The EU said Thursday it has warned Russia over plans to introduce further customs requirements for lorries transporting goods across the country's borders, dpa reported. "If the measure is implemented as announced, we can expect that the additional burdens for operators and customs authorities will lead to serious disruption of EU-Russia trade flows," the bloc's customs commisioner, Algirdas Semeta, wrote in a letter to Moscow. "This development comes as a surprise given the customs cooperation we have built," he added, arguing that the move would violate the three-decade-old TIR convention on the international transport of goods. Russia should have held consultations on its plans through "the mechanisms foreseen by the TIR convention," Semeta said. The European Commission said that Russian customs authorities justify the measures as "necessary to combat massive transit fraud." The additional measures it plans to introduce in mid-August could take the form of requiring a precise itinerary, financial guarantees or an escort to the final destination, the EU's executive said. This could affect "EU traders and transporters in terms of movement of goods, additional financial costs and administrative burdens," the commission said, recalling the massive queues that formed at the border when Russia introduced extra controls in 2008. "I would urge you to reconsider the implementation of the announced measure and engage in a proper consultation," Semeta wrote to the head of Russia's federal customs. It is not the first time that EU and Russia clash on trade matters. Earlier this month, the bloc took action against Moscow at the World Trade Organization over a recycling fee that it says is harming car exports.
