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The Russian Ministry of Health to support limited circulation of medical alcohol

• By Newsdesk
• Russia
• Apr 19, 2023

News

The Russian Federation's Ministry of Health "conceptually" supports the bill tightening the circulation of ethyl alcohol and preparations containing it, said Deputy Minister of Health Sergei Glagolev at a meeting of the State Duma Committee on Health Protection. He clarified that the government has already responded to the document, outlining recommendations for improvement.

The bill was drafted by a group of deputies and Federation Council members and submitted to the State Duma in January 2023. The document proposes amending Articles 53 and 67 of the Federal Law "On the Circulation of Medicines" and Article 1 of the Federal Law "On the Licencing of Certain Types of Activities."

The amendments, in particular, limit the number of people who can sell ethyl alcohol and introduce a requirement that identification means be placed on the primary packaging (it is now sufficient to mark at least the secondary packaging).

According to the bill's explanatory note, the volume of ethanol production in 2022 exceeded 7 million deciliters, while the need for the healthcare industry does not exceed 4 million deciliters, according to the Federal Alcohol Regulation. According to the authors of the document, the surplus ends up in illegal circulation and is used as a raw material for the production of surrogate alcoholic products, citing data from the Russian Federation's Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The Ministry of Finance is also concerned about ethanol trafficking. Anton Siluanov, the department's head, is certain that it is necessary to strengthen control over alcohol production so that substances based on it are only used as raw materials in the production of pharmaceutical products.