Russia bans Bulgarian products over forged certificates

Russia's food safety regulator Rosselkhoznadzor has halted imports of quarantined products coming from Bulgaria. The Bulgarian authorities discovered microbiological certificates allegedly issued for the products were fake.

Quarantined products are plants, plant products, packaging, soil or other organisms, objects or materials that may carry pests or contribute to their spread.

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In April, the watchdog banned the import of Bulgarian crops and stopped accepting Bulgarian issued re-export microbiological certificates, as many were found to have been faked to misrepresent food produced in Bulgaria as originating in Brazil, China and Morocco.

Russian financial daily RBC, referring to the customs data, reports that in the first half of 2015 Russia imported goods worth $211.5 million from Bulgaria, which is 33.6 percent less than in the same period last year. Bulgaria is not a significant supplier of goods to Russia, accounting for 0.65 percent of all products coming from the EU.