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- (v) Non-discrimination
  1. Some Members also requested clarification of whether SPS measures applied in the Russian Federation established similar treatment for domestic and foreign like products. The representative of the Russian Federation stated that, in his view, non-discriminatory treatment was provided by the current legislation of the Russian Federation and CU Agreements, CU Commission Decisions, and other CU Acts. CU Agreements, CU Commission Decisions and other CU Acts did not set-out separate SPS measures for imported goods. Sanitary-epidemiological, veterinary and phytosanitary rules, criteria, measures and requirements were applied uniformly and without discrimination to all foreign, CU, and domestic products and suppliers. He stated that in accordance with Article 29.2 of the Federal Law No. 164-FZ of 8 December 2003 "On Basics of Regulation of Foreign Trade Activity", SPS requirements were implemented with respect to goods originating from foreign countries in the same way, they were applied in respect of similar products of Russian origin. CU Agreements, CU Commission Decisions, and other CU Acts, as well as the current legislation of the Russian Federation in the veterinary/sanitary sphere (Articles 1, 14, 15, 18 of the Law of the Russian Federation No. 4979-1 of 14 May 1993 "On Veterinary Practices") were uniform for all veterinary services of subjects of the Russian Federation and established identical requirements for both foreign, CU, and domestic goods and manufacturers, including requirements for putting products on the domestic market. Finally, according to Article 6 of the draft Quarantine Law, phytosanitary requirements applied to regulated products originating from a foreign country in the same manner as they applied to the same regulated products of Russian origin.
  2. The representative of the Russian Federation confirmed that all SPS measures developed and applied in the Russian Federation, whether by the Russian Federation or competent bodies of the CU, would comply with the non-discrimination provisions of the WTO SPS Agreement, including those relating to the principles of national and most-favoured nation treatment. The Working Party took note of this commitment.
  3. Some Members of the Working Party expressed concern over the fact that imported products were tested in the Russian Federation for residues of veterinary medicinal products in the VGNKI laboratory, which was the only laboratory equipped with the most sensitive and performing equipment (LC-MS/MS), whereas other laboratories performing official controls in the Russian Federation, on domestic products, mostly used ELISA methods, which were less performing for confirming residues of antibiotics at the low levels of detection foreseen by the food safety requirements of the Russian Federation and the CU. In the view of these Members, this represented discrimination between domestic and imported goods.
  4. The representative of the Russian Federation confirmed that the draft Federal Law "On Veterinary Practices" provided that official control could be done only in accredited laboratories and that such accredited laboratories must use unified and validated methods and equipment for official control purposes. He further confirmed that imports could be tested in any of these accredited laboratories. This would, in his view, ensure uniformity of treatment. The Working Party took note of these commitments.

