Brussels, 08/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 8 April, the European Union decided to contest the embargo imposed by Russia since January on pork imports from the EU. Discussions at the bilateral level to resolve the issue failed.
The EU is therefore asking for consultations to be opened - in other words, the first stage of the procedure for dispute settlement provided for by the WTO. The consultations will last for 60 days in principle. If no agreement to the dispute has been reached between the two parties at the end of this time, the following stage is to ask for a panel to be set up to rule on the case.
Russia imports a quarter of EU pork product exports - mainly from the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark - worth a total annual value of €1.4 billion.
In January, Russia declared an embargo on European pork after the discovery of cases of African swine fever in Lithuania. In the EU's view, this measure has resulted in a €4 million loss of earnings per day for the European pork industry.
“Russia's blanket ban on European pork is clearly disproportionate and goes against WTO rules”, said European Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht. “Europe will defend its pork producers and in this respect has no choice any more but to pursue this case at the WTO”, he added. European Commissioner for Health Tonio Borg stated that Russia rejects the EU offer, which provides for a ban on European pork only from the infected regions (regionalisation principle).
Russia says that it has reacted to the discovery of cases of swine fever in Lithuania and Poland, “but this disease is endemic in Russia and not here in Europe, and while rare cases have been flagged up in bordering areas it is because this disease is in Russia”, according to the EU. Since January, only four cases have been flagged up on EU territory, and only involving boar, in areas bordering Belarus.
In joining the WTO in 2012, Russia committed to ensuring that its measures protecting health and animal welfare are: - based on science; - no more restrictive to trade than necessary; - and applied without discrimination with regard to its different partners and national producers. Nevertheless, Russia “accepts for instance imports from Belarus and, until recently, Ukraine, despite notified cases of African swine fever in these countries”, the European Commission notes. Despite the numerous outbreaks of the disease that have occurred on its own territory, Russia did not close its entire market to all domestic products, the Commission again notes. By refusing imports from EU regions unaffected by the disease, Russia would seem to be applying double standards, treating EU products differently from those of other trading partners and from those produced domestically, the Commission states.
The EU has decided to release €7 million - half of which is to support veterinary prevention measures and the other half of which is for compensation to pig farmers - in order to come to the help of the countries most hit by the Russian embargo (Poland and the three Baltic countries). (LC)