How Russian prosecutors introduced Switzerland to the EU

Источник: The DairyNews
The fourth year of the embargo has shown that the regions are still actively fighting the importation of sanctioned food products. However, this struggle on the part of the authorities does not always have a logical and understandable framework. Read more in the material of The DairyNews.

ABOUT HISTORY

On August 7, 2014, the presidential decree limited the import of food products from the countries that imposed sanctions against Russia. These were products originating in the United States of America, the European Union, Canada, Australia and the Kingdom of Norway.

The list of the presidential decree "On the application of certain special economic measures to ensure the security of the Russian Federation" includes beef, pork, poultry, cheese and dairy products, fruits, nuts and other products. Later seeds, Atlantic salmon and trout (smolt) fry, dietary supplements, vitamin and mineral complexes, flavoring additives, protein concentrates and their mixtures, dietary fiber, food additives, lactose-free milk and dairy products were excluded from the list of "embargo".

In July 2015 the Russian President signed a decree on the disposal of products under embargo, which came into force on August 6, 2015. In August the same year, the action of the food embargo was extended to Albania, Montenegro, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Ukraine, and the latter with a delay – the ban on the import of products from Ukraine was to enter into force only in case Kiev applies economic part of the Association agreement with the European Union. On December 21, the Russian government published a decree on the introduction of food embargo for Ukraine since January 1, 2016, similar to the one against countries that supported sanctions against Russia.

Speaking about the EU countries that are the subject to food embargo, one should remember that we are talking about the Union of 28 States, not Europe as a whole. For example, in 2016, the Council of cantons of Switzerland – the Upper House of Parliament – voted to withdraw the application for membership in the European Union, filed in 1992. Previously, a similar decision was taken by the Lower House of Parliament of the country. The decision is rather formal, because back in 1992, 50.3% of Swiss voted in a referendum against their country's accession to the European economic area, which now includes all EU countries and three of the four countries of the European Free Trade Association.

It is worth noting that in addition to Switzerland in 2015 the application for EU membership was canceled by Iceland, and even earlier by Norway, the discussion on EU membership of which had been held since 1994, and if we take into account the Paris Treaty of 1951, since the 60s of the last century.

Meanwhile, Russian authorities do not care about geopolitics so much as about the duties of law enforcement and their own interpretation of official documents.

ABOUT CHEESE

According to analysts, the Russian embargo had the greatest impact on the cheese market. Strong growth, the release of a significant amount on store shelves, the formation of new consumer demand, the growth of falsified and cheese - like products, re-export of cheese through the countries for which access to the Russian market is open- these are only the most striking nuances of market development.

On the air of the program "Milk skeptics" cheese expert and owner of the cheese shop "Cheese Sommelier" Alexander Krupetskov spoke about his own experience of selling delicious cheeses and the demand for them. And also about the problems faced by the company, offering a range of products on the Internet.

The products are sold on the website chesom.com the main choice is offered to make from Russian and Swiss cheeses, there are Armenian, Tunisian cheeses, domestic products made in accordance with the Italian, French and Swiss technologies.

There is a description of a number of European cheeses, but without access to the market.

Over the past two years "Cheese Sommelier" has repeatedly received reports of court decisions and the requirement of the Roskomnadzor to withdraw the information on the sale of cheeses prohibited in Russia from the site. It was primarily about Swiss cheeses.

As follows from the information on the website of judicial acts of the Russian Federation, in 2016 the Prosecutor of Saratov appealed to the court to block the site "Cheese Sommelier". The audit found out that the Internet site contains information on the sale of food products and raw materials originating in the United States of America, countries of the European Union, Canada, Australia, the Kingdom of Norway, Ukraine, the Republic of Albania, Montenegro, the Republic of Iceland and the Principality of Liechtenstein, which are prohibited for import into the Russian Federation. According to Alexander Krupetsky, it was about Swiss cheeses.

The requirement of the Prosecutor and the assistant to the Prosecutor I. Gorin was satisfied by the Saratov district court.

Also in 2016 the Sretensky district court of Zabaikalsky Krai, consisting of the presiding judge Komkova S. V. and with the participation of the procedural applicant – assistant of Prosecutor Berezhko D. I. satisfied the claim to withdraw information about the sale of Swiss cheese (supposedly prohibited for import to Russia).

In November 2017 the district court of the Chechen Republic demanded to close access to the website of the company because: for example, on the page website at - chesom.com/bio-alpikoner there was for sale Swiss cheese "Bio-Alihikoner in the bark of the oak" made in Switzerland cost 385 rubles per 100 grams.

In Volgograd region the court decided to close the site "Cheese Sommelier" for another reason, namely because of the sale of cheese "Camembert". It should be noted that in the same list of the presidential decree it is not said that Camembert, which is now produced in Russia, is prohibited for import to Russia.

"On 04.10.2017 the Prosecutor of Kotovsk district of Volgograd region in the course of monitoring of the Internet there was identified the site with the electronic address rocketbank.ru/blog/sir. On the page of the specified website there was information about the sale of the sanction cheeses and a link to the website chesom.com/cheese where there was the catalogue of sanction cheeses, including Camembert", - stated in the court decision made by presiding judge Kokoshkina G. Yu., with the participation of assistant of Prosecutor of Kotovsk district Solyankina S. E.

In November 2017 Astrakhan region gladdened with the interpretation of the laws of the Russian Federation, according to which it can be concluded that Switzerland is part of the EU.

Volga district court represented by presiding judge Kolchina N. A. with the participation of the administrative applicant - assistant Prosecutor of the Volga district of Astrakhan region Tulegenova S. G. came to the conclusion about the need to close the site as it contains information on the remote sale of food products, the turnover of which is prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation, in particular, information on the sale of cheese from Switzerland.

The legislation of the Russian Federation envisages a ban on the importation of food or finished products made in accordance with cheese production technologies and with the content of milk fat 1.5 mass % or more into the territory of the Russian Federation - believe in the Astrakhan regional court.

At the end of 2017 the district Prosecutor's office of Zabaikalsky Krai demanded to close the site "Cheese sommelier". "This site contains information on sale of food products including cheese supplied by manufacturers of the European Union and Switzerland with delivery to the territory of Moscow and Moscow region, as well as to any regions of Russia by the company "Cheese sommelier", - stated in the court decision.

- We have a lot of Swiss cheese on our website. We periodically receive notifications from the courts asking to remove some of the Swiss cheese from the site, because the European Union was embargoed. Otherwise, the site will be blocked. These notices come on a regular basis. No one understands. Nobody cares about the fact that Switzerland is not a member of EU and does not fall under the embargo, - said Alexander Krupetskov to "Dairy skeptics". - The Prosecutor sues the operator providing the Internet. They are suing each other without involving us in this process. Then the court decision is sent to Moscow for blocking. Here we are given a day to remove prohibited content. We remove this cheese for a while, for about a month so that our site was excluded from the register of prohibited. Then again, we bring the same cheese back. The situation is absurd, - believes the expert.

According to Alexander Krupetsky, in the last six months, such decisions have ceased to come to the company's website. Perhaps someone from the regional authorities enlightened themselves with knowledge of geopolitics and presidential decrees? The Prosecutor's offices of the regions have not yet responded on the operational request of The DairyNews.

See the full version of the program "Dairy skeptics" on the channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2QfxJR97Ug

Read full article in Russian on © DairyNews.ru

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