| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
Winemakers Promised Semi-Sweet Life
In another attempt to solve all problems of Russia’s wine market in one go, Vice Premier Alexander Zhukov ordered to elaborate a separate bill governing wine sales in the country. The bill is expected to put wine out of the scope of the Unified State Automated Information System and to define the wine naturalness. The action is expected to deal with the problems of importers paying increased excise taxes since January because of the laws ambiguity.
In the letter of February 6, Russia’s Vice Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov committed Agriculture Ministry, Health and Social Development Ministry, Industry and Energy Ministry, Finance Ministry, Federal Customs Service to close ranks with Federal Tax Service, Federal Technological Control Service (Rostekhregulirovanie) and Federal Service on Consumer Rights Supervision (Rospotrebnadzor) and finally clear up problems on the wine market of Russia.
Zhukov’s letter was a response to the January 19 letter of Tatiana Golendeeva, deputy chief of the Federal Customs Service, who addressed the government urging it to shape unified methods of determining wine naturalness.
The thing is that the excise tax imposed on the natural wine amounts to 2.20 rubles per a liter, while the excise for all other alcohol equals 162 rubles per a liter of pure spirit (15.8 rubles if calculated for a 0.75 liter bottle of wine).
Without waiting for Zhukov’s answer, Golendeeva recommended to the customs chiefs to refer to natural only the wine made without spirit or other ingredients, including the grape must. So, Golendeeva simply crossed out all semi-sweet and semi-dry wine from the natural wine list to the obvious displeasure of importers. Russia’s winemakers continue to stick to the old methods when paying excise taxes on semi-sweet and semi-dry wine, the importers explain.
The bill will be ready by March 6, said a high-rank source with the government on condition of anonymity. According to wine experts, the elaborated methods will differ from the ones currently applied by Federal Customs Service.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 20, 2007
|
|
|
