Russia will lift its ban on raw vegetables from all European Union countries starting Tuesday, the head of the country's consumer watchdog was cited by news agencies as saying Monday.
Imports of raw vegetables from the European Union were banned on June 2 due to a deadly E. coli outbreak. Moscow later agreed to drop the ban provided it received safety guarantees and has since allowed imports from some EU nations.
The EU, which exported about 600 million euros ($850 million) worth of vegetables to Russia last year, had said the blanket ban was not scientifically justified.
"I took a decision to lift all the restrictions on imports of vegetables from the European Union from Tuesday, Aug. 9," Interfax quoted Federal Consumer Protection Service chief Gennady Onishchenko as saying.
"On top of that a special regime that required an issuance of special certificates for each shipment of vegetables is also being lifted," Onishchenko was quoted as saying.
