12:25 10.07.2013

WTO to consider 3 claims to Ukraine from EU, Japan, U.S., 15 other states on July 11

3 min read
WTO to consider 3 claims to Ukraine from EU, Japan, U.S., 15 other states on July 11

The agenda of a meeting of the Council for Trade in Goods of the World Trade Organization (WTO) scheduled for July 11 has three items containing claims of other countries to Ukraine.

According to the document available to Interfax-Ukraine, Japan will make a statement on the introduction of duties on passenger car imports by Kyiv.

The agenda also includes a query from the EU and the U.S. concerning the introduction of quotas on imports of coking coal by Ukraine.

In addition, Kyiv will have to answer to the claims of a group of countries because of its intention to review 371 tariff lines under Article XXVIII of GATT (the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) dated 1994. According to the agenda, relevant statements were filed by the EU, countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Australia, Canada, Chile, Egypt, Guatemala, China and Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Turkey and the United States.

As reported, from April 14, 2013, Ukraine introduced special duties on imports of new passenger cars with engines from 1,000 to 1,500 cubic centimeters at a rate of 6.46%, and on cars with engines from 1,500 to 2,200 cubic centimeters at a rate of 12.95%, irrespective of the country of origin and export.

The EU and a number of countries, including the United States, Russia, South Korea and Turkey, have expressed their concern over this step.

Turkey reserved the right to impose a 23% import duty on Ukrainian walnuts from July 12 of this year in response to the restriction on import of cars imposed by Ukraine, although Kyiv intends to persuade Ankara to waive such sanctions.

In a notice sent to members of the WTO on June 12, Ankara said that it would take such a step under Article 8.2 of the Safeguards Agreement of the organization, which allows the introduction of countervailing duties if the parties fail to reach agreement. According to Bloomberg BNA, this is the first case of the application of this article in the history of the WTO.

The country plans to introduce the fee from July 12, 2013. Turkey said that Ukrainian walnuts worth $26.7 million were imported in 2012, which brings the total duties to $6.1 million, which fully corresponds to the amount of duties on imports of Turkish cars, which last year totaled $55 million.

On July 9, Russia said that it planned to put trade sanctions on Ukraine, penalizing imports of chocolate, coal and glass in retaliation for a Ukrainian emergency import tax on cars. Russia informed the World Trade Organization (WTO) that the Ukrainian car tax would hit Russian car exports worth $328 million, raising $36 million of tax.

To offset this, Russia said it reserved the right to impose a duty of EUR 0.1 per kilogram of Ukrainian chocolate, 15% on glass and 54% on coal.

AD
AD
AD
AD
AD