- (i) Transparency, Notification and Enquiry Point Obligations
  1. Some Members expressed concern that existing rules and changes in the SPS regimes of the Customs Union and the Russian Federation were not always published in draft for comment from interested parties before they were implemented. In the view of these Members, neither CU bodies, nor Russian authorities consistently took the views of interested persons and Members into consideration before taking regulatory actions that affected trade. In addition, Members expressed concerns that all existing mandatory requirements for importing products to the Russian Federation were not readily available to them or traders. As a result, some Members suggested that the Russian Federation would need to modify its procedures on notifying and seeking comments on measures to come into compliance with the transparency obligations of the WTO SPS Agreement.
  2. In response, the representative of the Russian Federation stated that, with regard to SPS measures of the Russian Federation, the transparency in the legislative process in the SPS sphere was provided through publication of all regulatory legal acts related to SPS measures in official editions of the following publications: "Rossiiyskaya Gazeta", "Sobranie Zakonodatelsctva Rossiyckoy Federatsii", "The Bulletin of Regulatory Acts of Federal Executive Authorities", "The Bulletin of International Agreements", "The Bulletin of Regulatory and Methodical Acts of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation", and "The Information Bulletin of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation". Some SPS measures were also published in some non-official publications, such as "Veterinariya" magazine, newspapers "Veterinarniy Konsultant", "Veterinary Gazette" and "Zatschita i karantin rasteniy" (monthly edition), as well as in electronic database for legal reference and other special publications. In response to a question from a Member, the representative of the Russian Federation stated that the main official journals were "Rossiiyskaya Gazeta", and "Sobranie Zakonodatelsctva Rossicyckoy Federatsii", in which the publication of all normative legal acts that dealt with the rights, freedoms and obligations of a person and citizens, including the orders of Federal Ministries, was mandatory. Thus, all normative legal acts relating to SPS measures would be published in these two journals.
  3. Members of the Working Party noted that, as of 1 July 2010, the CU Commission was responsible for the adoption of CU SPS technical regulations and other CU SPS documents and requested information regarding how transparency would be ensured in connection with the development of SPS measures and their application. In response, the representative of the Russian Federation explained that the Annex to CU Commission Decision No. 625 entitled "Amendments to the Regulation on Coordination Committee on Technical Regulation, Application of Sanitary, Veterinary and Phytosanitary Measures", approved by the CU Commission Decision No. 319 as of 18 June 2010 provided for publication of proposals of CU Decisions and CU legal acts in the SPS field, on the CU Commission website (www.tsouz.ru), and that interested persons would have at least 60 days to provide comments on the proposals. The CU Secretariat was required to send comments to the relevant working group (referred to in paragraph ) for consideration. Furthermore, the representative of the Russian Federation explained that, according to point 6 of the Annex of CU Commission Decision No. 527 of 28 January 2011, which set a procedure for the development, adoption, amendment and repealing of technical regulations of the CU, draft technical regulations must be published on the website of the CU and should be available for public consultation for at least two months. Comments received from interested parties would then be taken into account to amend the draft technical regulations. Some Members of the Working Party expressed concern that, according to an amendment of this procedure adopted by CU Commission Decision No. 606, if a draft technical regulation developed in the framework of the EurAsEC was taken as a basis for a technical regulation of the CU, and had already undergone a process of public consultation through publication of a draft on the website of the EurAsEC, the CU may decide not to organize a public discussion at CU level on this text. In the view of these Members, the consultation on the EurAsEC website did not fulfil the necessary conditions of transparency since, at the time of this consultation, it>
  4. In response to a question from a Member, the representative of the Russian Federation stated that the date for entry into force of each technical regulation was set-out in the respective technical regulation or the CU Commission Decision adopting the technical regulation. A minimum period of six months between the date of publication of a technical regulation and the date of its entry into force was established by the CU Commission Decision No. 752 of 16 August 2011, so that entities were able to comply with the provisions of a new technical regulation or amendments to a technical regulation. The transition period for economic operators to become acquainted with and comply with technical regulations was established after public consultation on draft technical regulations, in particular with those that would need to comply with the technical regulation, including foreign producers.
  5. Some Members of the Working Party expressed concern that, in some cases, SPS measures of the Russian Federation were not laid down in legal texts, and were thus not clearly transparent. This was the case, for example, for rules on the listing of establishments before the entry into force of CU requirements, or for rules on pre-notification of shipments or for conditions according to which the Russian Federation implemented the CU provision allowing a list of establishments authorised to export to the CU member to be based on the list provided by the exporting country.
  6. The representative of the Russian Federation explained that pre-notification of a shipment was to ensure that certificates were valid and not fraudulent. He noted that pre-notification>
  7. Some Members expressed serious concerns that the pre-notification requirements could be expanded to apply to all products subject to veterinary control and to other modes of transport. The requirement that pre-notification comes from the competent authorities of the exporting country raised additional concerns.   In these Members' views alternative, less burdensome, and less trade restrictive means were available to address any concerns regarding fraudulent certificates.  
  8. In response, the representative of the Russian Federation stated that amendments to the current pre-notification provisions were being considered. These amendments would limit the scope of the pre-notification requirement to shipments of beef, pork, sheep, horse, and poultry products, i.e., covered goods, imported using sea transport. These amendments would allow for the competent authority of a third country to provide information on the issuance of a veterinary certificate for the relevant covered goods by providing a copy of certificate or the information indicated in the form in Annex 8 to CU Commission Decision No. 317, via e-mail notification, completion of a corresponding website, or by any other means agreed between a third-country and a CU Party, taking into account conditions in the third-country, to the competent authorities of the CU Parties. The representative of the Russian Federation confirmed that these amendments as described above would be adopted and enter into force no later than the date of accession of the Russian Federation to the WTO.
