On January 18 2008 in Berlin, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Republic of Poland, Marek Sawicki, and the Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, Alexei Gordeyev,  signed the “Memorandum between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Republic of Poland and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation on plant  quarantine rules for the export of plants and plant products from the Republic of Poland to the Russian Federation”. Representatives of the European Commission  also took part in the talks, which lasted several days.

        From the day of signing of the agreement, the Russian Federation resumed recognizing  physonitary certificates issued by Polish authorities, but only in relation to plant products for industrial or fodder use. The agreement applies exclusively to the recognition of Polish phytosanitary certificates. It does not cover issues of food safety, including pesticide content in plant products exported to Russia. The parties agreed that since food safety issues  apply to exports from all the member countries of the European Community to Russia, they should be resolved and regulated  between the European Commission and the Russian Federation.

        A final resolution of the problem of  food safety, including pesticide remnants, with respect to the exports of plant products to Russia,  may only be attained through an agreement between the European Community and the Russian Federation.