MOSCOW, March 16 - RAPSI. The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow held in favor of McDonald's in a case brought by Russia's Consumer Rights Protection Society's lawsuit.
"The court held against our suit. We will definitely appeal the judgment," counsel for the plaintiffs Maria Sviridova said.
The lawsuit resulted from the inspection of products sold at McDonald's. The a Moscow-based public organisation learned that a number of products such as milkshakes, chicken nuggets, sauces, ice cream, and shrimp failed to comply with state standards. The organization claimed that chicken nuggets, shrimp, and blackberry pies lacked the required information about their ingredients, weight, and regulatory compliance.
The plaintiff also sought for McDonald's to be required to indicate the expiration date on its products, and maintained that McDonald's twice benefitted from "its privileged position following the court's decision that actually recognized it a food store chain."
In July 2011, Moscow's Federal Commercial Court ruled that McDonald's in Russia has the right to pay the VAT tax at the rate of 10 percent, just as a normal food store.
McDonald's operates about 300 fast food restaurants in Russia and is reported to serve over one million people annually in the country.