Ukraine does not want to obey the WTO ruling

The arbitrator appointed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) determined that Ukraine must comply with the decision of the WTO Dispute Resolution Authority on the dispute regarding anti-dumping measures for Russian ammonium nitrate by September 15, 2020.

The dispute was initiated by Russia in 2015 with regard to Ukraine’s anti-dumping duties on Russian ammonium nitrate, calculated using the “energy adjustment” methodology. As a result, the arbitration panel found that Ukrainian measures violated the WTO rules. The WTO obliged Ukraine to eliminate numerous violations regarding the calculation of dumping margins, and also obliged to exclude EuroChem from the action of anti-dumping measures.

Ukraine had to either immediately eliminate the violations, or agree with Russia on the so-called “reasonable period of time”. Since it was not possible to reach such an agreement with Ukraine, Russia had to appeal to the WTO arbitration.

Ukraine requested 27 months, the maximum possible time, for the execution of the decision of the Dispute Resolution Authority, explaining the length by the need to amend the legislation, conduct a full-scale review of anti-dumping measures, as well as by the situation of “emergency in international relations” between Russia and Ukraine. In addition, Ukraine asked the arbitrator to take into account the emergency regime introduced by the Ukrainian authorities in response to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

In its decision, the arbitrator took into account the Russia’s objection that the legislative changes declared by Ukraine are not actually required to review the measure. The arbitrator considered that a review was sufficient to bring Ukrainian anti-dumping measures in line with the WTO law.

In addition, the arbitrator agreed with Russia on the need to immediately exclude EuroChem from the scope of the anti-dumping measures and from the scope of any subsequent review.

At the same time, the arbitrator took into account the emergency situation in connection with the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection, which, in his opinion, slows down the work of the state authorities of Ukraine to some extent.

In the event that Ukraine does not comply with the WTO decision in a timely manner, Russia will have the right to compensation or suspension of concessions in respect of Ukrainian goods.