Ukraine: Obolon brewery turns to First Vice-Premier to ‘fire-extinguish’ beer quarrel with Belarus

CJSC Obolon, a large Ukrainian beer producer, has turned to First Vice-Premier Oleksandr Turchynov for assistance in solving a problem related to beer exports to Belarus, Interfax-Ukraine reported on July, 21.

"Obolon has recently felt a negative attitude to the export of its products from the side of Belarus… Obolon Svitle light beer bottled in fire extinguisher-themed bottles with the Vohnehasnyk [Fire Extinguisher] label is being currently withdrawn by Belarusian tax authorities from that country's retail outlets with the further imposition of fines," the company said in a statement.

The cause of the beer's withdrawal were claims by the Belarusian State Institute of Metrology that there have been uncertified imports and sales of the above-mentioned brand on Belarusian territory, reads the statement.

Obolon in turn insists that the product has all the necessary international and Ukrainian certificates of conformance. The company stressed that the bilateral Ukrainian-Belarusian documents foresee the mutual acknowledgement of certificates of importers from both countries without additional checks, except for cases when the safety requirements for the products that are mutually supplied are different.

Obolon asked Turchynov, who heads the Ukrainian part of the intergovernmental Ukrainian-Belarusian commission, to initiate consultations at the level of the ministries concerned and seek to prevent the imposition of fines on the importers of Obolon beer and the retail outlets for selling Obolon Svitle light beer bottled in fire extinguisher-themed bottles with the Vohnehasnyk label in Belarus.

As was reported, the situation was triggered by a claim placed by a Belarusian beer producer, which stated that Obolon had started selling the Vohnehasnyk beer brand without the required certificates.

22 July, 2009