OREANDA-NEWS. July 19, 2011. The Expert Council on the Agro-Industrial Complex discussed execution of controlling and licensing functions and optimization of government services provided by the federal executive bodies in the field of plant quarantine, improving state veterinary control, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The Commission of the Customs Union made several decisions that helped achieve certain positive results simplifying the system for import of quarantine products to the Customs Union.

However, the system of phito-sanitary control over transportation of products in the Russian Federation suffers from several administrative barriers: the requirement to obtain quarantine certificates for product transportation, certificates of secondary quarantine phyto-sanitary control with a product processing permit. Thus, when the products, that have passed all stages of control are transported to another region in Russia, it is necessary to obtain a new quarantine certificate with a transportation permit and a report on quarantine phyto-sanitary control with a processing permit. The period for obtaining these two documents can be as long as 75 days, so companies are forced to increase the stock of quarantine products, which increases production costs.

Members of the Expert Council proposed to speed up adopting the Law “On Plant Quarantine” in the edition, which had been agreed upon with the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation as part of regulatory impact assessment, and introduce changes to the by-laws issued by Rosselkhoznadzor (the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phyto-Sanitary Control) requiring phyto-sanitary certificates and processing permits.

The nomenclature of veterinary, as well as phyto-sanitary products subject to veterinary control has changed. However, in contrast to phyto-sanitary products, the list of veterinary products is expanded, which increases expenses accordingly. The number of paid services in the field of veterinary control for each consignment remains at the same level; the prices also have not changed. After the new Law “On Medicines” came into effect, registration of new titles has been stopped due to the Ministry of Agriculture lacking relevant powers.

Summing up the meeting of the Expert Council, Deputy Head of FAS Russia Andrey Tsyganov said: “Continuing efforts towards improvement of controlling and licensing functions and services of the federal executive bodies in the field of agriculture will approximate positions of business communities and executive bodies”.

The meeting was also attended by representatives of the Russian Grain Union, the Russian Academy of Agricultural Science, the Zoological Business Association, the Union of Fishing and Aquaculture Enterprises, the Fishery Union, the “Centre for Grain Quality Assessment” Federal State Institution, “Informational Technologies” Ltd., “Cargill Enterprises, Inc.”, etc.