UPDATE: Official: Russia wants to turn to WTO over EU steel duties

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MOSCOW, Aug 18 (PRIME) -- Russia wants to complain to the World Trade Organization (WTO) about E.U. import duties on cold-rolled steel, Maxim Medvedkov, director of the trade negotiations department of the Economic Development Ministry, told PRIME in an interview published on Thursday.

The E.U. introduced the anti-dumping duty on cold-rolled steel from Russia and China in February, and in August it revised the rates and extended the duties for five years. The final duty for Severstal stands at 34.1%, for Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) and for other metals producers at 36.1%, and for Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) at 18.7%.

“WTO members have the right to apply anti-dumping measures in accordance with procedures. Brussels evidently abuses this right. This is why in this case we may have to go to court,” Medvedkov said.

Medvedkov said that Russia sees an increasing number of E.U. violations committed while doing protective investigations of Russian metals products, especially in the case of cold-rolled steel. “We think it was done with violations of the WTO norms, of which we have repeatedly said during contacts both on the political and expert levels.”

The official did not rule out a claim to the WTO if the U.S. introduces final duties on Russian cold-rolled steel.

“Since the formal investigation has not been completed, we have not considered using the procedure of WTO disputes in detail but we do not rule out this possibility if the final decision is made with infractions of WTO rules,” Medvedkov said.

According to Medvedkov, Russia has removed many trade obstacles without going to the lengths of organizing a court trial. He said that although Russia lost in a dispute over paper and fridge duties with the E.U., a claim by Brussels that Russia repeatedly violates its duty obligations was not satisfied.

“The duties on all goods which were subject of the dispute (except for paper and fridges) were made fully compliant with our obligations in the framework of the WTO before or during the trial. The remaining two positions will be brought in compliance really soon. So this decision will have no economic implications,” Medvedkov said.

He said that Russia is constantly monitoring its partners’ compliance with WTO obligations. According to the official, Russia is also proactively participating in elaboration of WTO trade rules.

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