Ban on U.S. meat imports into Customs Union cannot be lifted for now
MOSCOW. March 21 (Interfax) - Resumption of meat supplies to the Customs Union from the United States cut short on February 11 over the ractopamine dispute, is not on the agenda yet.
Yevgeny Nepoklonov, deputy head of the veterinary and phytosanitary oversight service Rosselkhoznadzor, who is in Geneva attending a meeting of the World Trade Organization's sanitary and phytosanitary measures committee, met with U.S. officials who proposed that companies that had no access to the Russian market be allowed in and entered on the list of suppliers against the U.S veterinary service's guarantees, Rosselkhoznadzor said.
"The American officials were told that the current situation does not allow Rosselkhoznadzor to enter U.S companies on the list of suppliers against the U.S. veterinary service's guarantees without an inspection by Rosselkhoznadzor representatives and by officials from the other countries of the Customs Union, given doubts which Rosselkhoznadzor has about the guarantees provided," it said.
The application of the ractopamine growth stimulator, banned in Russia, is proof that the U.S. veterinary service's guarantees are not authentic, it said. "The American veterinary service checks on the meat exported to Russia was not accurate and deceived Russian importers and consumers," Rosselkhoznadzor said.
Rosselkhoznadzor has also uncovered numerous violations of the Customs Union's and Russia's requirements for U.S products, which was confirmed by inspections conducted by Russian specialists and American meat-processing companies.
The participants in the meeting agreed to continue the talks.