European Commission and Russian authorities have agreed to the lifting of a ban on European fresh vegetable exports to Russia.

The deal has been welcomed by trade body Freshfel Europe and will allow exports to resume shortly.

Freshfel said in a statement it also hopes that this agreement will give a further signal to other third countries to lift still existing import restrictions.

Each member state exporting vegetables to Russia will have to certify the origin of the produce and the absence of E.coli 104 on the basis of a general monitoring system in its territory for this strain. The certification system will be temporary, as it will be applied only until the tenth day after no new human case linked to E.coli 104 is reported by EU member state authorities.

The agreement will be applied as soon as is practically possible and should restore some much-needed balance to the fresh produce market in Europe.

Philippe Binard, delegate-general at Freshfel said: “This agreement was long overdue and will hopefully ease further the situation the European fresh produce sector is in after the outbreak of the E.coli crisis in Germany. We hope that this agreement will give a further signal to other third countries to withdraw their restrictive trade measures as several others have already done so far, so that trade relationships can come back to their usual patterns.” Findings as to the source of the outbreak in Germany have shown that any further import ban in operation lost its scientific justification more than a week ago.

As trading conditions might return to normal the European fresh produce sector is calling on the authorities to restore consumer confidence.

Ramon Rey, president of Freshfel Europe, stated: “Lifting import bans is a first step to help the sector to go back to usual business. However, it will be a timely and especially costly task to restore the lost consumer confidence. Public authorities like the European Commission have an important role to play and should provide much needed funding to embark on a major communication campaign as soon as possible. Huge efforts are needed in this respect and the sector is ready to work together with all relevant authorities to resolve the damage done to the fresh produce sector in recent weeks.”

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