The President of the Association of Producers of "Russian vodka" spoke at the Alkokongress-2022

President of the Association of Producers of "Russian Vodka" (APRV) Vladislav Spirin as a speaker took part in the XVII All-Russian Conference on alcohol market problems "AlkoKongress-2022", held on February 9, 2022 as part of the business program of the 29th International Exhibition of Food, Beverages and Raw Materials for their production "Prodexpo-2022".

The President of the APRV told the participants of the event about the priority areas of the Association's activities for the next three years, approved by the General Meeting of the Association's Members in December 2021, separately focusing on the issues of unjustified use by foreign vodka producers of indications historically and culturally related to Russia and the Russian people in the name of their brands to promote their products on world markets, and also announced a pilot the project of the Association for the special labeling of vodka by the manufacturer, having the Name of the place of origin of the goods (NMPT) "Russian vodka".

Vladislav Spirin reminded the participants of the event about the delay in the registration of the Geographical Indication (GU) "Russian vodka" by the European Commission (in March 2014, the consideration of the APRV application was informally suspended), and noted that he had high hopes for the law "On the Accession of the Russian Federation to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement" coming into force by the end of 2022 about the names of places of origin and geographical indications", which will make it possible to apply for registration of the State Enterprise "Russian vodka" through the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), bypassing the European Commission and the European Parliament, and thus avoid claims that are obviously political in nature.

The President of the APRV also noted that the global goal of the Association remains to promote vodka produced by its members as high-quality, made by the traditional method from natural raw materials, and to create mechanisms for its promotion, it is necessary to distinguish the turnover of such vodka from vodka from other manufacturers, including visually on the shelf in the store. The movement towards this goal is intended to help the experiment on the special labeling of vodka of APRV members, which will be launched this year at the Russian distillery LLC Bryanskspirtprom, which is also a member of the Association.

"The application of the APRV logo on vodka products guarantees that vodka not only has special properties, but is also of high quality, has a high tasting rating," Vladislav Spirin noted.

Currently, the Association is considering the possibility of using its emblem as a sign of a voluntary declaration (confirmation) of the requirements of high (advanced) quality. In order to consolidate the procedural aspects of such labeling, it is planned to develop the APRV (SRT) standard and register it in the Federal Information Fund of Standards.

Vladislav Spirin also said that the APRV has already proposed to the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation (Rosalkogolregulirovanie) to take into account the opinion of existing copyright holders of NMPT "Russian Vodka" when examining applications for state registration of candidates for copyright holders.

"To reliably and professionally confirm the influence of the method of production of the goods, storage and transportation conditions on the formation and preservation of the claimed special properties, as well as the applicant's ability to control the preservation of the characteristics of the goods, in particular in respect of which the legal protection of a geographical indication is requested, producers – holders of NMPT can directly," the President of the APRV stressed.

The XVII All-Russian conference on the problems of the alcohol market "AlkoKongress-2022" brought together experts of the alcohol market, leading manufacturers and suppliers of alcoholic beverages, representatives of industry associations who, within the framework of the stated theme "Alkobrending: journey on thin ice" discussed a wide range of topics related to the development of the domestic market of alcoholic beverages.