The case of Russia and Measures affecting the importation of railway equipment and parts: challenging EAEU measures in the WTO Dispute Settlement Body

The norms of Eurasian Economic Union law and the norms of WTO law mostly govern international trade relations. Therefore, the spheres of international relations governed by WTO law and the law of the Eurasian Economic Union often overlap. Moreover, the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union contains references to WTO agreements. This paper is aimed at determining specific characteristics of challenging measures adopted by the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB). The analysis is based on four existing disputes where complainants put forward an issue connected with the inconsistency of EAEU law or its interpretation and its application to WTO obligations. Russia is the respondent in three out of four disputes mentioned above, and Kazakhstan is the respondent in one of the four disputes. The authors conclude that WTO law and EAEU law should be interpreted and applied on the basis of the principle of harmonization. However, the norms of EAEU law are not considered by the DSB as rules of law. Rather, they are considered as measures applied by EAEU member-states, while taking into account the fact that the EAEU is not a member of the WTO. Moreover, all the actions of the EAEU and its bodies are attributable to every EAEU member-state. The authors also conclude that not only the content of EAEU law norms as such, but also the method of their interpretation and application is of great importance in the context of challenging measures adopted by the EAEU in the DSB. The paper contains more detailed analysis of the Panel Report on Russia – Railway equipment. The other four disputes are briefly covered with a special focus on challenging measures adopted by the EAEU in the DSB. The paper makes several concluding remarks in respect to the specific characteristics of challenging such measures in the DSB.

About the authors: Daria Boklan – Doctor of Sciences in Law, Professor, Faculty of Law, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia; Polina Tonkikh - Research trainee, Faculty of Law, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia; Maria Kozlova - Research trainee, Faculty of Law, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.

Citation: Boklan D., Tonkikh P., Kozlova M. (2018) Spor Rossiya – Zheleznodorozhnoe oborudovanie i drugie spory ob osparivanii mer Evraziyskogo ekonomicheskogo soyuza v Organe po razresheniyu sporov VTO [The case of Russia and Measures affecting the importation of railway equipment and parts: challenging EAEU measures in the WTO Dispute Settlement Body]. Mezhdunarodnoe pravosudie, vol.8, no.3, pp.14–27. (In Russian).

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