The European Union has sought consultations with Russia in a bid to remove export restrictions on wood products.
The measures, which were announced by Moscow in October 2020, came into force this month.
The EU has said that the export restrictions involve “significantly increased export duties on certain wood products”.
It said that there has also been a drastic reduction in the number of border crossing points through which exports of wood products can take place.
The EU outlined that there had been repeated engagement with Russia in advance of the measures being implemented.
Wood Products
Yesterday (Thursday, January 20, 2022), the EU requested consultations with Russia at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
It explained that the restrictions are “are highly detrimental to the EU wood processing industry, which relies on exports from Russia”.
The union also noted that the move is creating “significant uncertainty on the global wood market”.
The EU outlined that Russia had committed at the WTO to apply a maximum export duty rate of 13-15% for certain quantities of exports.
It explained that by withdrawing these tariff-rate quotas, Russia is now applying export duties at a rate of 80%, which, the EU argued, does not respect Russia’s commitments under WTO law.
The EU also stated that the Russian border crossing points handling wood exports to the union had fallen from more than 30 to just one at Luttya, in Finland.
By prohibiting the use of existing border crossing points that are technically capable of handling such exports, the EU claimed that Russia is violating a WTO principle forbidding such restrictions.
The consultations requested by the EU are the first step in WTO dispute settlement proceedings.
If this does not lead to a satisfactory solution, the EU can ask the WTO to set up a panel to rule on the matter.