Brussels, 07/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - Moscow is challenging the anti-dumping taxes imposed by the EU28 on a number of Russian exports, including ammonium nitrate and steel products.
In a communication dated 6 January, Russia notified the WTO secretariat of a request for consultation with the European Union regarding anti-dumping measures imposed by the EU's 28 member states on several products imported from Russia, including ammonium nitrate and certain welded tubes and pipes of iron or non-alloy steel and certain seamless steel pipes of iron or steel, on the grounds that Russian industry benefits from lower energy prices. Russia takes the view that the administrative procedures, methods and practices used by the EU when calculating the dumping margin in its anti-dumping investigations are not, in several respects, in line with EU obligations under several WTO agreements.
According to the Russian government, Russian industrialists have suffered injury amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars annually due to the “energy corrections” applied by the EU in several sectors, including metallurgy and the chemicals sector (especially fertilisers). Russia challenges the 17 measures affecting Russian exporters, introduced between 1995 and 2012, most of which comprise infringements to WTO rules. A Russian government source, cited by the agency Interfax, explained that EU anti-dumping practices have been the subject of many consultations with experts during high-level meetings and before European courts, but the EU has not budged. All the other ways of finding a solution have been exhausted and it was necessary to refer the matter to the WTO to restore a situation of competition with the EU, the source said.
The consultations, which are a formal starting point in the WTO dispute settlement procedure, last 60 days. After this, if a satisfactory solution is not found between the parties, the complainant may ask for the matter to be put to a special group responsible for settling the dispute.
This is the first time that Russia has resorted to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism since it joined the organisation in August 2012. Russia is, however, already the target of two complaints initiated by the EU and by Japan against its recycling taxes for motor vehicles (DS462 and DS463). (EH/transl.jl)