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Russian watchdog to check imported wine production technologies

The regulator noted that it would hold inspections, including by video, of wine production sites to confirm compliance of production processes to Russian norms

MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/. The Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision will check manufacturing technologies of imported wine products for conformity to Russian standards, the regulator said on Thursday.

The watchdog has "prepared and sent to countries-suppliers of wine products to Russia requests for information on current wine production supervision systems. Furthermore, it is planned to hold inspections, including by video, of wine production sites to confirm compliance of production processes to Russian norms," the authority said.

Such measures will cover all countries exporting wines to Russia, the regulator noted. The European Union is the largest wine supplier to Russia, head of the regulator Sergey Dankvert said, cited in the statement.

In 2020, European grape wine exports totaled $752 mln with 223 mln liters of EU wines brought to the Russian market. Italy (93 mln liters), Spain (67 mln liters), France (36 mln liters), Portugal (13 mln liters), and Germany (7 mln liters) are the top wine exporters to Russia. The country imported 108 mln liters of wines worth $383 mln from the EU so far this year.

Materials requested by the regulator have been supplied to date only by Chile and Portugal (not in full scope). "The Russian authority is interested in the receipt of required data and working out organizational matters of future inspections with countries as soon as possible," the watchdog noted.

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