Import and export bans

The EU, in collaboration with the G7 countries and other like-minded partners, has stopped treating Russia as a Most-Favoured-Nation within the WTO framework as of 15 March 2022. This deprives Russia of key trade advantages as a WTO member.

The EU has decided to act not through an increase on import tariffs, but through a set of sanctions that comprise bans and restrictions on the imports or exports of goods, notably:

• an EU import ban on all finished and semi-finished steel products
• an EU export ban on luxury goods to directly hit Russian elites
• an EU import ban on non-industrial diamonds, mined, processed, or produced, in Russia. This is part of an internationally coordinated G7 diamond ban, aiming to deprive Russia of this important revenue stream estimated at €4 billion per year.
• an EU import ban on raw materials for steel production, processed aluminium products and other metal goods
• extension of the ban on export of luxury cars to all new and second-hand cars above a certain engine size (> 1.900 cm³), and all electric and hybrid vehicles
• a full ban on certain types of machinery components
• additional import bans, including cements, rubber products, wood, spirits, liquor, high-end seafood
• targeted export bans in areas in which Russia is vulnerable due to its high dependency on EU supplies. This includes, for example, quantum computing, advanced semiconductors, sensitive machinery and parts, construction-related goods, processed steel, copper and aluminium goods, lasers, batteries, transportation and chemicals. It also includes specialist catalysts for use in the refinery industry. This will contribute to degrading Russia’s technological base and industrial capacity.
• prohibition to provide enterprise and design-related software to the Russian government or Russian companies 
• prohibition to purchase, import, or transfer, directly or indirectly, gold, if it originates in Russia
• restriction on the exports of a further 15 technological items found on the battlefield in Ukraine or equipment needed to produce such items
• prohibition to sell, license, transfer or refer intellectual property rights and trade secrets used in connection with restricted goods to prevent the sanctioned goods from simply being manufactured outside the EU
• tightening restrictions on imports of iron and steel goods by requiring importers of sanctioned iron and steel goods that have been processed in a third country to prove that the inputs used do not come from Russia
• new entities are subject to tighter export restrictions for advanced technology items. In addition to the Russian and Iranian entities already listed, this now also covers entities from China, Uzbekistan, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, and Armenia.
• the addition of 29 Russian and third country entities to the list of entities associated with Russia's military-industrial complex (including entities registered in Uzbekistan and Singapore)