EU Says No Complaints From Russia on SPS Aspects of Dutch Flowers Imports

A spokesperson for the European Commission says the European Union has not received any complaints from Russia on sanitary or phytosanitary aspects of flowers import from the Netherlands.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) – The European Union has not received any complaints from Russia on sanitary or phytosanitary (SPS) aspects of flowers import from the Netherlands, a spokesperson for the European Commission said Tuesday.

"It needs to be stressed that so far, Russia has never mentioned to the EU authorities any sanitary or phytosanitary (SPS) threat coming from flowers imports from the Netherlands to Russia," the spokesperson said.

On Monday, Russia’s agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor issued a warning to eight European countries about a potential ban on the importation of Dutch-grown plants to Russia.

The body called on European Union member-states to temporarily suspend issuing phytosanitary certificates for Dutch cut flowers for delivery to Russia until a final decision on the ban has been made.

The proposal to ban flowers import comes due to repeated incidents of quarantined organisms being detected in batches imported from the Netherlands.