Brussels, 10/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 10 July, Russia blocked the EU request at the WTO to set up a dispute settlement body panel to rule on the European complaint about the Russian-imposed embargo on European exports of pigs and pork meat - an embargo that has been in operation since January due to cases of swine fever affecting boar in Lithuania and Poland.
The EU appealed to the WTO on this issue (DS 475) in April. After the failure of consultations with Russia, the EU officially asked the WTO at the end of June to set up a special group to arbitrate in the dispute. As provided for in the WTO rules, Russia has blocked the EU's first request - but Russia will not be able to oppose a second request.
The European Commission considers that the Russian restrictions are incompatible with the WTO rules - and in particular with the agreement on applying sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and the 1994 GATT. Additionally, the Commission deplores Russia's rejection of the EU offer of just banning European pork that comes from the swine fever-infected regions, according to the principle of regionalisation. According to the Commission, the EU pork industry has lost €580 million in the five months of the ban (see EUROPE 11111).
In 2013 - the year before the embargo - Russia absorbed a quarter of European pork product exports (mainly from the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark) worth a total of €1.4 billion annually. (EH)