The League of Importers and Exporters of Moldova accuses the National Food Safe Agency (NFSA) of not issuing phytosanitary certificates for exporting the harvest to Russia as from October 3. To draw the Agency’s attention and to receive explanations, representatives of Moldovan exporters and producers brought fruit in front of the Agency’s head office and unloaded a part of this at the entrance, IPN reports.
The League’s chairwoman Taisia Ciobanu said that the League as from October 3 has asked for explanations from the NFSA director Radu Musteața, but haven’s yet received an answer. “By this event, we wanted to remind of our problem and to receive explanations why they do not issue phytosanitary certificates to us for exporting our apples and grapes to the Russian Federation. At the moment, we have ten vehicles full with harvest. By October 3, we fulfilled all the conditions to get such certificates, but we are told that we do not meet the requirements. I consider the NFSA is interested in preventing the harvest in Moldova from being exported,” she stated.
NFSA director general Radu Musteața said the institution obeys all the legal procedures when issuing permissive documents. The Agency was informed by Russia’s food safety watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor that the export of vegetal products from most of Moldova’s districts is restricted as from August 15, except for Dubăsari district and districts from the left side of the Nistru. Some of the companies, having the legal address on the left side of the Nistru and in Dubăsari district, try to export vegetal products that actually come from districts subject to restrictions. In the case of phytosanitary certificates, the Agency determines the traceability of the products and does not issue certificates if inconsistencies are identified. This causes dissatisfaction.
On July 18, the Council of European Union adopted a regulation to temporarily liberalize trade in seven Moldovan agricultural products that hadn’t been yet fully liberalized. These include tomatoes, garlic, table grapes, apples, cherries, plums and grape juice. Thanks to liberalization, Moldova can at least double exports of these products – for a period of one year – to the European Union without any tariffs.
