EU Requests WTO Mediation On Russian Tariffs

18/03/2015 12:00 - 499 Views

Russia has blocked the European Union's request for a World Trade Organization panel to mediate in a dispute over Russian tariffs on imports of certain agricultural and manufacturing sector goods.

The EU argues that Russia has been taxing a number of products, including paper products, refrigerators, and palm oil, more heavily than permitted under the terms of its WTO membership.

"Russia diverges from what was decided at the time it was joining the WTO in two ways: either it applies a higher duty rate, eg. 15 percent instead of five percent for paper products, or, in [the] case of refrigerators and palm oil, it fixes a minimum amount that needs to be paid even if not justified by the agreed duty rate expressed in a percentage of the product value," the European Commission said.

The Commission said that the higher duties have a clear negative impact on European exports of paper products, refrigerators, and palm oil worth approximately EUR600m (USD636m) a year.

Consultations between the EU and Russia have so far failed to resolve the dispute. However, Russia said it believes that a resolution can be reached through further talks. The WTO's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) deferred the establishment of a panel.

Source: Tax News