The World Trade Organization (WTO) cannot apply sanctions against Armenia for the latter's accession to the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and changes in the customs duties, Mher Tsaturyan, Head of the WTO Division of the Armenian Economy Ministry, has told ArmInfo when commenting on the media reports.
Tsaturyan says that the WTO membership implies no sanctions or judicial proceedings for a WTO member's failure to perform the contractual obligations. All problems are settled by means of negotiations and a consensus.
WTO has over 150 members and if a country dose not agree to the change in customs duties, it has the right to apply for revision of the duties. "Armenia can revise the duty on a specific commodity in the course of negotiations or compensate for it by reducing the duty on another commodity. WTO envisages no sanctions or penalties in this process", says Tsaturyan.
In the meantime, he points out that Armenia has already informed its trade partners of accession to the EAEU, which will start functioning on 1 Jan 2015. "Following preliminary negotiations, two WTO member states have already submitted applications to Armenia. They suggest revising the duties. The talks are underway", he says. Tsaturyan does not specify those countries. It has repeatedly been mentioned that the average customs duties in the EAEU will be much higher than the current duties in Armenia.