March 14, 2014

EU may resume pork exports to Russia

Russian and EU officials are scheduled to discuss on March 14 regarding the resumption of EU's pork exports to Russia, which were halted following the first outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in an EU member state.

The Head of the Russian veterinary service (Rosselkhoznadzor), Sergey Dankvert and the chief executive officer of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Protection, Paola Testori Koji, are due to meet in Madrid, Spain on Friday (Mar 14), according to Rosselkhoznadzor.

The meeting aims to discuss the possibility of resuming exports of pork and pork products from the EU to Russia and other countries of the Customs Union. Also on the agenda are discussions on the outcome of last week's technical consultations of European Commission experts on the diagnosis, prevention and control of ASF with scientists and specialists from Rosselkhoznadzor Federal Centre for Animal Health and the Central Apparatus Rosselkhoznadzor.

Regionalisation conditions were discussed in the EU in connection with the registration of outbreaks of ASF in wild boar populations, in accordance with the provisions of the Memorandum on the principles of zoning and regionalisation in the veterinary field signed between Russia and the EU in 2006, the Terrestrial Animal Health Code of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement on sanitary and phytosanitary measures.

Regionalisation needs to take into account an objective and scientifically sound risk assessment of the current ASF situation in the EU, says Rosselkhoznadzor.