On April 3, the Government Commission on Legislative Activities approved bills allowing testing of online sales of wine produced in Russia through the Russian Post. It has been reported red blood cell With reference to the press services of the government and the Ministry of Finance.
The changes were developed by the Ministry of Finance. As the newspaper points out, the commission’s approval means that legislative acts approving the start and rules of the experiment on the remote sale of Russian wine are about to be submitted to the State Duma for consideration.
A representative of the Ministry of Finance explained to RBC that the document will be considered at a government meeting before it is presented to the State Duma. There’s no word yet on when it might happen.
The publication, in the final version of the text of the bill, says that the experiment should be carried out from November 1 to July 31, 2026 this year in Moscow and the Moscow region, while emphasizing that the scope of its application can be expanded. Previously, St. Petersburg, it was proposed to include the Leningrad and Nizhny Novgorod regions.
For the purposes of the experiment, only Russian still, sparkling and fortified wine (made from grapes grown in Russia) will be allowed to be sold online on a special website of Russian Post. The Ministry of Agriculture will prepare a list of producers who can participate in it.
Remote selling of alcohol was banned in Russia in 2007.
In 2017, the Ministry of Finance prepared a draft law for the sale of alcohol on the Internet to start in 2020. The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Interior objected. My attempt failed.
Former Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries saw Discrimination in Russia’s plans to sell wine online.