  9. He confirmed that all information on SPS measures and current SPS legislation could be found on the websites of the MOA (ссылка скрыта); the MOH (ссылка скрыта); Rospotrebnadzor (ссылка скрыта); and the Information and Methodical Centre "Expertiza" of Rospotrebnadzor.
  10. The representative of the Russian Federation stated that development and introduction of new standards, animal health regulations and food safety regulations would be done in conformity with the rules and norms of WTO SPS Agreement. The representative of the Russian Federation further explained that the ongoing work within the CU and EurAsEC on drafting and adopting technical regulations in the SPS area was aimed at fulfilling this condition.
  11. The representative of the Russian Federation referred Members to the Section "Technical Barriers to Trade" for a detailed discussion of the procedures for drafting and adopting a technical regulation. As explained in paragraphs and , any person could become the author of a draft technical regulation. The author was obliged to provide, on demand, a copy of the draft technical regulation. The fees collected for providing of such a copy, could not exceed the expense of its production.
  12. Any stakeholder was permitted to send comments regarding the draft technical regulations directly to the author or to the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation (MIT) in written form. Contact information for the author of the SPS-related draft technical regulations could be received from the MIT (Department for State Policy in the Field of Technical Regulation and Uniformity of Measurements, telephone: +7 (495) 647-74-51, fax: +7 (495) 647-73-90, the MOH (Department for Health Protection and Sanitary and Epidemiological Human Well-Being, telephone:  +7 (495) 627-24-84 fax:  +7 (495) 627-24-84) and the MOA (Department for Food and Food-Processing Industry and Quality of Products, telephone: +7 (495)607-89-62, fax: +7 (499)975-13-34). Foreign stakeholders were permitted to participate in the development and public discussions of technical regulation projects. The procedures for development, adoption, amendment, and revocation of a technical regulation, including the acceptance or rejection of the suggestions of interested persons, was set-out in the Law "On Technical Regulation", CU Commission Decision No. 527 of 28 January 2011, and was discussed in the Section "Technical Barriers to Trade".
  13. According to the Article 7.8 of Federal Law No. 184-FZ, and EurAsEC Agreement on Implementation of Coordinated Policy in the Field of Technical Regulation, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of 25 January 2008, existing international standards shall be used in full or in part as a basis for the elaboration of draft technical regulations, including draft technical regulations in the SPS sphere. However, if international standards, guidelines or recommendations did not exist, or the proposed national regulations differed substantially from the relevant international standards, guidelines or recommendations, and based on an examination and evaluation of available scientific information in conformity with the relevant provisions of the WTO SPS Agreement and a risk assessment, CU authorities determined that the relevant international standards, guidelines or recommendations were not sufficient to achieve the appropriate level of sanitary or phytosanitary protection, the proposed national SPS measure that differed from the relevant international standards, guidelines and recommendations would be adopted. The Russian Federation would then provide the notification required in Annex B of the WTO SPS Agreement. He further confirmed that drafts of SPS technical regulations and other mandatory requirements would be publicly available for comments from all interested parties. The agencies involved in the preparation of the notifications required by the provisions of the WTO SPS Agreement, would be the MOA, the MOH and the MED, as the coordinating authority responsible for providing notifications to the WTO.
  14. In response to a question from Members regarding the adoption of SPS measures other than technical regulations, the representative of the Russian Federation explained that the procedure for the development of national standards and sets of rules was set-out in Federal Law No. 184-FZ, and included an opportunity for receiving and considering comments from the public. The totality of all other draft measures was subject to consultations with interested parties, as provided in Article 15 of Federal Law No. 164-FZ of 8 December 2003 "On Basics of Regulation of Foreign Trade Activity." He explained that the only exception to this requirement was for emergency situations, and that laws and measures of general application relating to SPS matters were not the subject of emergencies, as foreseen in Article 15. He referred Members to the Section "Technical Barriers to Trade" (see paragraphs through ) for a discussion of the procedures for adoption and application of national standards, and sets of rules. As regards emergency measures, he confirmed that the Russian Federation would comply with point 6 of Annex B to the WTO SPS Agreement.
  15. Some Members recalled concerns regarding the lack of available information on detailed conditions or requirements for the importation of specific products, including those Members and establishments authorised to export to the Russian Federation. These Members also requested that when the Russian authorities denied an application for an import permit, they informed each applicant of the detailed reasons for the rejection within two days after the decision on refusal. A Member suggested that the website should be searchable by HS code to increase its usefulness.
  16. In response, the representative of the Russian Federation confirmed that it had made available to importers, as well as to third-country exporters through a website (www.fsvps.ru), full detailed conditions for import of specific products. The representative of the Russian Federation further confirmed that to this end, it would publish a list on the website of the National Enquiry Point in English of the products which were permitted to be imported into its territory; the countries and establishments authorised to export to the Russian Federation and the territory of the CU; and the conditions for import. Where an application for an import permit was denied, Rosselkhoznadzor would inform the applicant of the reasons for this rejection within five days of the decision. The Working Party took note of these commitments.
  17. In response to a question about the functioning of a national enquiry point on SPS, the representative of the Russian Federation informed Members that the Russian Information Centre on Standardization, Certification and to Overcoming of Technical Barriers in Trade (RIC WTO TBT/SPS) had been operating since 1997. In the structure of RIC WTO TBT/SPS, there was an Enquiry (Dispatching) Service (National Enquiry Point - NEP), providing the implementation of WTO Agreements on TBT and SPS in corpore. The contact information (website, address/phone/fax numbers and e-mail) of the NEP was:

