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Tariffs Designed to Make Trading Giants Pay

The Russian government on Wednesday approved customs regulations that include measures aimed at retaliating against countries that limit Russian imports.


The proposals, which the government will now submit to parliament, also include tightening Russia's borders against the smuggling of valuable natural resources and raw materials, according to Alexei Ulyukayev, a government spokesman.


Ulyukayev said that Russia's new customs legislation would include a system of tariff and non-tariff regulations on imports from countries which conduct discriminatory actions against Russian exports.


This includes include non-tariff restrictions which a "number of countries have imposed on Russian exports of high-technology goods.


He also said Russia Would retaliate against anti-dumping procedures aimed at limiting the market for Russian exports of raw materials and resources, particulary in Europe and North America.


One such country would appear to be the United States, whose anti-dumping commission has already begun taking action to prevent the sale of cheap Russian uranium on the U. S. market.


Under the new code, there would be three levels of tariffs on imports, Pyotr Aven, the minister of foreign trade, said at the Russian government's regular Wednesday session, Izvestia reported.


No tariff would be exacted on food and medicine items, five percent would be levied on raw materials, and for manufactured goods, the tariff would be 15 percent, Aven said.


Ulyukayev said that the final schedule of rates and retaliatory measures would be finalized in mid-November.


He said that Russia was in the process of establishing its border with Belarus, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan.


Customs officials at borders already set up with the Baltic countries had already stopped the illegal import of 750 million rubles from Latvia and Lithuania, Ulyukayev said.


These countries, which have left the ruble zone by introducing their own currency, are required by Russia to transfer remaining rubles in circulation on their territories to the Russian Central Bank.


Speaking at the government's session Wednesday, Anatoly Kruglov, the top customs official, said that Russia would soon double to 600 its border checkpoints. Last February, Kruglov had promised that Russia would have 2, 000 checkpoints by the end of the year.


Aven said at the meeting that export quotas would be phased out in 1993 for most goods except for oil-related products, natural gas, non-ferrous metals and some chemicals and timbers, Itar-Tass reported.


Export duties will be cut gradually starting next year. The duties, established at the beginning of the year to protect against the unregulated export of raw materials and manufactured goods, are currently set at 20 to 35 percent of the world market price on most goods, Itar-Tass said.

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