Russia: drops mandatory certification of food items

Moscow / RU. (gov) The Russian government has announced that it no longer expects food manufacturers and producers to undergo compulsory certification of their products, effective immediately. Instead, producers will only be required to issue a voluntary declaration of compliance with safety requirements. Among other food items, the move will affect bakery and confectionery products. Consumer groups have warned that the move could be disastrous, and lead to an increase in poor-quality food, increasing the chances of widespread diseases. The authorities said mandatory foodstuff certification was cancelled because of a great number of fake certification companies and laboratories. It however stressed that a safe transition to voluntary declaration would require a tougher control of the market to increase the producers´ responsibility. Russia introduced mandatory certification in 1993 to cut down the influx of low-quality goods from foreign countries. However, in November 2009, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced plans to reduce the share of products subject to compulsory certification to 54 percent of total goods, from 78 percent at that time. Following this, in December, the government agreed to cancel obligatory certification in respect of foodstuffs and other things.