Tariffs unified - sort of

摘要

Russia formally equalised rail tariffs for deliveries to domestic and foreign ports at the end of last month, but extra charges introduced for shipments to border crossings effectively cancel out much of the impact of the change. Russian Railways (RZD) says the extra charges - imposed by the federal tariff service (FST) until 1 July - are a "temporary" measure to limit losses from tariff unification. Without the extra charges, RZD says it would lose Rbs14bn ($460mn). And it insists that they do not conflict with World Trade Organisation (WTO) requirements - Russia was obliged to equalise tariffs as a condition of its WTO accession last year.