RUSSIA: Authorities suspend alcohol licences - report

By just-drinks.com editorial team | 15 June 2007

A slew of drinks producers in Russia have had their licences suspended, according to local reports.

Newspaper Vedomosti said yesterday (14 June) that the suspensions have been enforced as part of the authorities' attempts to curb the counterfeit alcohol trade in Russia. Earlier this month, the paper said, the Federal Tax Service sent letters to alcohol producers across Russia, informing them that they had failed to meet a 1 May deadline to install meters in their plants and process all necessary accompanying documents.

The report did not name the specific companies affected, but suggested that around 300 companies have had their production licences suspended.

Earlier this year, the Russian government was forced to put back the deadline for producers and sellers to submit data to the Unified State Automated Information System to 1 November. The system will collate data on the volume of products and their alcoholic content. Drinks companies, with the exception of retailers, are required to fit counters to their systems to measure this - without the counters, they will not be permitted to operate.

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