G/TRIMS/W/116  
 
10 April 2013  
(13-1872)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Trade-Related Investment Measures  Original: English  
 
RUSSIA – LOCAL CONTENT REQUIREMENTS 
FOR AGRICULTURAL EQUIPMENT 
QUESTIONS FROM THE UNITED ST ATES AND THE EUROPEAN UNION 
The following communication, dated 9 April 2013, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegations of the United States and the European Union.  
_______________ 
  As the European Union and United States understands it, RosAgroLeasing (RAL) is a state-owned 
leasing company created to supply agricultural eq uipment to farmers in Russia. RAL purchases a 
range of agricultural equipment which it leases to over 4,000 farmers. We understand that RAL requires that this agricultural equipment contain some level of local content. However, it is unclear 
what the threshold is, and how the local content requirement is calculated and applied. According 
to Russia's working party report:  
689. Concerning "OAO Rosagroleasing", a Russian agricultural equipment leasing company, 
the representative of the Russian Federation explained that the open Joint Stock Company Rosagroleasing had been established in February 2001 to support agricultural producers using the new national system of agricultural le asing. He mentioned that the activity of this 
entity was described in the Section "Polices Affecting Foreign Trade in Agricultural Products" 
of this Report. In addition the representative  of the Russian Federation noted that under 
Government Resolution No. 90 of 4 February 2009, the Ministry of Agriculture provided 
loans to farmers at an interest rate below the market rates for the purchase of farm 
machinery manufactured in the Russian Fede ration. In 2009, the total funding of the 
programme for purchase of such farm mach inery was RUB 1,200 million (US$40 million).  
 
690. Some Members noted that the loan programme of the Ministry of Agriculture for farm machinery was limited to purchases of domestically-produced farm machinery. These Members expressed concerns regarding this limitation and sought a commitment that any 
programme that the Russian Federation made available would comply with WTO 
requirements and would not provide subsidies co ntingent upon the use of domestic rather 
than imported products and would not otherwise discriminate against imported products. 
 
We note that the comments in this section of the working party raise two distinct concerns. The first is the possible implications of the loans under Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing 
Measures. The second is the possible implicatio ns of the local content requirement under the 
TRIMS Agreement.  1. Would the Russian Federation please elabor ate on the relationship between RAL and the 
Government of the Russian Federation? 
 2. Please describe the operation of RAL with resp ect to the purchase of agricultural equipment 
and subsequent re-lease to farmers. 
 3. Does RAL still require that the agricultural equipment it purchases be "manufactured in the 
Russian Federation?" How does RAL determine whether a particular piece of equipment qualified as 
"manufactured in the Russian Federation?" Is a particular threshold of local content applied for this purpose and, if so, how is that threshold calculated? G/TRIMS/W/116 
 
- 2 - 
 
   
4.  What steps has Russia taken to meet its commitment to modify this program "so that any subsidy provided would not be contingent upon… the use of domestic over imported goods." (as committed in paragraph 698 of Russia's Working Party Report)? 
 
__________