On January 31, 2019, FENDI and a representative of the International Fur Federation (IFF) visited the Sojuzpushnina auction.
The purpose of the visit was to get acquainted with the structure of the auction sale of farmed and wild sables, sales traceability, sustainable use of natural resources and certification of fur in accordance with the principles of Furmark project.
As part of the auction visit, the delegation members inspected the presented collection of wild and farmed sable, its sorting system, including using an automated sorting machine, as well as an auction system for monitoring goods that allows tracing the origin of the skins to the places of its harvest.
During the visit, a meeting was held on the traceability of turnover of farmed and wild sable, as well as certification of sable skins, in which buyers from Italy, Greece, Germany, Great Britain, the USA and other countries took part.
IFF Director of Standards and Sustainability Paul Stockall made a presentation on the international certification project Furmark.
FURMARK is a global fur tracking and certification program that covers the entire production chain. It provides the highest standards of welfare and environmental standards.
FURMARK is a quality mark, such as Woolmark and others, which give consumers confidence in the environmental friendliness and quality of their product. FURMARK is a new global standard for the fur industry, and when it is launched in 2020, all global auction houses will sell only certified furs that comply with FURMARK principles.
Aleksey Plekhanov, CEO of Sojuzpushnina, made a presentation on the topic of transparency of wild sable pelts turnover in Russia.
Sable production in Russia is clearly regulated by current legislation and is under the control of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation and regional offices.
The number of the main types of fur animals in Russia is monitored regularly.
Currently, Russian Fur Union together with the International Fur Federation (IFF) is conducting work on monitoring the population of wild sable in Russia, which will allow more efficient use of natural resources of sable, without negadive impact to the population.
Also Russian Federation is the part of Agreement on international humane trapping standards for wild animals between Canada, the European Union and Russia. The agreement provides the highest possible standards for animal welfare when using humane traps for 19 furbearing, including sable.
On December 14, 2018, a regular meeting of the joint management committee on the implementation of this Agreement was held in Brussels. The parties expressed satisfaction with the state of work, the lack of disagreement between the countries in all areas of the implementation of the Agreement and confirmed their common determination to follow the requirements of the Agreement in their countries for the use of humane traps.
In the Russian Federation, all legislative and regulatory frameworks have been created for the implementation of the Agreement. The more general Federal Law "On Animal World" and the sectoral Law "On Hunting ..." contain the necessary norms that are implemented through the corresponding prohibition in the Rules of Hunting. There is a ban on the use of non-certified traps and traps of inhuman type in Russia.
The international fur auction Sojuzpushnina ensures that all incoming goods has all the necessary documents confirming the legality and humanity of the harvest. Each sable skin is provided with an individual code for registration in the automated goods tracking system. This system can determine the supplier of products at any time, and by tags of the veterinary administration can determine the region of trapping.
Based on these data, the auction house issues a certificate of origin to the buyer.
Following the visit, FENDI positively assessed the existing sable turnover traceability system and expressed confidence in the further use of this type of fur in their collections.