Slovakia, Poland lift ban on Czech spirits

Bratislava/Warsaw/Prague, Oct 9 (CTK) - Slovakia and Poland announced Tuesday that they are lifting the ban on the imports and sales of Czech liquors, a decision Czech Health Minister Leos Heger welcomed saying Prague guarantees legal distribution ways while the countries themselves must check the illegal ones.

Slovak Agriculture Minister Lubomir Jahnatek told the media that a certificate of origin will be required for the sale of Czech alcohol made since the beginning of 2012.

Bratislava will also recognise the alcohol "birth certificates" issued in the Czech Republic, Jahnatek said.

"New spirits, produced after September 27, 2012, have to be clearly marked with a label with the date of production and retrace code, and they have to have a birth certificate," Jahnatek said.

Similar rules are valid in the Czech Republic that in late September softened the partial prohibition it previously introduced over the methanol scandal that has claimed 28 lives. Dozens of people were hospitalised and some of the cured have gone blind.

Apart from the above requirements imposed on the imports and sales of Czech alcohol produced after September 27, Slovak authorities also require a certificate proving the beverage's safety, Jahnatek said.

Czech liquor producers have an approximately 25 percent share in Slovakia's alcohol market.

No alcoholic beverages with an excessive content of methanol have been found in checks in the Slovak retail network.

Four participants in a family celebration were poisoned with methanol last month. They drank plum brandy ordered via the Internet from the Czech Republic.

They were released from hospital after several days and doctors do not suppose any permanent impairment to their health.

Polish chief sanitary commissioner Jan Bondar said Tuesday the checked samples of legal liquors did not contain any methanol concentrations exceeding the permissible levels.

Methanol was found in some cases, but it was always alcohol imported from the Czech Republic individually, he said.

Several people have died in Poland of tainted alcohol that probably came from the Czech Republic.