Brussels, 15/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - The EU lambasts Russia's slowness to respect its WTO commitments nearly two years after Russia joined the WTO, and it supports Ukraine's new trade approach. Russia, for its part, is concerned about the EU's trade preferences to Ukraine.
Like the USA, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and Taiwan, the EU again criticised - during the meeting of the WTO committee on trade in goods on 9 April - the multiple restrictions to trade with Russia, two years after Russia joined the WTO. The EU said it is “disappointed with Russia's WTO record”, according to a WTO press release, and stated that it had already launched two cases against Russia - one at the end of 2013, against the recycling tax on imported vehicles (see EUROPE 10971), and the other at the end of last week, against the Russian embargo on European pork (see EUROPE 11056). The EU also complained about Russia's sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) on products like potato, live animals and dairy products, and about Russia's imposition of applied tariffs higher than the its WTO bound rates on over 150 products. Ukraine, for its part, complained about Russian restrictions on Ukraine's exports of confectionary and dairy products.
Russia assured that it fully supported transparency at the WTO and that it had made over 100 notifications to the WTO, which had been a big administrative burden for a new member. As regards its applied tariffs, Russia said it had counted only six tariff lines subject to differences with WTO member countries. As regards SPS measures, it said its pork ban was originally limited to only two EU members but was extended to the whole EU due to a previous agreement with the EU. Russia also said was prepared to solve its trade problems with Ukraine under various bilateral agreements.
In addition, Russia spoke of its concern about the trade preferences that the EU would soon grant Ukraine. It called on the EU to ensure that its unilateral preferences were in conformity with WTO rules and did not harm the interests of other members not benefitting from this treatment. The EU said that this measure had been taken as part of its free-trade agreement with Ukraine, and the EU gave assurances that it was “fully compatible” with the rules of the WTO.
Lastly, Japan, the US and EU gave their support to Ukraine, confident that its new government would take a more liberal economic direction than its predecessor. The US said it strongly supported the new Ukrainian government and welcomed its new market-economy reforms, urging Kiev to abandon its demand to renegotiate tariffs at the WTO. The EU also expressed its support for Ukraine's new trade direction. (EH)