G/TBT/W/385  
 
28 March 2014  
(14-1946)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
 RUSSIAN FEDERATION - MEASURE AFFECTING THE IMPORT OF  
UKRAINIAN CONFECTIONARY PRODUCTS 
 
STATEMENT OF UKRAINE AT TH E MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE  
ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE OF 19-20 MARCH 2014 
The following communication, dated 21 March 2014, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Ukraine. 
 
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1.  And again Ukraine regretfully has to raise co ncern regarding the ban on import of Ukrainian 
confectionery products to the Russian Federation, which was enacted on 29 July 2013 by the 
Resolution/Decision of the Federal Service on Cust omers' Rights Protection and Human Well-being 
Surveillance of the Russian Federation (Rospotrebnadzor) (No. 01/8612-13-23). 
2.  The Resolution/Decision of Rospotrebnadzor did not refer to incompliance of Ukrainian products 
with any particular effective Russian or Custom Union's technical regulation as a reason for the 
ban.  
3.  In accordance with the provisions of Arti cles 10 and 2.5 of the TBT Agreement, Ukraine 
requested on 8th of August 2013 relevant inform ation through the TBT/SPS Enquiry Point of the 
Russian Federation. Ukraine thanks the Russian Federation for answers provided on 17 March 
2014. 
4.  In the reply by the Russian Federation there are mentioned two documents: the Federal law 
#2300-1 as of February 1992 "On customers rights protection" and the technical regulation of the 
Customs Union "Food products in sphere of its labelling". Ukraine would appreciate to have more clear explanation regarding the act on which the ban is based. 
5.  The Russian Federation also claimed that the measure in question is not a TBT measure. 
Ukraine would like to recall the definition of the technical regulation in the TBT Agreement which states that it is a document that "may include or deal exclusively with … labelling requirements as they apply to a product" (Annex 1 of the TBT Agreement).  
6.  Thus, Ukraine requests the Russian Federation  to provide official detailed clarification and 
justification of keeping the measure and its complian ce with the provisions of the TBT Agreement.  
7.  Late October 2013 inspectors from the Russian Federation authorities came to inspect the 
Ukrainian factories in question. It should be noted that representatives of leading Russian 
confectionary holding "Uniconf", which is a main competitor to the Ukrainian producer, were included in the inspection group. So far we have not officially received any report from this 
inspection. Ukraine believes that general public information about inspection posted on the 
Rospotrebnadzor website in fact is not an official re port of the inspection results that is expected to 
be provided by the inspection body to the inspected applicant "promptly in a precise and complete manner". 
8.  Therefore, Ukraine still expects the Russian Fe deration to provide it with the official reports 
from the inspection.  G/TBT/W/385 
 
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  9.  The Ukrainian confectionary products have been tested at accredited laboratories in Ukraine 
and the test results confirm compliance with effective Russian obligatory requirements for food products. 
10.  Ukraine ensured enforcement of its part of  the agreed Road map regarding elimination of 
trade barriers between Russian Federation and Ukraine for 2013 – 2014. As of 1 January 2014 
Ukraine officially informed Rospotrebnadzor about co nformity of products produced by factories in 
Kiev, Vinnitsa, Mariupol and Kremenchug to Russian quality requirements for food products. 
11.  It should be noted that incompliance with la belling requirements done by Russian producer is 
punishable by a fine according the Russian Federation legislation. Whereas no ban on the placing on the market is envisaged. 
12.  Therefore, the ban is applied in a discriminatory manner, is less favourable for Ukrainian 
products than for like products of national origin and to like products originating in any other 
country.  
13.  Since, the ban imposed by the Russian Federation is still in place it continues to cause 
economic losses to Ukraine. Hence, export of Ukrainian confectionery products to the Russian 
Federation dropped by 126,3 million US dollars in  2013 as compared with 2012. This situation also 
caused stopping production in Mariupol factory in February 2014 and layoffs at other confectionery 
factories in regions.  
14.  Ukraine believes that the measure of the Russi an Federation is unjustifiably strict, more trade-
restrictive than necessary to fulfil a legitimate objective, taking into account of the risks non-fulfilment would create.  
15.  Ukraine calls upon the Russian Federation to immediately lift this trade ban and bring the 
governmental measure in line with the TBT Agreement and commitments signed by the Russian Federation at accession. 
 
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