Food

As a result of EBA’s lobbying efforts the State Veterinary and Phytosanitary Service of Ukraine (hereinafter – SVPS) on 9 November 2012 issued the Annex to the Letter No 15-3-2-14/4045 of 8 May 2012 No15-3-3-16/10360 that simplifies the procedure of documentary accompaniment of finished imported foodstuffs of animal origin in the process of their internal distribution.

Background: According to the Order of SVPS “On Approving the List of Goods Subject to Veterinary Certificates” of 26 January 2010, finished food products were to be accompanied by veterinary certificates of Form No 2 (hereinafter – Form 2)  in the process of their internal circulation within Ukraine. However, this requirement contradicted to the article 2 of the Law of Ukraine “On Veterinary Medicine” No 2498-ХІІ of 25 June 1992 which says that this Law does not cover the products of animal origin for human consumption in the process of their production and internal circulation.

In March 2012 EBA Dairy Committee initiated the streamlining of the procedure of accompaniment by the veterinary certificates of Form No 2 of finished foodstuffs and putting the relevant legal requirements into conformity with each other.. As a result of a number of meetings and discussions with the representatives of SVPS, on 12 April 2012 the joint Round Table was held,and afterwards the SVPS issued the Letter No 15-3-2-14/4045 of 8 May 2012 that cancelled the mandatory issuance of veterinary certificates of Form No 2 at the every stage of finished foodstuffs circulation, thus simplifying the activity of dairy and food companies.

However, the companies working in Ukraine and importing analogue products from their enterprises from abroad saw no changes and found themselves in unfair competitive conditions compared with the domestic producers. Therefore it was decided to continue the lobbying efforts to simplify the relevant procedure for the importers.

In August 2012 EBA Dairy Committee members addressed the Head of SVPS the proposal which would put all producers and deliverers of foodstuffs into equal conditions, as well as addressed the request to provide the clarifications as to conformity of the situation with the requirements of the national and international legislation to the Ministry of Justice. On 8 November 2012 the representatives of EBA Dairy, Food and Retail Committees held a meeting with the Deputy Head of SVPS, during which the possibility of simplification of the procedure of accompaniment of the processed imported foodstuffs by veterinary certificates of Form No 2 was discussed. As a result, on 9 November 2012 the SVPS issued the Annex to the previous Letter No 15-3-3-16/10360, signed by the Head of the SVPS, according to which the regional bodies of state veterinary and sanitary control and supervision at the state border and transport issue the veterinary document for each batch of finished foodstuffs of animal origin for their internal circulation. Further, the internal circulation of such goods will take place under the availability of shipping document and the original of a producer’s/importer’s declaration, in which the operator declares the number and date of veterinary document’s issuance and the reference to the original of foreign producer’s declaration (in footnotes). In other cases the veterinary documents are issued upon the operator’s request.