On 24 June 2015 the President of the Russian Federation signed the Decree No. 320 "On Extension of Certain Special Economic Measures Aimed at Ensuring Security of the Russian Federation", that is, the prohibition on imports of certain agricultural products, raw materials and food products originating from the USA, the EU, Canada, Australia and the Kingdom of Norway was extended for a term of one year starting from 6 August 2015.

In performance of the Decree the Government of the Russian Federation adopted on 25 June 2015 the Decision No. 625 (which became effective on the same date) approving a new list of agricultural products, raw materials and food products which are prohibited for import in Russia.

In the material aspects this new list is analogous to the one approved by the decision of the Government No. 778 dated 07.08.2014; however, the following types of products are released from the prohibition:

  • tiny fishes of Salmo salar, Salmo trutta and Oncorhynchus mykiss;
  • spat of oysters and mussels;
  • specialized lactose free milk and specialized lactose free milk products for diet medical nutrition and diet protective nutrition.

Furthermore, the list is supplemented with food or finished products manufactured with the use of cheese production technologies and containing 1.5 and more weight percent of milk fat.

The Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation (the FCS of Russia) is to continue to control compliance with the prohibition of import in Russia of the respective products.

The Order of the FCS of Russia No. 1496 dated 7 August 2014 obligates the heads of regional customs offices and customs directly reporting to the FCS of Russia, in particular:

a. to ensure the determination of the country of origin of the products imported to the customs territory of the Customs Union in the specified procedure, including by actual control within the risk management system, if required;

b. in case of identification of the facts of declaring of the products, raw materials or foods originating from the United States of America, the EU, Canada, Australia and the Kingdom of Norway under the list provided by the Order to provide refusal in release of such goods according to the declared customs procedure and taking measures to their immediate export from customs area of the Customs Union.

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