Ukraine: Council adopts temporary trade liberalisation with Ukraine

F.P. Report

BRUSSELS: The Council adopted today a regulation allowing for temporary trade liberalisation and other trade concessions with regard to certain Ukrainian products. This means that for one year import duties on all Ukrainian exports to the European Union will not be due.

Thanks to these measures the EU will be able to significantly support Ukraine’s economy.

Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine has had a devastating impact on the country’s production capacity, transport infrastructure and access to the Black sea, as well as its wider ability to trade with the rest of the world. The consequences cannot be underestimated both internally, and internationally, in terms of impact on food security.

Today’s decision will apply for a period of one year, and will suspend in particular:

–all those tariffs under Title IV of the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine establishing a deep and comprehensive free trade area (DCFTA) that had not yet been liberalised. The suspension covers notably: industrial products subject to duty phase out by the end of 2022, fruits and vegetables subject to the entry-price system, and agricultural products and processed agricultural products subject to tariff-rate quotas,

– the collection of anti-dumping duties on imports originating in Ukraine, and

– the application of the common rules for imports with respect of imports originating in Ukraine.

Today’s decision is conditional upon respect for the principles set out in Article 2 of the DCFTA.