For the first time in the history of the alcohol industry, the state is easing administrative pressure on legal alcohol producers.
Late last week the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation (FSAMR) posted an executive order on its official website approving methodological recommendations on sealing equipment and meters that are used to monitor what a vodka distillery or an alcohol plant produces and how much of it.
The executive order was accompanied by instructions on the sealing procedure. The official report states that the organisation and implementation of government monitoring (oversight) is currently regulated under Federal Law No.294-FZ of December 26, 2008 On Protecting the Rights of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs in the Process of State and Municipal Monitoring (Oversight). Under that law, scheduled audits of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs may not exceed once every three years except in special circumstances requiring unscheduled inspections.
The Federal Alcohol Market Regulation Service concludes that, "at present the Service's daily monitoring of the actual amounts of ethyl alcohol and alcohol products produced is unwarranted, as is the daily practice of blocking capacity between shifts and during longer idle periods as well as the daily monitoring of product sales."
Until now sealing (which essentially involves putting special stickers on the equipment) was daily occurrence. The rule was established in the late 1990s, and since that time it has yielded no results other than giving alcohol producers a headache.
Market experts and producers recognized the importance of the state's decision to relax its control over legal alcohol producers.
"This decision is most welcome. Currently legal and law-abiding producers are entangled in all kinds of regulations whereas illegal producers make whatever they want in any amount. Sealing the equipment everyday makes no sense," says deputy chairman of the board of the Union of Alcohol Producers, Dmitry Dobrov.
That opinion is shared by the director of the Federal and Regional Alcohol Market Studies Centre, Vadim Drobiz: "There are currently over 600 points in an alcohol production facility that have to be sealed with a special hologram sticker."
This was supposed to be done every day, but nobody could figure out why, and the measure has had no discernible impact on the level of illegal production. So what's the point?
The FSAMR was established late last year, and in February of this year the government approved a statute investing the agency with the authority to carry out all necessary regulatory functions. On Monday, the Government of the Russian Federation issued Resolution No.810, which sets the schedule for the transfer of this authority.
Starting October 19, the FSAMR will be authorized to issue licenses for the production and sale of alcohol products and ethyl alcohol and to seal alcohol production equipment and various meters used to monitor the volume and concentration of ethyl alcohol in finished products (the first step in that direction was lifting the daily sealing rule).
Starting November 10, the service will become a client of YEGAIS (the integrated state automated information system for recording the amount of alcohol production and sales) and starting December 31 it will have the authority to issue special federal stamps.
Under the government resolution of October 15, the tax authorities are to present Rosalkogolregulirovaniye with all the information contained in YEGAIS, including technical details on preparation, paperwork, and even data protection.
It should be noted that the new service was invested with the power to develop new market regulation measures from the start and the government has already received a hefty package of amendments to current legislation, including the introduction of a minimum price for hard liquor, changes to the licensing procedure for retail sales (making shops responsible for what they sell) and the introduction of licensing for companies that transport alcohol (under the present setup there is an incentive for them to deliver the raw materials for alcohol production to illegal producers and not to the official producers). In addition, the government is considering amendments to the law that would significantly increase fines on producers of moonshine.
The strategy for the battle against illegal alcohol producers has been clearly defined. The work of FSAMR, which is now the main market regulator, will have the government's full support. As early as April 23 Prime Minister Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting that resulted in the creation of a government commission on the regulation of the alcohol market to be headed by First Deputy Prime Minister Victor Zubkov.
Vitaly Doronin