Voluntary Report - public distribution

**Date:** 2/3/2006

**GAIN Report Number:** RS6003

RS6003

**Russian Federation**

**Sanitary/Phytosanitary/Food Safety**

**Ban Lifted on Pedigree Cattle From Germany and France**

**2006**

**Approved by:**

![](media/image1.wmf)Allan Mustard

American Embassy, Moscow

**Prepared by:**

Erik Hansen and Mikhail Maksimenko

**Report Highlights:**

Russia reopened its market to German and French pedigree cattle on
February 1 following a five-year ban instilled after bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE) outbreaks were reported in Europe. As part of
President Putin\'s Agricultural National Priority Project, the Ministry
of Agriculture plans to import 100,000 head of pedigree cattle to
develop Russia\'s ailing domestic livestock sector.

Includes PSD Changes: No

Includes Trade Matrix: No

Unscheduled Report

Moscow \[RS1\]

\[RS\]

**Summary**

The Ministry of Agriculture's press service announced that Russia lifted
its ban on German and French pedigree cattle on February 1, 2006. The
ban had been in place for five years after outbreaks of bovine
encephalopathy (BSE) outbreaks were reported in Europe. Minister of
Agriculture Aleksey Gordeyev stated that the ban will be lifted step by
step starting with Bavaria and then on to other areas of Germany and
France. Additional measures have been established to protect the Russian
territory from BSE such as all imported cattle must be less than 30
months of age. Ministry of Agriculture officials have privately stated
that the lifting of the ban is the result of the Agricultural National
Priority Project announced in September 2005 by President Putin. The
project aims, among other things, to increase domestic production of
livestock by importing 100,000 head of genetically superior livestock
from abroad in 2006-07.

###### **Unofficial Embassy Translation of Ministry of Agriculture Press Service Announcement**

**www.mcx.ru**

Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation

Information from the Russian Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary
Surveillance Service

Published: 02.01.2006

Taking into consideration that at present time the requirements of the
OIE on controlling BSE are being fulfilled in France and Germany and
after receiving assurances from the veterinary services that every
possible measure is being taken against the spread of BSE, Russia will
permit entry of pedigree cattle to the Russian Federation from the areas
listed below:

In France \-- Ain, Aisne, Allier, Alpes de Haute Provence, Alpes
Maritimes, Ariège, Aube, Aude, Aveyron, Bas-Rhin, Bouches du Rhône,
Calvados, Cantal, Charente, Charente-Maritime, Cher, Corrèze, Corse du
Sud, Côtes d\'Or, Dordogne, Doubs, Drôme, Essonne, Eure, Eure-et-Loir,
Finistère, Gard, Gers, Gironde, Guadeloupe, Guyane, Haut Rhin, Haute
Garonne, Haute-Loire, Hautes Alpes, Haute-Saône, Hautes-Pyrénées, Hauts
de Seine, Hérault, Indre, Isère, Jura, Landes, Loire, Loire-Atlantique,
Loiret, Loir-et-Cher, Lot, Lot-et-Garonne, Lozère, Marne, Martinique,
Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse, Moselle, Nièvre, Nord, Pyrénées-Orientales,
Réunion, Rhône, Saône et Loire, Savoie, Seine Maritime, Seine Saint
Denis, Seine-et-Marne, Tarn, Tarn et Garonne, Territoire de Belfort, Val
de Marne, Val d\'Oise, Var, Vaucluse, Vendée, Yonne, Yvelines.

In Germany \-- Saarland, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Lower Saxony,
Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia.

In addition to the above mentioned, the federal veterinary services of
France and Germany must guarantee that the animals were not born or were
not kept:

In France \-- Ardèche, Ardennes, Côtes d\'Armor, Creuse, Deux-Sèvres,
Haute-Marne, Haute-Savoie, Haute-Vienne, Ille et Vilaine,
Indre-et-Loire, Maine-et-Loire, Manche, Mayenne, Morbi-han, Oise, Orne,
Pas-de-Calais, Puy-de-Dôme, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Sarthe, Somme, Vienne,
Vosges.

In Germany \-- Mecklenburg, Western Pomerrania, Brandenburg,
Rhinekand-Palantinate, Schleswig-Holstein, Saxony Hesse, Baden
Wurttemberg.

Importing pedigree cattle from these countries will be allowed only when
guarantees exist that there are no cases of BSE in the territory from
which the cattle are being imported into the Russian Federation. In
doing so the following additional measures of safety with respect to the
BSE in cattle should be implemented:

\-- Imported cattle shall be identified and registered by Russian
veterinary officials;

\-- In case imported animals are to be relocated, the local Russian
veterinary service from where the animals are leaving, shall notify the
local Russian veterinary service where the animals are entering, as well
as the Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service (VPSS),
no later than 7 days before the animals are expected to be reallocated.
A copy of the letter signed by the local Russian veterinary service
where the animals are entering shall be attached containing indications
with respect to the fact that this veterinary service has been
acquainted with additional measures of safety, which relate to these
animals and has obligations to implement them;

\-- Slaughtering of imported animals shall be carried out only at meat
processing plants (slaughterhouses) certified for that purpose at the
end of the shift and must be separated from the rest of the animals.
Animals which are sent to be slaughtered and are believed to be more
than 30 months of age will be subject to a 100 percent anti-mortem
clinical examination aimed at identifying characteristics specific to
BSE, as well as to post-mortem examination of the samples taken from the
brain from every slaughtered animal in the veterinary laboratory, which
is certified to conduct tests for BSE. In the process of slaughtering
and primary carcass cutting, all requirements of the OIE must be
observed with respect to removing the specific risk materials (brain and
spinal cord, visible lymphatic glands, tubular bones, vertebral column,
eyes, distal ileum). The carcasses received for slaughtering of imported
cattle believed to be 30 months of age or older shall be stored in a
separate refrigeration chamber until tests return negative for BSE.
Specific risk materials will be disposed of in accordance with
established procedures. If the results of any BSE test are positive,
VPSS will be immediately notified and the carcasses received from all
infected animals that were stored in a separate chamber will be disposed
of in accordance with the established procedures.

\-- The animals' owner will cover payment for the costs incurred in
connection with the additional measures of safety and testing for BSE.

In the request to import live pedigree bovine, the local Russian
administration and veterinary service will confirm their obligations to
fulfill the above-mentioned conditions in full volume.

The offspring of the pedigree cattle imported from France and Germany as
well as the genetic material retrieved from bulls can be used on the
entire territory of the Russian Federation without limitations connected
with BSE under the condition that every head of imported cattle is
identified with tags of the established order.

 

**Source:** Ministry of Agriculture Press Service