NCE "Atameken": the ban of  Rosselkhoznadzor on the import of "the sanctioned" Norwegian fish to Kazakhstan should be agreed with entrepreneurs importers

Russia pulls Kazakhstan in its "trade war." Kazakhstan consumers may become hostages of the "Russia’s contfrontation vs the whole world". Precedents already exist. On 26^th of August Rosselkhoznadzor has published on its website a notice that it prohibits not only the transit of chilled Norwegian trout on the territory of the Russian Federation, but also its importation into the member state of the Eurasian Economic Union, including Kazakhstan.

The official site of Rosselkhoznadzor has published the background of this decision. "The competent authority of Norway Mattelsynet unreasonably refused an inspection of 14 Norwegian companies for the production of salmon and trout in aquaculture. The statement of the chief veterinary inspector of Norway Ms. Christina Landsverk, and, after that, and from the Norwegian Embassy in Moscow was received today by Rosselkhoznadzor. "The Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway presents its compliments and has the honor to announce that the Norwegian competent authorities have decided that it is not appropriate in the current situation to conduct inspections in Norway next week", - stated the Embassy note.

According to the specialists of the Rosselkhoznadzor, "actions of Norwegian colleagues are unprecedented in the history of conduction of inspections in the enterprises of third countries by Rosselkhoznadzor".

According to the report, the rejection to conduct an inspection was received a day before he entered the service of sending the Russian delegation in Oslo (the work was scheduled to start from 24 August 2015), at the moment when the inspectors were instructed by Rosselkhoznadzor. It is noteworthy that the timing of the inspection has been proposed by the Norwegians at the beginning of July 2015.

"It seems that the rejection of the inspections is associated with disagreement of Mattelsinet to include 14 enterprises in the inspection plan, proposed by the Rosselkhoznadzor, which in its selection is based on the fact that these enterprises on the territory of the Member States of EAEU received the most significant amounts of fish for further processing and handling on the Russian market. However, there was no comment on the official cause of the rejection of the Norwegian side", - underlined in the message.

The inspectors of Rosselkhoznadzor believe that "fears of Norwegians are understandable",  since the previous inspection of Rosselkhoznadzor has shown that the vast majority of enterprises during the inspection was recognized as " not ready to fulfill the safety requirements of the legislation of Russia and the EAEU, which has led to the introduction of regular restrictions on their activities".

EAEU Decision prescribes the procedure for conducting inspections in third countries, it gives an authorized veterinary authority, initiating the checks, in this case - Rosselkhoznadzor, the right to impose temporary restrictions on supplies from companies that refuse an inspection, which will be imposed as of August 24, 2015.

"Rosselkhoznadzor informed Mattelsinet and competent veterinary authorities of the Republic of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan about the introduction of temporary restrictive measures, warning them that if such products in raw or processed form will get to the territory of the Russian Federation, they will be destroyed", - stated the message.

Let’s note that we are talking no longer about the transit of goods, but about the fact of import of  Norwegian fish to the territory of our country. That is, trucks or airplanes with fish (even if freight forwarders, accompanying the goods have certificates issued after 24^th of August), they won’t be allowed to our country. It is noteworthy that chilled fish arrives today in Kazakhstan only by air - without any transit by land from other countries.

Needless to say that the statement of the Rosselkhoznadzor has caused a storm of indignation in the Kazakh blogosphere. Most of all Kazakhstani residents are angry with the fact that the spread of  "sanctions" on Kazakhstan, which has so far remained neutral in the conflict between the northern neighbor and the world community. Many consider it as a return to Soviet policy, in which the "big brother" openly interferes in economic affairs of "small republics".

Experts of the Department of  Economic Integration NCE RK "Atameken" shared their point of view about what has happened with the correspondent of palata.kz.

"Sanctions Policy of the Russian Federation started in 2014, when on 7^th of August  was signed the Decree of the Government of Russian Federation No. 778 "On measures to implement the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated by August 6, 2014 No. 560 "On the application of certain special economic measures in order to ensure the security of the Russian Federation", - said the Director of Economic Integration NCE RK "Atameken" Dana Zhunusova.

According to this Decree, Russia has imposed a ban on the import to its territory of agricultural products, raw materials and foodstuffs, originating from the United States, European Union, Canada, Australia and the Kingdom of Norway. The list of products, which are banned for import to the Russian Federation, includes fish, fresh or chilled (excluding fish fillets and other fish meat) and fish, frozen (excluding fish fillets and other fish meat of HS codes 0302, 0303).

In June of this year, Vladimir Putin signed a decree "On the extension of certain special economic measures in order to ensure the security of the Russian Federation" dated by August 6, 2015 for one year.

