All-out ban on livestock products from Kazakhstan may not be imposed - Russian official
MOSCOW. Sept 26 (Interfax) - Sergei Dankvert, the head of Russia's Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision (Rosselkhoznadzor), positively evaluates the reaction of the Kazakh side to Rosselkhoznadzor's intention to ban imports of livestock products from Kazakhstan starting October 1 and says that now, in the light of these developments, a total ban might not be imposed.
Kazakhstan has properly reacted to Rosselkhoznadzor's statements about plans to ban Kazakh imports, he said. "Before that, they simply ignored [the statements]. Now they realized things can't continue in this way," Dankvert said.
There are now four freight cars loaded with American chicken legs on the border, on their way from the Baltic countries to Kazakhstan. "Until we track down where they go further, we will be in a difficult situation. Three freight cars have already passed, going to regions of Kazakhstan closer to the Russian border. We need to protect our market," he said.
He explained that when Kazakhstan joined the WTO, it concluded an agreement with the U.S. allowing the use of chlorine in poultry processing. "We will track where these products are delivered," Dankvert said.
Kazakh animal product exports to Russia are currently accompanied by documents that do not specify where raw materials were produced, and often not even where the finished products were produced. Rosselkhoznadzor has analyzed the risks and concluded that in the absence of reliable, complete information that the animal products were produced in Kazakhstan, there are likely to be instances in which products embargoed by Russia are re-exported from Kazakhstan and in which documents on transit through Russia are falsified, according to Rosselkhoznadzor.
The relevant agencies of Russia and Kazakhstan have agreed on a schedule for the integration of the Kazakhstan Unified Automated Control System for Agriculture and Russia's Vetis Federal State Information System. At Rosselkhoznadzor's initiative, the dates and stages of its implementation were adjusted in July 2017. However, Kazakhstan failed to meet the deadlines and did not provide any explanations, according to the Russian side.