the russian federations import restrictions on processed fishery products from estonia and latvia in july 2015 the european union indicated that as of 4 june the russian federation introduced a ban on imports of all fishery products from estonia and latvia allegedly due to deficiencies detected during recent inspections. the european union stated that the measure had been notified very late was inconsistent with the sps agreement and taken in violation of russias wto accession commitments which included not to suspend exports from groups of establishments without having provided first the technical information and scientific justification of the risks detected and not to take such measures before the expiry of the timeframe provided for the adoption of corrective measures. indeed russia had not provided evidence of immediate risk to consumers caused by deficiencies in the control systems of estonia and latvia which had been regularly inspected by the russian federation in recent years without having identified any major problems. the measures were clearly more trade restrictive than necessary and the ban had been announced before the official reports of the inspections were provided to the competent authorities of latvia or estonia. the european union expressed its willingness to cooperate with the russian federation to address their concerns but requested the russian federation to lift the ban to bring its measures in line with international standards and to respect its wto obligations. the russian federation replied that conclusions by russian experts about deficiencies in the work of the latvian and estonian competent authorities overlapped with the results of previous investigations by the european union and the presence of a risk was also confirmed by the notifications of the eu commission in the rapid alert system. russia stressed the importance and urgency of the report made by the european union about the safety of food products. an inspection in 2013 had showed that latvia and estonia had not taken measures to withdraw unsafe products from the market. according to russia the european union had failed to take necessary measures in relation to establishments where violations were detected and to inform its trade partners. indeed between 2013 and july 2015 russian inspections had revealed more than 2 000 cases of unreliable certification and yet no effective measures had been taken against the violators. the russian federation had concluded that the guarantees given by the european union were not reliable. as a result russia was forced to impose temporary restrictions as stated in official letters to the european union. the measures were not bans but temporary restrictions and complied with the sps agreement which allowed members to adopt measures to protect human animal or plant health. the european union clarified that they did not dispute russias right to take sps measures but expected proportionate measures taken in a transparent manner and in accordance with the sps agreement. in october 2015 the european union reiterated its concerns regarding the russian federations restrictions on imports of all fishery products from estonia and latvia allegedly due to deficiencies in the safety systems. the european union stated that the measure had been notified a month after implementation as an emergency measure. this was inconsistent with the sps agreement and in contravention of the russian federations wto accession commitments which included not to suspend exports from groups of establishments without first having provided the technical information and scientific justification of the risks detected and not to take such measures before the expiry of the timeframe provided for the adoption of corrective measures. the russian federation had not presented a risk assessment or provided evidence of immediate risk to consumers caused by deficiencies in the control systems of estonia and latvia which had been regularly inspected by the russian federation in recent years without having ide