EU sanctions only apply within EU jurisdiction. However, in recent months the Commission has received from non-EU authorities and operators an increasing number of technical queries on the scope and implementation of EU sanctions against Russia, and especially on matters related to food security.
In order to better address such queries, the European Commission has now set up a dedicated mailbox ec-sanctions-international@ec.europa.eu.
This central contact point is meant to give more clarity to non-EU authorities and operators, and encourage them to reach out directly to the Commission when they face difficulties in interpreting or applying EU sanctions. This is also meant to ensure that the flow of agrifood products and fertilisers to their countries is not impacted.
The restrictive measures which the EU has imposed on Russia in response to Moscow’s unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine do not ban the export of Russian agricultural and food products, including fertilisers, to third countries, be it directly or indirectly. The EU has made significant efforts to ensure that our targeted sanctions in other fields do not indirectly impact trade in agri-food products to third countries.
Notwithstanding Russia’s efforts to malign the EU sanctions as causing a food crisis, Russia’s propaganda and disinformation gets confused in its own conflicting narratives. According to the FAO data and to Russia’s own claims, Russian fertilisers’ exports to the world continued in 2022 its agri-food export to the world in 2022 increased despite the claims that sanctions impede Russia’s agri-food trade with the world.
This new contact point will contribute to setting the record straight and to provide reliable information to stakeholders from third countries.
