Moldova to give govt guarantee on wine for Russia
MOSCOW. May 2 (Interfax) - Moldova is soon to establish a wine agency that will ensure quality control for wine produced in the country and a government guarantee of that quality, Russian consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said in a press release.
The watchdog said the Moldovan Agriculture Minister Vasily Bumakov had made the announcement Saturday at a meeting with Russia's Chief State Sanitary Inspector Gennady Onischenko.
"Issues relating to supplies of Moldovan wine to Russia were discussed," the release said.
"Bumakov said Moldova would soon set up a wine agency to ensure quality control over the wine produced and provide it with the relevant government guarantees," the release says.
The minister said all necessary measures would be taken to prevent re-export to Russia of banned Moldovan wine via third countries.
"Moldova also undertook to develop and submit in the next two weeks a program of measures to prevent fake wine entering the market, envisaging the responsibility of Moldovan wine producers to take measures to fight against falsification," the release said.
Onischenko said a practical step toward the lifting of restrictions on imports of Moldovan wine would be for Moldova to compile and submit a list of the main wine producers that have guaranteed quality so that Rospotrebnadzor could inspect these companies.
Earlier, Onishenko was reported to be dissatisfied with the quality of wine imported to Russia from certain Moldovan producers.
"Several years ago Russia imposed a ban on wine imports from Moldova due to complaints about quality. The ban was later lifted and dozens of Moldovan producers were able to resume deliveries. Rospotrebnadzor is still unhappy with the quality of certain consignments of Moldovan alcohol production," the watchdog's website said in December 2011.
In mid-December 2011, Rospotrebnadzor banned alcoholic product imports from Moldovan company Selkutsa.
The watchdog said it was ready to expand the list of Moldovan companies that export wine to Russia and open an additional customs point in Bryansk. The Moldovan authorities as well and Russian and Moldovan businesses had made such a request several times.
"Rospotrebnadzor is ready to consider, within its competence and in coordination with the relevant Russian authorities, the issue of using the Bryansk specialized customs terminal for supplies of wine and wine materials from Moldova to Russia," the watchdog said.
One window quality and safety monitoring of Moldovan wine will be carried out by a Rospotrebnadzor lab in Moscow.