Considerations on COM(2025)34 - Modification of customs duties applicable to imports of certain goods from or exported directly or indirectly from Russia and Belarus
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| dossier | COM(2025)34 - Modification of customs duties applicable to imports of certain goods from or exported directly or indirectly from Russia and ... |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2025)34  |
| date | June 17, 2025 |
| (2) | The Union’s imports of the fertilisers covered by this Regulation (the ‘fertilisers concerned’) currently reflect a situation of economic dependence on the Russian Federation. Moreover, the imports of the agricultural goods concerned could create a similar and additional economic dependence on the Russian Federation, which should in the present circumstances be prevented and reduced in order to protect the Union’s market and to safeguard the Union’s food security. |
| (3) | The Union’s erga omnes common customs duties are the most-favoured-nation tariffs currently applied to imports of the agricultural goods concerned and fertilisers concerned (the ‘goods concerned’). Those tariffs vary greatly at present. Depending on the goods concerned, some tariffs are either set at zero or set very low, while other tariffs are so high that no trade takes place. |
| (4) | Continued imports of the goods concerned from the Russian Federation under the current conditions could make the Union vulnerable to coercive actions by the Russian Federation. In particular, a potential increase in imports of the goods concerned from the Russian Federation could disrupt the Union’s market and negatively impact the Union’s producers. It is therefore necessary to take appropriate tariff measures in order to address the Union’s current and potential economic dependence on imports of the goods concerned from the Russian Federation. That should be done by ending the current situation where the goods concerned enter the Union’s market on terms that are as favourable as those applied to goods of other origins that receive most-favoured-nation treatment. |
| (5) | At present, imports of the fertilisers concerned from the Russian Federation are already increasing and could increase further and quickly if additional Russian production is re-oriented towards the Union. Such potential increased imports from the Russian Federation would disrupt the Union’s market for the fertilisers concerned and harm the Union’s producers of nitrogen fertilisers, who are already facing difficulties in competing with imports from the Russian Federation because gas prices in the Union remain high. The long-term survival of the Union’s nitrogen fertiliser industry is of crucial importance for the Union’s food security because the Union’s agricultural sector needs the fertilisers concerned in order to produce food. Addressing the growing dependence on imports of the fertilisers concerned from the Russian Federation and preserving the viability of an autonomous Union nitrogen fertiliser industry is therefore vital to ensuring and maintaining the Union’s food security. In order to prevent future dependence on imports of agricultural goods from the Russian Federation, it is also necessary to adjust the tariff levels for the agricultural goods concerned. |
| (6) | Tariff measures should also be taken in respect of the Republic of Belarus in order to prevent potential imports to the Union from the Russian Federation being diverted through the Republic of Belarus, given the Republic of Belarus’s close political and economic ties with the Russian Federation. Such diversion of potential imports could happen if the Union’s tariffs on imports of the goods concerned from the Republic of Belarus were to remain unchanged. Imports of the goods concerned that originate in or are exported, directly or indirectly, from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus to the Union should therefore be subject to higher customs duties than imports from other third countries. |
| (7) | Imports from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus should not benefit from any lower tariffs under the Union’s tariff rate quotas on the basis of most-favoured-nation treatment. The reduced rates set out in the Union’s tariff rate quotas for the goods listed in the Annexes to this Regulation should therefore not apply to goods originating in or exported, directly or indirectly, from the Russian Federation or the Republic of Belarus to the Union. |
| (8) | The envisaged increase in customs duties is not expected to affect global food security negatively because the increase in tariffs applies only to imports into the Union and does not affect the goods concerned if they are only transiting through the Union’s territory to third countries of final destination. On the contrary, the envisaged increase in Union import duties could increase the exports of the goods concerned to third countries and increase the availability of supplies in those third countries. |
| (9) | At the same time, fertilisers play a significant role for food security as well as for the financial stability of farmers in the Union. It is therefore necessary to ensure predictable and sufficient access to fertilisers, at affordable price levels for farmers in the Union, which should in turn contribute to the stabilisation of agricultural markets. During a transitional period, the proposed measure would stimulate stepping-up production in the Union and allow for the reinforcement of alternative sources of supply from other international partners, minimising the risk that fertiliser prices for farmers in the Union increase substantially. To that end, the Commission should closely monitor the evolution of fertiliser prices on the Union’s market. If fertiliser prices increase substantially, the Commission should assess the situation and take all appropriate actions to remedy such price increase. |
| (10) | The envisaged increase in customs duties is consistent with the Union’s external action in other areas, as set out in Article 21(3) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). The state of relations between the Union and the Russian Federation has greatly deteriorated in recent years and particularly since 2022. That deterioration of relations is due to the Russian Federation’s blatant disregard for international law and, in particular, its unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine. Since July 2014, the Union has progressively imposed restrictive measures on trade with the Russian Federation in response to the Russian Federation’s actions against Ukraine. |
| (11) | The Russian Federation is a member of the World Trade Organization (‘WTO’). However, the Union is currently allowed, by virtue of the exceptions that apply under the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (‘WTO Agreement’), and in particular Article XXI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (security exceptions), to disregard the obligation to accord to goods imported from the Russian Federation most-favoured-nation treatment, and it is not prevented from imposing import duties higher than those contained in the Union’s schedule of tariff commitments on trade in goods, if the Union considers such measures to be necessary in order to protect the Union’s essential security interests. |
| (12) | Relations between the Union and the Republic of Belarus have also deteriorated in recent years due to the Republic of Belarus’s disregard for international law, fundamental freedoms and human rights, as well as its support for the Russian Federation’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Since October 2020, the Union has progressively imposed restrictive measures on trade with the Republic of Belarus. |
| (13) | The Republic of Belarus is not a member of the WTO. The Union is therefore not obliged, by virtue of the WTO Agreement, to accord to goods from the Republic of Belarus most-favoured-nation treatment and other treatment in line with that Agreement. In addition, existing trade agreements between the Union and the Republic of Belarus allow actions justified on the basis of applicable exception clauses, in particular security exceptions. |
| (14) | In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation as regards the laying down of arrangements for the monitoring of import volumes, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2). |
| (15) | In accordance with the principle of proportionality, it is necessary and appropriate to lay down rules increasing tariffs on the goods concerned with immediate effect, firstly in order to achieve the basic objective of ensuring that the goods concerned that originate in or are exported, directly or indirectly, from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus do not disturb the Union’s market for the goods concerned and, secondly, in order to implement the Common Commercial Policy and to reduce the Union’s imports of the goods concerned from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus in response to concerns that such imports could negatively affect the Union’s internal market and impair the Union’s food security. This Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the objectives pursued in accordance with Article 5(4) TEU. |
| (16) | In order to prevent further economic dependence of the Union on imports of the goods concerned from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, this Regulation should enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union, |