Russia and China negotiate COVID-linked seafood trade issues
On December 4, Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) and General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China held a videoconference to discuss Chinese COVID-linked regulations for import of seafood into PRC, reports Megafishnet.com.
According to FSVPS, the Russian vet watchdog has partly disagreed with the Chinese proposed changes to the Health Certificate stipulating that info on manufacturer's compliance with all preventive standards for COVID-19 be also included.
The Russian side has proposed that this information be entered in the Annex to the Certificate.
Repeated inspection
Earlier, GAC demanded new inspection of all Russian establishments and vessels planning to export to China referring to alleged occurrence of coronavirus in fish consignments from Russia. Due to the urgency of the matter, the Chinese insisted that the inspection should be carried out before the end of December 2020.
However, as many boats are unreachable on the fishing grounds, the parties have agreed that the inspection will be conducted in several stages not to disrupt the supply.
More specifically, within December the Russians will perform video checks of the first batch of Russian establishments and vessels and will submit a report to GAC.
Video
The parties also discussed the video inspection of three Russian vessels conducted by the Chinese Customs in mid-November who submitted minor critical remarks with Russian response to follow shortly.
Further, GAC proposed that all Russian crew members be tested not only for COVID-19 but also for anti-bodies as a recommended non-mandatory measure.
Finally, Rosselkhoznadzor has expressed concern that due to the increase in the number of procedures for inspection of ships, crew and products in Chinese ports, the time for unloading has significantly increased. The Russian side stressed that such a delay negatively affects the work of enterprises and disrupts their fishery schedules.
The FSVPS has asked China Customs to speed up the procedure in ports.
The parties have agreed to keep in touch on all issues that arise and promptly organize negotiations if necessary.
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