The European Commission welcomed the Russian competent authorities decision to cancel the temporary import requirements for fresh EU vegetables. This decision is taken following the epidemiological evidence that the E.coli infection was over.

John Dalli, the Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner, welcomed the decision made by Russia to cancel the temporary import requirements for fresh EU vegetables. This decision follows the request from the European Commission to Russia to lift the certification system as provided for in the agreement between EU and Russia of the 22 of June and the epidemiological evidence that the E.coli infection was over.

Presidents Barroso and Medvedev reached on 10 of June a high level political agreement replacing the ban with a temporary certification system. On June 22, the details of the certification regime were agreed in Moscow between Russian officials and a Commission delegation, headed by Commissioner Dalli. The agreement provided, among other things, that the temporary certification system introduced for the imports of fresh EU vegetables would be applied up to 10 days after no new human case linked to E.coli O104 was reported by EU Member States. The last E.coli O104 human case was reported on 27 of July.

3, 910 people fell ill in the EU and Norway, out of whom 46 died during the E.coli outbreak. On 2 of June, after the outbreak in Germany, the Russian Federation introduced an EU-wide ban on the imports of all vegetables. The Commission considered the ban disproportionate to the potential risk and scientifically unjustified. About a week later, epidemiological investigations and laboratory testing verified that various types of sprouts produced in one farm south of Hamburg were responsible for the outbreak.