Officials report violations on Russian alcohol market

The most often registered violation on the Russian market of alcoholproducts was the absence of licenses. These are the results of inspectionsconducted by the National Alcohol Association in January-May 2002. TheAssociation reported that these violations made up more than 10 percent ofall violations, or 20,631 cases, including 13,707 violations registered inthe retail trade sector. The total number of violations revealed on thismarket reached 194,542. Inspections were conducted together with theRussian Interior Ministry, the Tax Ministry, the State Customs Committeeand the federal tax police.Other violations were the production and trade of alcohol products withoutexcise stamps (15,666 cases, including 10,153 in retail trade) and taxviolations (8,911 cases)..