Address: 4 Granatny per.,

Moscow 103001,

Russian Federation;


Telephone: +7 (495) 332-56-28, 332-56-59, 225 61 89;

Fax: +7 (495) 332-56-59,

E-mail: enpoint@gostinfo.ru.

Website: nfo.ru;

  1. The primary function of RIC WTO TBT/SPS activity was to supply domestic authorities and businesses, as well as foreign trade partners of the Russian Federation and the Secretariat of the WTO, with Russian rules, directives, and regulations relating to TBT and SPS, and to provide information on foreign national standards and certification systems. The NEP responded to the requests of interested parties, provided information and documentation on TBT and SPS, standards, and conformity assessment. The NEP published on its website (on a month-by-month basis), the list of WTO Members' notifications on TBT and SPS in the Russian language (ссылка скрыта).
  2. In response to a question from a Member, the representative of the Russian Federation confirmed that the Russian Federation had established an enquiry point authorised to provide information on both TBT and SPS issues. He noted that paragraph provided detailed information on the enquiry point, including contact information and the services that the contact point could provide. He noted that this contact point would also provide information on CU Agreements, CU Commission Decisions and other CU Acts in the spheres of TBT and SPS measures. Prior to the accession of the Russian Federation to the WTO, the Government of the Russian Federation would issue a resolution to implement various provisions of the WTO Agreement, including Article 7, Article 13, and Annex B of the WTO SPS Agreement. He stated that the government resolution would include the following major provisions: (i) Designation of a single central government authority in charge of implementation of the provisions of the WTO SPS Agreement regarding notification in accordance with Articles 5, 6, 7, and 8 of Annex B; (ii) Mandatory cooperation between all governmental agencies in charge of implementation of the WTO SPS Agreement and this central government authority in respect of issues set-out in Annex B of the WTO SPS Agreement, and (iii) Designation of this central government authority as responsible for information exchanges with WTO Members and the Secretariat on issues relevant to the implementation of Annex B to the WTO SPS Agreement.
  3. The representative of the Russian Federation confirmed that the Russian Federation had set up an SPS notification authority and an SPS enquiry point which would be notified to the WTO SPS Committee. SPS measures, including those relating to inspection, were published in publications, such as those mentioned in paragraph . Information on all proposed SPS measures and those in effect, as foreseen in Annex B of the WTO SPS Agreement, could also be obtained from the SPS notification authority or from the SPS enquiry point of the Russian Federation. The Working Party took note of these commitments.