Wine Law

9 “International Cooperation and Exports” was already set up in pursuance of this executive order and the new law on the viticulture and winemaking was to become one of the measures for its implementation. The law was intended to create from scratch the legal regulation of the national viticulture and winemaking and to become the basis for this industry 39 . Once the legislative gear was put in motion it was already unstoppable. Several days after the failure of the 2017 bill a new one was formally filed and the next month it passed its first reading. Based on the previous one it was apparent that the work this time was concentrated on adjusting, not in drafting dispositions. Followed smoothly in December the second and third readings consecutively. In the next phase the bill was swiftly approved by the upper chamber of the parliament – the Federation Council, representing in the legislature all the 85 administrative regions of the Russian Federation (the federal subjects). Finally, on 27 December 2019 the text was signed by the President in Kremlin. The next day it appeared in the Official Russian Internet Site for Legal Information (www.pravo.gov.ru) as this is one of the binding ways for its official publication 40 . The full name of the law is “Federal Law No. 468 on Viticulture and Winemaking in the Russian Federation” 41 . 3. Distinctive Features of the Federal Law on Viticulture and Winemaking The Federal Law No. 468 of 2019 is intended to create a unified and comprehensive legal framework for the sector of viticulture and winemaking on the whole territory of Russia. The specific goals are to lay down the conditions for an extensive vine-growing and an expansive wine production, to provide with adequate quality control mechanisms for the protection of the national wine producers and the consumers, and in the long term to possibly boost the wine export. However, another objective stays also behind – the gradual accustoming of the population to a less strong alcohol consumption, the vodka being in the North an for each presidential mandate, issued first in May 2012 and additionally modified with the decree in question in May 2018. 39 Source : http://duma.gov.ru/news/47355/. 40 Source : https://sozd.duma.gov.ru/bill/815115-7#bh_histras. 41 Source: https://www.zakonrf.info/doc-36024118/ ( in Russian); https://www.fas.usda.gov/data/russia- federal-law-viticulture-and-wine-making-russian-federation ( in English).