As of July 1, a regulation of the Council of the European Union has been in force increasing customs duties on Russian and Belarusian cereals, oilseeds and derived products, as well as other products, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MRiRW) announced.
The Ministry of Agriculture recalled in a statement that Poland was seeking to limit the inflow of Russian and Belarusian food to the EU market. On March 7 this year. The Sejm of the Republic of Poland adopted a resolution on imposing sanctions in connection with the import of Russian and Belarusian agri-food products to the European Union.
Higher tariffs on products from Russia and Belarus
“Following the resolution, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Czesław Siekierski, together with the heads of the ministries for agriculture of the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia and the Minister for Regional Affairs of Estonia, on 20 March this year sent a letter to the Vice-President of the European Commission, Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis and Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski with an appeal, among other things, to limit grain imports from Russia and Belarus to the EU,” it was reported.
It was explained that in response European Commission proposed to increase tariffs on imports into the EU from Russia and Belarus: cereals (including wheat and maize), oilseeds and derived products, and the exclusion of imports of the above-mentioned products from these countries from access to EU tariff quotas.
“The regulation on this matter was adopted by the EU Council on 30 May this year and entered into force throughout the EU on 1 July this year,” the press release emphasised.
“The adopted solution is to have an effect similar to an embargo and make the import of selected products to the EU market unprofitable. At the same time, the European Commission believes that the adopted regulation will not have a negative impact on global food security, nor on the transit of products subject to higher customs duties – through the EU territory – to destinations in third countries,” it was reported.
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