Law of Returning Vessels

Rospotrebnadzor is ready to accept Moldovan wines for examination

The road to Russian shelves is once again opening for Moldovan wine. Yesterday, the chief sanitary doctor of the Russian Federation, Gennady Onishchenko, announced that after a long break , the first samples of wine products from this country will soon arrive at Rospotrebnadzor for examination. “If no failures occur, then this week we will accept product samples from five enterprises producing Moldovan wine, two of which are located in Transnistria, for examination to issue a conclusion on the type of product,” he said. If these samples satisfy the domestic sanitary department for quality and safety, Moldovan winemakers will be able to start bottling it, and importers will be able to purchase excise stamps for them.

Let us recall that Moldovan wine disappeared from the shelves a year ago at the request of Rospotrebnadzor , which found 50% of wine products from this republic did not comply with Russian sanitary and epidemiological rules and regulations. However, the authorities of Moldova, like the authorities of Georgia, against which similar measures were taken , regarded this ban as pressure and a political action. As if confirming that these were the motives that guided the sanitary authorities, Mr. Onishchenko announced the acceptance of samples of Moldovan wine for examination by Rospotrebnadzor during the stay of Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin in Russia, who also preferred a visit to Moscow to participation in the GUAM summit , currently taking place in Baku.

In principle, Gennady Onishchenko had reassured his neighbors before. For the first time they started talking about the return of Moldovan wine to Russia before the New Year, and wine traders even named a specific date - January 15, 2007. However, these expectations turned out to be too optimistic, even despite the fact that Mr. Onishchenko even then promised that wine from Moldova at first “will be infringed on in its rights” and predicted “significant discrimination” at the border in comparison with other products. Similar increased attention awaits Moldovan wine if supplies are resumed in the summer. According to Mr. Onishchenko, the Moscow Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology will control the quality of wine, and, as he categorically stated, “any slight deviation from the declared indicators of quality and product safety will be suppressed, up to a complete ban on the import of products into Russia.”

So this return cannot be called triumphant. Moreover, over this year, Russians have lost the habit of their former constant participant in any feast. As Pavel Shapkin, president of the National Alcohol Association, told a Vremya Novostei correspondent, “the niche of Moldovan wine has already been occupied by Russian producers, and, especially considering its reputation, it will have difficulty getting onto the shelves.” “During this time, Russian production has doubled and continues to increase volumes,” he explained. -- Before the ban, the share of Moldovan products in Russia reached 45% of all imported bottled wine and accounted for almost half of the wine material purchased by secondary winemaking factories. It is unknown to what extent these wineries, which have already found new suppliers, are ready to return to Moldovan material.”

The President of the NAA believes that if the outcome of the Rospotrebnadzor examination is positive, the first deliveries will begin in two months: producers need time to affix excise stamps and deliver the wine to Russia. The first products, in his opinion, will be of high quality and inexpensive. “In order to establish themselves on the shelves, Moldovans will not risk supplying wine at a high price, and I think that the price will not exceed 100 rubles. per bottle,” predicts Pavel Shapkin.

Irina BELASHEVA