Wine Law

490 WINE LAW experimental sites of national importance concerning the preparation of a federal act in the wine sector 19 . The gradual call for a special codified legislation found its way to the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament, the State Duma. For several years, meaningful public discussions were held on wine-related legal topics, and, subsequently, more than ten projects were filed in the Duma by the legislative bodies of the interested regions, provided with the right of legislative initiative by the Russian Constitution, or by Duma members 20 , all failing to gain support 21 . A new approach was to be found in order to outline the importance and the specificities of the wine production against all the other alcoholic products on the market. In 2013, the Union of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Russia obtained the wine’s recognition as an agricultural product, which was not so evident under “the vodka inspired” Federal Law No. 171-FZ of 1995. The wine production was put under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation 22 . Meanwhile, in 2002 Russia acceded 23 to the Agreement establishing the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), whose recommendations concerning the conditions for the grape production, the definition and description of products, the labelling and marketing conditions, as well as the methods for analysing and assessing the vine products became applicable 24 . International level implications for the wine sector were also established in the 2014 Eurasian Economic Union, the latest post-Soviet Union project for deeper regional integration, in which participate Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. The adopted technical regulations by the Eurasian Economic Union are binding for its Member States on a territory of 20.260.435 km 2 , for instance, Technical Regulation on the safety of alcoholic beverages of 2018 (ТР ЕАЭС 047/2018) 25 , the entry into force of which is still delayed due to several rectifications, with significance also for the wine industry 26 . Nevertheless, the Russian Technical Regulations stay pioneers in this multinational legislative undertaking. 19 Берзин, Вл., Государственная политика в области винодельческого виноградарство , Москва, 2010, стр. 387 [Berzin, State policy in the field of winemaking viticulture , Moscow, 2010, p. 387]; available in: http://www.moscou-ecole.ru/lib/Berzin_Vin1.pdf. 20 Ibid ., p. 388. 21 Source : https://sozd.duma.gov.ru/bill/154358-5. 22 Source : https://swn.ru/articles/zakon-o-vine-mnenie-vinodelov-i-ekspertov. 23 Source : http://docs.cntd.ru/document/901825693. 24 By virtue of Art. 2(2)(b) of the Agreement establishing the International Organisation of Vine and Wine; available in : www.oiv.int/public/medias/2197/en-oiv-accord-20010403.pdf. 25 Source : http://docs.cntd.ru/document/551893590. 26 Source : https://rg.ru/2020/06/04/tehreglament-po-alkogoliu-mogut-otlozhit.html.