EU hits Russia with first WTO dispute over car levy

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - The European Union launched the first formal trade dispute with Russia at the World Trade Organization on Tuesday, less than a year after Moscow joined the trading club.

The EU has told the WTO it held that Russia was illegally protecting its carmakers with a recycling fee levied on imported cars, and had given up waiting for Moscow to change the law.

"The European Commission has pursued every diplomatic channel for almost one year now to find a solution with our Russian partners on this matter but to no avail. The fee is incompatible with the WTO's most basic rule prohibiting discrimination against and among imports," EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said in a statement.

The dispute follows repeated warnings from Brussels about what it sees as Russia's non-compliance and loud dissent within Moscow about the merits of being in the WTO at all.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/07/09/uk-eu-russia-wto-idUKBRE96807N20130709

[Igel]

1. The European Union won't like how this plays out.

Sure, they may win that case.

But the dozens of other cases filed against it will more than compensate for any reversal of loss they'd enjoy.

In good news, it's probably safe to predict that the WTO court will be so bogged down for at least the next couple of years that it'll be effectively bricked.