International Legal and Domestic Consequences of Russia’s Accession to the World Trade Organization

Abstract

The subject-matter of the article is the accession of Russia to the WTO and its possible consequences. Lately there has been a heated discussion on the issue. The problem includes international legal and domestic aspects. Thus, the whole range of consequences should be divided into two groups correspondingly – international legal and domestic consequences.Considering the international legal consequences of Russia’s accession to the WTO, the author of the article points out some general advantages of the accession and its influence on Russia’s relationship with the CIS neighbors and other countries. As for domestic consequences, Russia took the responsibility to reduce tariffs and liberalize the non-tariff sphere.The consequences of the accession to the WTO are closely connected with the responsibilities that a candidate country assumes. These responsibilities may be divided into two groups. Firstly, these are the responsibilities linked with national legislation, which is to be brought in line with the norms and rules of the WTO legislation. Second come individual responsibilities, which presuppose liberalization of goods’ access to the market of the future member country. The consequences of Russia’s accession to the WTO are the following: simplification of the foreign goods’ import to the market, stiffer control over technical requirements and stricter punishment for their violation, the decrease in administrative pressure on businessmen on the domestic market, the increase in the number of Russian companies that are competitive on the market, consequent unification of Russian and international trade standards. The result of these changes should be the creation of favorable competitive environment on the Russian market and the improvement of the quality of national goods. The author of the article points out that considerable negative consequences are least probable.