An inspection has begun at the BAT Russia factory

Chief sanitary doctor Gennady Onishchenko initiated an inspection by Rospotrebnadzor of the activities of the BAT-Yava factory, which provides the company of the same name with more than 30% of its total production. BAT-Java calls the inspection the official’s reaction to the decision of the Savelovsky Court, which refused to accept for consideration Mr. Onishchenko’s claim against the manufacturer for violation of consumer rights. Mr. Onishchenko is capable of inflicting only image damage on BAT-Yava: it is able to quickly transfer the production of the Yava Export and Pall Mall brands produced by the factory to other sites.

Gennady Onishchenko himself announced the start of an inspection of the British American Tobacco-Java factory: “We are conducting an inspection of this enterprise, which has been operating for many years in a residential area of Moscow, without a sanitary protection zone of 300 meters,”— RIA Novosti quotes him as saying. BAT Russia confirmed that “since November 18, a scheduled inspection of the enterprise has been carried out by the Rospotrebnadzor inspection,” but the department’s claims were considered far-fetched. “The residential development around the factory was built in the 40-60s of the last century, and the standards for the sanitary zone were fixed much later,” complains the company’s director of corporate affairs, Alexander Lyuty. According to him, the sanitary protection zone of the enterprise of 300 meters is defined as a maximum and can be reduced if certain conditions are met: since 2002, BAT Russia has regularly applied to Rospotrebnadzor, but has not yet received final approval of the boundaries of this zone.

Alexander Lyuty assures that, despite the planned nature, until yesterday there was no knowledge of the upcoming inspection. “This may be a reaction to the decision of the Savelovsky court on the claim of Mr. Onishchenko,” suggests Mr. Lyuty. In September, the chief sanitary doctor announced a lawsuit against the Russian office of British American Tobacco. The official accused the company of violating the law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights”: in his opinion, the words “light” and “super light” on packs of “Java” and “Java Gold” cigarettes mislead consumers. On November 14, the court rejected the claim on the grounds of “the lack of jurisdiction to consider the dispute by a court of general jurisdiction.” Mr. Onishchenko believes that this was done in the “interests of the criminal tobacco lobby”; he says that he has already appealed to the Supreme Court and the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation with a request to “take under personal control the progress of the further passage through the courts of the case interpreted by Rospotrebnadzor.”

In 2007, BAT Russia produced 85 billion cigarettes, of which 27 billion (32%) were produced at the BAT-Yava factory, which mainly produces brands in the mid-price segment (18-26 rubles per pack) - Yava Export, Pall Mall. It is in this segment that the company's position is weakest: according to Business Analytics, in the third quarter, BAT Russia occupied 12% by volume, JTI/Gallaher - 39%, Philip Morris - 36%. %. General Director of Business Analytics Andrei Sterlin is confident that even if the work of BAT-Java is suspended, the company is able to quickly organize the production of these brands at other sites - in St. Petersburg and Saratov. “Rather, Mr. Onishchenko’s claims could cause image damage to the company,” he believes.

BAT Russia does not undertake to predict the possible consequences of the inspection until it is completed (December 17) and official orders are issued. “If there is a document, there will be consequences,” Mr. Onishchenko explained to Kommersant.

Formally, the absence of an agreed sanitary protection zone is a violation of the law, says Denis Uzoikin, a lawyer at the Moscow Regional Bar Association. Therefore, in his opinion, the factory’s activities can theoretically be suspended: taking into account the fact that the enterprise has been operating without approval since 2002, that is, a systemic violation, this could lead to forced liquidation. If the company has done everything in its power to obtain approval, then it has a chance to challenge the order in court, but until a decision is made in its favor, the factory will be closed, he notes.

Anna Kommersant-Ryabova

Gennady Onishchenko switched to Java