Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis meeting with the Ambassador of Russian Federation to the EU Mr Vladimir Chizhov on 18 March 2015

Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis met Ambassador of Russian Federation Vladimir Chizhov today to discuss bilateral sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) issues.

Commissioner recalled the numerous restrictions introduced by Russia on imports from the EU. He stressed that the EU expected Russia to fulfil its WTO obligations with regard to the SPS measures applied on EU agri-food exports. As trade policy is an exclusive EU competence, Mr Andriukaitis called upon Russia to respect agreements between EU and Russia which abide with the single market principles.

Referring to the import ban introduced by Russia on pigs and pig products due to African swine fever (ASF), Commissioner Andriukaitis invited Russia to engage with the EU for solutions to the bans, respecting the EU law, WTO principles and international standards.

STATEMENT/15/4631

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