russian federation import restrictions on certain animal products from germany in june 2016 the european union stated that since february 2013 the russian federation had introduced a complete ban on imports of fresh and chilled pig meat beef and poultry meat from the entire territory of germany followed by a ban on imports of finished meat and milk products from three german federal states bavaria lower saxony and north rhine westphalia. these import restrictions had been implemented due to claims by the russian federation that german veterinary services had not undertaken proper controls on the exports of such products. the european union noted that the restrictions were not based on scientific evidence or a risk assessment and were inconsistent with several provisions of the sps agreement. the european union further indicated that in 2013 it had communicated its concerns with respect to these restrictions in its officially submitted comments on the notified russian federation measure as well as in document g sps gen 1216. continuous efforts had been made by german authorities to address the issue including conducting supervisory controls of the official veterinarians responsible for establishments listed for russian export and establishing an export coordination unit as a contact point for the russian authorities and the private sector. inspection visits had also been carried out by russian authorities. despite all efforts the restrictions still remained in place. the european union argued that there was no justification for the restrictions and requested the russian federation to promptly repeal these measures. the european union indicated its willingness to engage in discussions with the russian authorities. the russian federation stated that more than 600 german processing plants producing animal products were authorized to export to the russian federation under the guarantees of the german competent authorities. however more than 90 had never been inspected by russian authorities. the russian federation observed that due to several factors such as unfavourable laboratory monitoring results border control violations and errors in the certification of animal products the russian authorities had arranged several audits of the processing plants and elements of the system in order to ensure the safety of animal products exported from germany. inspections had been carried out between 2012 and 2015 during which time several restrictions were imposed on imports to the russian market from individual firms and some regions due to non-compliance with russian sps requirements. the russian federation noted that it subsequently implemented a ban following the failure of all german states to meet its sps requirements. the russian federation indicated that although it had informed the german authorities of the recorded violations and requested appropriate measures be taken to prevent export of unsafe products to the russian market no proper response had been received from the german veterinarian authorities. the russian federation further expressed concerns with the reliability of the guarantees of the german authorities based on subsequent russian inspections. cooperation efforts between the russian federation and germany had resulted in an update of the list of german exporting establishments delisting more than 300 non-compliant plants. in parallel measures had been taken to resume imports from establishments which had addressed identified deficiencies and from plants previously subject to restrictions due to laboratory monitoring results. the rospotrebnadzor had been involved in the drafting of guidelines concerning inspection of german plants in order to facilitate compliance with the russian requirements. the russian federation further noted that consideration of the removal of the ban would be dependent on the implementation of the guidelines by the german veterinary services submission of a document confirming the removal of deficiencies and re-inspection by officials from the