Russian Anti-dumping Duty on German and Italian LCVs at WTO on EU Complaint

The EU filed a new WTO complaint against Russia on Wednesday, marking the third trade dispute the 28-nation bloc has launched against Moscow in less than a year. The case targets duties being imposed on imported light commercial vehicles from Germany and Italy, and comes at a period where economic and diplomatic relations between the two sides are already at a severe low.

At issue in this latest complaint are anti-dumping duties that the Eurasian Economic Commission imposed last May on imported light commercial vehicles (LCVs) from those two EU member states. Brussels says that these duties – 29.6 percent for German vehicles and 23 percent for Italian ones – are severely harming these countries’ access to the Russian market.

These duties, the EU says, have basically prevented Germany and Italy from receiving the benefits due to them as a result of Russia’s WTO accession commitments. The products at issue are light commercial vehicles, weighing between 2.8 and 3.5 tonnes. These vehicles are meant to transport a maximum of two tonnes of cargo apiece, and can also transport a mix of cargo and passengers.

The Eurasian Economic Commission is the permanent regulatory body for the customs union between Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia. Of these three, Russia is the only one that is a member of the WTO, and therefore required to adhere to its rules. The complaint is thus addressed specifically to Moscow.

Russia had not issued a public response to the EU’s claims.

Series of disputes

The EU has already filed two other cases against Russia at the global trade arbiter. The first case, filed last July, dealt with the above-mentioned recycling fee that Russia imposed on motor vehicles in September 2012, just weeks after joining the WTO.

Brussels had argued that since nearly all Russian-produced cars were eligible for an exemption from the fee – as were those vehicles produced in Belarus and Kazakhstan – the policy put foreign-made cars and trucks at an unfair disadvantage relative to their domestic counterparts. The Russian legislature has since passed legislation to amend the measure, though the EU has still requested that a panel hear the case.

Trade concerns have not been limited to the EU, however. In December, Moscow submitted its own complaint regarding a series of anti-dumping investigations that Brussels conducted on imported ammonium nitrate and certain steel products. That case has not yet advanced to the panel stage.

Russia joined the global trade club less than two years ago, following nearly two decades of negotiations between Moscow and current WTO members. Though its membership was hailed at the time as a major achievement for both the global trade body and for Russia itself – bringing into the WTO system what was then the world’s largest non-WTO economy– questions have since been tabled by the EU, US, and various other members as to whether Russia is indeed serious about implementing international trade rules.