Rosselkhoznadzor could ban flower imports from Slovakia and Czech Republic
MOSCOW. Aug 19 (Interfax) - The Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) could ban deliveries of flowers from a number of European countries, firstly from Slovakia and the Czech Republic, due to the fact that they are still certifying unsafe flowers from the Netherlands.
"The restrictions will first of all affect Slovakia, and possibly the Czech Republic; these countries continue to certify Dutch flowers which are imported with violations." Sergei Dankvert, the head of Rosselkhoznadzor, told Interfax.
He said that in the near future the service will organize the discovered violations and present its claims. "We will not accept their documents as there will a ban on the import of plant products and their documents, they will not be able to certify flowers destined for Russia," he said.
"Despite our request, they keep working and continue to certify Dutch flowers. So we will also move forward and when we further detect violations, we will impose restrictions on the imports of flowers from these countries," he said.
At the same time "Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania have agreed to negotiate on this issue, we are in contact with them," he said.
Dankvert also welcomed the intention of the Dutch flower company VGB to replace pesticides used against insects in order to continue to export to the Russian Federation. "We have long since begun to realize that there is something going on with the Dutch flowers because there were many complaints by people of allergic reactions," he said, reminding everyone that Rosselkhoznadzor does not have authority over the use of pesticides, and that "Rospotrebnadzor does not oversee flowers because people don't eat them."
Rosselkhoznadzor on July 27, 2015, informed the phytosanitary services of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria, which certify Dutch flowers, about serious problems with the safety of these products and invited to conduct consultations, as well as to cease certification of Dutch flowers for the Russian market.
In July only Rosselkhoznadzor found 96 instances of harmful materials in imported flowers, and exactly half of these flowers were Dutch.
In this regard, on August 10 a procedure was started pursuant to which Dutch flowers can be imported to Russia only they undergo a special examination.