Labeling requirements for alcohol and dairy products imported into Russia

Recently, we talked about general requirements for labeling of food which will be imported from abroad into Russia. We also discussed specific requirements for meat, fish, and seafood (including those canned), now it is time to talk of liquid alimentary products: alcohol and milk (as well as milk products).

ALCOHOL LABELING

Foreign businesses actively import different kinds of spirits into our country. However, requirements for trading alcohol beverages in Russia are quite strict.

First, the quality of alcoholic products imported into Russia must not be lower than that provided for by state standards.

Second, an alcohol package must bear a Federal Special Stamp (Федеральная специальная марка). It contains a two-dimensional barcode applied by the Federal Special Stamp manufacturer and containing a coded identifier of the Unified State Automated Information System.

To obtain Federal Special Stamps, a corporate needs to apply electronically to the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation (Федеральная служба по регулированию алкогольного рынка) using a Unified State Automated Information System and indicate:

• type of the alcoholic products,
• content of ethyl alcohol in the alcoholic products,
• volume of the alcoholic products to be labeled,
• containers of the alcoholic products consumer packaging to be labeled,
• number of stamps requested.
If a company is going to purchase alcohol from abroad to import into Russia, it should also designate:
• number (if any) and date of the alcoholic products supply agreement, under which they shall be imported into Russia;
• alcoholic products supplier’s full name, its registered office and actual address.

After applying, but before obtaining the stamps, the applicant must pay a fee (0.16 rubles for each stamp). The processing time for stamps is up to 29 days. Note that you should stick the stamps prior to import of alcohol into Russia.

However, beer and beer drinks, cider, pear cider, and mead are not subject to labeling with Federal Special Stamps.

DAIRY PRODUCTS LABELING

In order to sell milk and dairy products in Russia, one must:

1. Obtain an advanced qualified electronic signature and register in the Chestny ZNAK (Russian for “Fair Mark”) system (https://честныйзнак.рф).

2. In the personal account, fill in the required attributes in the manufactured goods card and submit it for verification.

What information is to be on the label?

• Manufacturer Tax Reference (ИНН);
• Global Trade Item Number;
• Name of dairy products;
• HS code (ТНВЭД);
• Trademark;
• Country of Origin;
• Type of product;
• Origin (type of raw materials);
• Mass fraction of fat, %;
• Declared volume of goods;
• Product composition;
• Number and date of the declaration/certificate (if any);
• Milk fat substitute (present or not);
• GOST (ГОСТ) or Technical Specification (ТУ).

3. Order and pay for labeling codes. There are two ways to pay for codes: by emission or by application report.

Cheese is goods with variable weight, which affects its cost. Therefore, the digital code is to contain information about how many grams there are in the package. In all other points, the DataMatrix data for cheeses is no different from those contained in the codes for other dairy products.



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