proving this, according to the deputy, are the same. After the introduction of the unified state automated system for accounting for alcohol, alcohol and alcohol-containing products (USAIS) provided for by law, “scorched” vodka cannot reach retail through legal channels, Mr. Draganov is convinced. He is also confident that the new excise stamps “cannot be counterfeited.” The deputy does not seem to be at all embarrassed by the fact that cases of stamp counterfeiting have already taken place. Such facts refer “to a statistical error within which even dollars can be counterfeit,” he said.

For the alcohol crisis, Valery Draganov blames the “clumsy” government, as well as the market participants themselves, who, according to him, were warned in advance about the introduction of new rules of the game, but did not consider it necessary to prepare for them. The mistake of numerous associations of entrepreneurs, in his opinion, was that they limited themselves to writing letters, complaints and statements, but no one went to defend their interests in court, proving lost profits. “A lawsuit is the most correct, morally justified and effective way to declare one’s interests, and no excuses about the fact that it is not clear who exactly to sue can be an argument,” the parliamentarian is confident.

True, here the head of the committee was lying a little. In July, the Moscow Arbitration Court rejected the claim brought by the Nizhny Novgorod Champagne Wine Factory against the government. The claim was that, in the opinion of the plant, the inaction of the Cabinet of Ministers led to the untimely adoption of regulations ensuring the implementation of the law.

“When discussing who is to blame for the fact that alcohol disappeared from store shelves, many forget about the well-known statistics, which say that before the Unified State Automated Information System came into force, 250 million liters of illegal alcohol were produced annually in the country,” the deputy recalls. “How can the shelves be filled if all this volume has left the market at once?” - he asks rhetorically. That is why, according to Mr. Draganov, it would be wrong to give any comments about the possible timing of the return of an abundance of alcohol to the shelves today. “The shelves in stores will be filled when the market situation improves: legal manufacturers will master the Unified State Automated Information System, and memories of counterfeit goods will become a thing of the past,” he says.

Market participants, in turn, categorically disagree with this formulation of the issue. “It is the legal producers that are leaving the market: working capital is stuck in illiquid bottles with old brands, and banks are no longer giving loans,” says Petr Kanygin, chairman of the subcommittee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry on entrepreneurship in the field of ethyl alcohol and alcoholic products. According to his forecasts, by the time EGAIS becomes fully operational, the market will lose a third of the players, and the largest of the remaining ones will begin to enter into price collusion and there will be no talk of any competition. “The thesis about tightening control over the circulation of alcohol is correct and logical, but the new law, which was originally intended to clean out the producers of illegal vodka, ended up benefiting the largest vodka factories, while the related industry, where wine is produced from natural ingredients without the addition of alcohol, suffers.” , says the President of the Union of Winegrowers and Winemakers Valery Loginov.

While the new control system is being tested, alcohol is gradually returning to the shelves. But it’s already 10-15% more expensive. And alcohol with old brands, but at a much lower price, is available in many liquor stores, where they are happy to sell it under the counter.

Irina SKLYAROVA