G/SPS/GEN/1315  
 
14 March 2014  
(14-1642)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
 NOTIFICATION 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION 
The following communication, received on 14 March 2014, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of the Russian Federation. 
 
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 1.  The Russian Federation takes note of the co mments of the European Union to the notification 
G/SPS/N/RUS/48 submitted by the Russian Federati on, dated 10 February 2014, provided through 
the SPS Russian Notification Authority and the communication G/SPS/GEN/1305, as of 19 February 
2014. 
2.  The Russian Federation would like to underline that it had exercised its rights under Article 2 of 
the SPS Agreement and had applied sanitary and ph ytosanitary measures, notified in accordance 
with G/SPS/N/RUS/48, to the extent necessary for the protection of human and animal life or health. 
3.  In accordance with Article 5.7 of the SPS Agreement, the Russian Federation provisionally 
adopted the measure on the basis of available pertinent information, including that from the relevant international organizations as well as from sanitary and phytosanitary measures applied by other WTO Members. The measure in force will be reviewed accordingly within a reasonable 
period of time. 
4.  The Russian Federation acted in full compliance with the transparency provisions under the 
WTO SPS Agreement. The competent authorities of Lithuania and Poland were notified of the 
introduction of temporary measure as of 25 Janua ry 2014 and 27 February 2014, respectively, in a 
proper manner by official letters from the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision. The official letters to the Lithuanian and Polish competent authorities were followed 
by the respective notifications, submitted by  the Russian Federation: G/SPS/N/RUS/48, dated 
10 February 2014 and G/SPS/N/RUS/49, dated 4 March 2014. 
5.  Pursuant to the provisions of Article 4 of the Customs Union Agreement on veterinary-sanitary 
measures of 11 December 2009, import into the te rritory of the member states of the Customs 
Union of controlled goods is carried out in accordance with the Common Veterinary Requirements 
and shall be accompanied by a veterinary certificate issued by the relevant competent authority of the exporting country. The Russian Federation and the European Union agreed on veterinary 
certificates on: 
 pork meat and raw meat preparations (2006); 
 pigs for breeding (2006); 
 piglets for fattening (2006); and 
 pigs for slaughter (2010). 
6.  These certificates contain veterinary and sanitary requirements, which shall be complied with, 
for imports of specified goods into the territory of the Russian Federation to be permitted. As 
stated in points 4.3 and 4.1 accordingly of the above-mentioned veterinary certificates: "Meat and 
raw meat preparations were obtained from the slaughter and processing of clinically healthy 
animals, originating from premises and/or administrative territory officially free from infectious G/SPS/GEN/1315 
 
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  animal diseases, including: African swine fever - during the last three years in the territory of the 
European Union excluding Sardinia". Since the European Union failed to guarantee the agreed requirements, import into the territory of the Russian Federation is not acceptable. 
7.  Temporary restrictions on the import of live pigs and pork products were applied by the Russian 
Federation only in respect from Lithuania and Poland, but not the whole European Union. 
8.  The Russian Federation takes note of the co ncern of the European Union as regards the said 
measure. Russia is committed to closely cooperate with the European Union in order to resolve the 
existing matter as required by the SPS Agreement. 
9.  Since the introduction of the measure, a number of consultations between Russia and the 
European Union were carried out at the expert level. In February 2014, high level bilateral 
consultations between the competent authorities of the two parties were held in Moscow regarding 
the issue of spread of ASF virus. Both the Russi an Federation and the European Union recognised 
the severity of the existing problem of ASF virus and agreed to closely cooperate to take control 
measures in order to prevent the spread of ASF virus both in Europe and in Russia. Bilateral expert 
meetings are scheduled in the coming weeks to di scuss the issue of regionalisation as well as to 
share experience on scientific work on combating ASF virus spread. Comments provided by the EU delegation and the results of the discussions were taken into account, as it is stated in point 
6(c) of Annex B of the WTO SPS Agreement. 
10.  The Russian Federation finds it regrettable that following control measures declared by the 
relevant competent authorities another outbreak of ASF virus was detected on the territory of the European Union, i.e. in Poland, on 17 February 2014. 
 
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