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Geneva - The European Union (EU) launched a trade dispute at the World Trade Organisation on Friday to challenge Russia's treatment of European exports of agricultural and manufactured goods, the WTO said in a statement.
The WTO said the EU accused Russia of levying tariffs that were higher than permitted on several types of goods, including paper and paperboard, palm oil and its fractions, refrigerators and combined refrigerators-freezers.
Under WTO rules, Russia will have 60 days to settle the issue in direct talks with the EU. After that the EU could escalate the dispute by asking the WTO to adjudicate.
This is the latest in a series of EU complaints lodged since Russia joined the WTO in 2012. They include a recyling fee on foreign cars, duties on light commercial vehicles and pork.
The European Commission said in a statement that the higher duties had a clearly negative impact on European exports of the products that were worth some €600m per year.
"The EU has raised this issue with Russia both in bilateral talks and in WTO committees but to no avail," the Commission said.
European Commission spokesperson Wojtek Talko said the case was not related to Moscow's decision in August to ban most Western food imports in response to US and EU sanctions against Russia over its role in the Ukraine crisis.
Russia is the European Union's third most important trading partner, with €120bn of exports per year, mainly machinery, transport equipment, chemicals, medicines and agricultural products.
