Sputnik NewsSputnik
reported that Director of the Department for Trade Negotiations of the Ministry
of Economic Development Maxim Medvedkov told Sputnik in an interview that
Russia is likely to appeal to the World Trade Organization dispute settlement
body regarding the European Union's anti-dumping duties imposed on Russian cold-rolled
steel,
He said "In our opinion, it [investigation] was carried out in violation
of WTO rules, as we have repeatedly stated in contacts with the EU, both on the
political and expert levels. However, the European Commission at the end of
July 2016 introduced the final anti-dumping duty, practically ignoring our
arguments and closing the EU market for the Russian steel companies in a manner
that does not comply with WTO.”
The director added that anti-dumping measures must be applied according to specific
procedures ignored by Brussels and "therefore in this case we are most
likely to go to court."
Medvedkov noted that in recent years more and more violations had been observed
during the foreign countries investigations against Russian steel products,
most notably, the EU anti-dumping investigation in respect of the cold-rolled
steel.
He said "Since the formal investigation has not been completed yet, the
issue of the WTO dispute settlement procedure involvement is not on the agenda.
But we do not exclude such possibility, if the final decision will be made
without the elimination of the WTO rules violations.”
In July, the US Department of Commerce, as a part of the preliminary measures,
has determined the level of anti-dumping and countervailing margins for
suppliers of cold-rolled steel from Russia, as well as a number of other
countries. So, the anti-dumping margin for Severstal PJSC was calculated as
13,36 percent while for Novolipetsk Steel just as 1,04 percent. On August 4,
Russian producers of non-stainless steels, including Magnitogorsk Iron &
Steel Works OJSC, Novolipetsk Steel OJSC and Severstal PJSC, were hit by the
European Union with five-year tariffs as high as 36.1 percent based on a
conclusion that Russian imports unfairly undercut manufacturers in Europe.
Source : SPUTNIK