Government Procurement Agreement

The Russian Federation intends to join the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) and would notify this intention to the WTO Government Procurement Committee at the time of accession. Russia would become an observer to the GPA and would initiate negotiations for membership within four years of its accession. Russian government agencies would, upon accession, award contracts in a transparent manner.

Industrial and agricultural subsidies

Industrial subsidies

The Russian Federation would eliminate all its industrial subsidies programmes or modify them so that any subsidy provided would not be contingent upon exportation or upon the use of domestic over imported goods. The Russian Federation would notify its subsidies to the WTO and would not invoke any of the provisions of Articles 27 and 28 of the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.

Agricultural subsidies

The total trade distorting agricultural support would not exceed USD 9 billion in 2012 and would be gradually reduced to USD 4.4 billion by 2018.

To avoid excessive concentration of support on individual products, from the date of accession to 31 December 2017, the annual agricultural support going to specific products would not exceed 30% of the agriculture support that is not for specific products.

All agricultural export subsidies will be bound at zero.

The VAT exemption applied to certain domestic agricultural products would be eliminated upon accession.

Pricing of energy

Producers and distributors of natural gas in the Russian Federation would operate on the basis of normal commercial considerations, based on recovery of costs and profit.

The Russian Federation would continue to regulate price supplies to households and other non-commercial users, based on domestic social policy considerations.

Sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) and technical barriers to trade (TBT)

All SPS measures would be developed and applied in the Russian Federation and the Custom Union, in accordance with the WTO Agreement.

The Russian Federation would ensure that all legislation related to technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures complies with the WTO TBT Agreement.

The Russian Federation would develop and apply international standards on SPS measures through membership and active participation in the Codex Alimentarius, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the International Plant Protection Convention.

The reasons for suspension, cancellation, or refusal of an import permit would be consistent with international standards, recommendations, and guidelines as well as the WTO SPS Agreement.

The Russian Federation would negotiate veterinary export certificates that include requirements different from those of the Custom Union if an exporting country made a substantiated request prior to 1 January 2013 to negotiate such a certificate.

Except in case of serious risks of animal or human health, Rosselkhoznadzor, the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance, would not suspend imports from establishments based on the results of on-site inspection before it had given the exporting country the opportunity to propose corrective measures. Rosselkhoznadzor would send a preliminary report to the competent authority of the exporting country for comments.

The Russian Federation would use international standards for the development of technical regulations unless they were an ineffective or inappropriate means for achieving the pursued objectives.

By the end of 2015, mandatory requirements for telecommunication equipment used in public networks would be limited to the requirements contained in technical regulations adopted consistently with the Eurasian Economic Community and Custom Union agreements.

The Russian Federation would regularly review its lists of products subject to obligatory certification or declaration of conformity, as well as all the technical regulations applied on its territory (Custom Union and Eurasian Economic Community included) to ensure that they remained necessary to achieve the Federation’s objective, in accordance with the WTO TBT Agreement.

Certified accreditation bodies would be replaced by a single national accreditation body no later than 30 June 2012. The name and other information regarding this body would be published on the Rosstandart website and the website of the Custom Union Commission.

Date: 2015-02-16; view: 515