Baltic States – CIS, Estonia, Foodstuff, Legislation, Markets and Companies

Deputy director general of the Estonian Food and Veterinary Board Olev Kalda did not want to say the names of the enterprises. "The companies' names are not important as they are actually checking how the Estonian state is able to guarantee accordance with the requirements of the customs union," Kalda told BNS, adding that in reality an assessment of the food board would be drawn up based on the state of the enterprises.

"The auditors have said that they are experts and will not draw up a groundbreaking summary," he said. "They will provide an assessment and the assessment will be forwarded to the headquarters where an audit report will be drawn up," he added.

The final report is to reach the food board in a month the earliest, Kalda said. He added that if the results are positive it could lead to the export of fish products to be restored. According to Kalda there will most likely be a political dimension to all this.

According to Kalda the Food and Veterinary Board hopes that the results of the audit are positive and according to the board's view these should not be negative.

Representatives of the Russian food safety service Rosselkhoznadzor, which banned imports of fish and fish products from Latvia and Estonia a year ago, are also inspecting Latvian fish enterprises as of Monday.

Rosselkhoznadzor banned imports of fish products from Latvia and Estonia on June 4, 2015, claiming they did not meet Russian veterinary and sanitary standards.