OREANDA-NEWS. January 19, 2009. Norwegian Food Safety Authority and the Russian veterinary authorities signed a deal on Friday removing the need of Russian inspections to fish enterprises exporting to the Russian marked.

The agreement was signed after a meeting between the two authorities in the German capital Berlin last Friday. The deal can make the end to the three year long dispute on Norwegian export of salmon and other farmed fish to Russia. In 2005 Russian veterinary authorities said high values of lead and cadmium have been found in Norwegian farmed salmon, and the import-ban was made effective from January 2006.

The Norwegian Food Safety Authority denied all accusations stating that Norwegian seafood authorities have annually analysed farmed salmon through a large monitoring programme, and all values for lead and cadmium have been well under the limits set by the EU.

Since then, the matter has been discussed both between the two countries food and veterinary authorities and in political talks on Ministerial levels.

Russian veterinary authority has since then made many inspections of Norwegian seafood companies and a few of the companies have got permission to export Norwegian salmon to Russia.

Sergey Dankvert, head of the Russian veterinary authorities says that it is the result of the inspections of the Norwegian fish farms that now makes it possible for them to transfer the right to make future independent inspections to the Norwegians.

The Norwegian newspaper FiskeribladetFiskaren talked to press-spokesman Finn Oluf Nyquist at the Norwegian Food Safety Authority Sunday evening and he said it was to early to give any comments since the Norwegian delegation just arrived from Berlin.