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Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the European Union

Submitted on 2013-07-09 20:03:02

Comment by Ambassador Vladimir Chizhov on the decision of the European Commission to initiate a WTO dispute settlement procedure against Russia in connection with recycling fees on vehicles


It is highly regrettable that in deciding to pursue this issue our EU partners did not take into account our persistent efforts to accommodate their concerns.

A while ago the EU side drew our attention to differing recycling fees on vehicles manufactured in Russia and those imported. It is worth noting that many of the cars produced in my country are of European brands so EU companies that manufacture them fully enjoyed more lenient tax burden.

After looking into this issue the Russian authorities admitted that modalities of recycling fees introduced on vehicles needed to be changed and initiated necessary, albeit quite complex, bureaucratic procedures to amend respective Federal legislation. These amendments were approved by the Government and submitted to the State Duma which, unfortunately did not manage to adopt them before the summer break.

The Russian position of principle is that all disputes within the framework of the WTO should preferably be resolved through negotiation, and I believe that in spite of impatience displayed by our partners we will finally achieve a mutually satisfying solution of this issue.
 


Source URL: https://russiaeu.ru/en/node/1213