Wine Law

8 A trend was set up to replace where possible the foreign products with domestic ones (импортозамещение - importozameshchenie). In May 2017 the Ministry of finance issued an order to withdraw the preferential excise taxes for suppliers of imported wine 31 . As the context for the local producers was rather depressive such a measure proved to be salvatory. In the previous 20 years the share of imported wine on the Russian market fluctuated within a wide range of 25 % to 70 % of the total volume. Almost two thirds of the wine labeled as Russian was in fact made from imported grape material 32 . Most frequently this is the so called bulk wine, an unqualifiable wine mixture with unclear origin and quality shipped in containers around the world to be later bottled on place. Its main merits are the low production cost compared to the domestic wines and the weak control in its distribution 33 . During the last decade the state of affairs in Russia clearly indicated a gradual decrease of the wine production or at least a general stagnation 34 . A new legislative attempt was undertaken in July 2017. The bill was the first one to have a real chance of success. It was proposed by members of the Duma and in one year passed two readings but in October 2019 failed in the third and final one 35 . The reason was that the bill didn’t protect sufficiently the viticulture and winemaking sector of the national economy as well as the domestic producers, and even didn’t arrange the issue of establishing such a sector, which in Russia was considered as non-existent 36 . Technically it was necessary also to take into account some recent modifications in the tax legislation reducing the VAT to 10 % on grapes and reforming the excise taxes in the wine industry 37 . Furthermore, the bill had to be fully in line with Executive Order of the Russian President No 204 of 7 May 2018 “On national goals and strategic objectives of the Russian Federation through to 2024” 38 . A priority national project (programme) 31 Source: http://importozamechenie.ru/minfin-boretsya-za-importozameshhenie-v-otechestvennom- vinodelii/. 32 Ibid . 33 The storage in casks is a classic but the high sophistication of the flextank technology of transportation as of 2005 changed radically the world wine market permitting the circulation of huge quantities of wine without risks of maderisation (https://swn.ru/articles/chto-takoe-vinomaterial) . 3 4 https://www.vedomosti.ru/business/articles/2016/10/25/662247-proizvodstvo-vina-rossii https://expert.ru/expert/2020/43/zabudte-slovo-vinomaterialyi/media/348411/ 35 Source : https://sozd.duma.gov.ru/bill/226612-7. 36 Source : https://www.interfax.ru/russia/684756. 37 Source : https://www.interfax.ru/business/680624. 38 Source : http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/57425; This presidential executive order (ukaz) is part of a complex of decrees, the so called “Executive orders of May”, having the value of an action plan