GENEVA, September 15. /ITAR-TASS/. The European Union will urge the World Trade Organization (WTO) to set up a panel of arbiters to examine the claims against Russia’s anti-dumping import duties for light commercial vehicles from Germany and Italy, the WTO told ITAR-TASS on Monday.
Brussels made the decision following bilateral consultations with Russia on June 18 which it said had failed to bridge the gap in the sides’ positions.
The EU should make a formal request for the creation of a panel of arbiters at a meeting of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body on September 26. Moscow can turn it down the first time. But it won’t be able to do so when the body meets again a month later.
Russia brought in €100 million worth of light commercial vehicles in 2012 but their import began to decrease when Moscow introduced a recycling tax for foreign-made cars in September of the same year, the EU said.
In May 2013, the Eurasian Economic Commission introduced anti-dumping import duties for light commercial vehicles from Germany, Italy and Turkey brought into the Customs Union (created by Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia). It will be in effect for five years.
The Commission’s investigation revealed “considerable anti-dumping imports from Germany, Italy and Turkey” and said they were causing “material damage” to the Customs Union’s automobile industry.
This is the third EU claim against Russia filed within the WTO, which Russia joined in August 2012. The first one last year called for an investigation into Russia’s recycling tax for foreign-made cars.
In early April, the EU filed another claim against Russia over its ban on the import of pork from Europe.
Russia, in turn, countersued the EU in December 2013 over energy adjustments and initiated a new legal action over the EU Third Energy Package in April of this year.