"It is worth noting that according to the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, member states of EAEU may unilaterally establish and implement non-tariff measures. These measures include the prohibition of quantitative restrictions on import and export of goods, the exclusive right to conduct foreign trade activity, automatic licensing, permission-based procedure for the import / export of goods", - says Dana Zhunusova. - "It should be understood that the decision to ban the import of agricultural products and foodstuffs is a matter of animal health measures".

Section XI of the EAEU Treaty identifies the general principles of the application of sanitary veterinary and sanitary measures. Appendix No.12 of EAEU Treaty "Protocol on the application of sanitary, veterinary and sanitary and phytosanitary quarantine measures" contains a provision according to which Member States have the right to introduce temporary sanitary measures and sanitary and anti-epidemic measures.

In addition, the decision of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission No.94 dated by October  9, 2014, approved the Regulations on the order of a single joint inspections of facilities and sampling of goods (products) subject to veterinary control (supervision). In accordance with the provisions of this Regulation, the "Register of enterprises of third countries" is formed - a list of organizations and individuals engaged in production, processing and (or) storage of controlled goods (products) imported into the customs territory of the Customs Union. To include enterprises in the said register, the Member States of EAEU conduct joint inspections of companies of third countries.

It is worth noting that, according to an official statement, Rosselkhoznadzor intends to introduce a temporary restrictive measures against 14 Norwegian companies, which were previously included in the registry and implement the supply of fish to the Russian Federation. As of today, the registry of Rosselkhoznadzor includes 30 enterprises engaged in the supply of frozen fish in the salmon family (11 companies are authorized to import) and 32 companies engaged in the supply of fresh or chilled fish in the salmon family (5 companies have a permit to import). In Kazakhstan, according to the registry, 43 Norwegian companies have import license.

The experts of the Department of Economic Integration NCE "Atameken" noted that the main concerns of the Russian side are related to the control of re-export (export of previously imported goods for resale to other countries ) of sanctioned products to the Member States of  EAEU. In this regard, in order to strengthen the control and prevent re-export, Rosselkhoznadzor plans to increase the number of inspection posts at the border with Kazakhstan. Today, on the border with Kazakhstan there are 35 posts.

"At present, the Ministry of Agriculture  considers a formal letter to be sent to the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance of the Russian Federation" Rosselkhoznadzor " regarding restrictions on the importation of chilled and frozen fish ",  - indicates Dana Zhunusova.

At the same time neither the content of the letter nor the official response of the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture is known. The Ministry did not deem it necessary to share it with the business community and the NCE "Atameken", and currently holds the proud silence, ignoring the seething passions in society.

"It should be noted that, according to official statistics on imports of fish from third countries, Kazakhstan annually imported fresh or chilled and frozen fish worth 26,755,700 dollars (figures for 2014 provided by the Secretariat of the Committee of the food industry NCE RK "Atameken ") and the share of fish imported from Norway to the Republic of Kazakhstan is more than 70% of the total volume of imported products", - Dana Zhunusova informed palata.kz.

The amount is not small, and Kazakhstani importers, retailers, restaurateurs and consumers of fish should receive clear and unambiguous explanation of the state.

 "Kazakhstan's business community believes that such an important issue for Kazakhstan should be considered with the participation of entrepreneurs engaged in the import of fish products to Kazakhstan. We must not forget that the ban on the importation of fish has an impact on consumers. Given the scale of the impact of the ban on imports of fish in Kazakhstan, the decision on this matter should be deliberate and collective", - says Director of the Department of Economic Integration NCE RK "Atameken".

On 26^th of August, representatives of the higher supranational body of EAEU - Eurasian Economic Commission – were ready to give an official explanation to the business community of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Armenia. On the official page in the social network Facebook was published the following information.

"At the moment, the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union allows authorized veterinary authorities of the Member States to unilaterally impose temporary bans and restrictions on products, which don’t meet the requirements of the EAEU. But if Rosselkhoznadzor takes such a decision, it does not mean that it should be extended to the rest of the EAEU", - write officials of the EEC.

They recognize that at this stage the initiator of the ban - in this case, Rosselkhoznadzor - had only to inform the competent authorities of the rest of the EAEU. At the same time, the report says, "the competent authorities of the parties are obliged to take measures to prevent entry of products, which are banned in one of the countries of EAEU through other member states".

Meanwhile, the report also notes that "the Eurasian Economic Commission has an understanding that the prohibitions imposed by one country automatically affect other Member States. In this connection, EEC sees the need for an international agreement that would allow the Commission to adjust and to set the rules for the introduction of such prohibitions and restrictions, taking into account the interests of all countries in the EAEU".