The EU officially announced the approval of the continuation of trade liberalization with Ukraine with restrictions: what is expected

The EU has officially announced that it has agreed to extend the suspension of import duties and quotas on Ukrainian exports to the EU until June 5, 2025, while strengthening safeguards for sensitive agricultural products such as poultry, eggs, sugar, oats, corn, cereals and honey, and introducing other protective measures. What exactly is envisaged was announced on April 8 by the EU Council, UNN writes.

Details

"Representatives of the EU member states (Coreper) confirmed today (April 8 - ed.) the provisional deal reached earlier on the same day between the Council presidency and the European Parliament representatives to renew the suspension of import duties and quotas on Ukrainian exports to the EU until 5 June 2025," the EU Council said.

"At the same time, the EU has decided to reinforce the protection of sensitive agricultural products by beefing up safeguards already included in the currently applicable autonomous trade measures, which includes taking into account any adverse impact on the market of one or several member states, rather than just on the EU market as a whole (as is the case now). A new automatic safeguard will also be added for certain sensitive products, such as poultry, eggs, sugar, oats, maize, groats and honey," the European institution said.

Main elements of the regulation

The regulation will apply from 6 June 2024 until 5 June 2025 and concerns the continued suspension of all outstanding customs duties and quotas under Title IV of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement (DCFTA).

The regulation will also include two safeguard mechanisms to protect the EU market:

a strengthened version of the existing mechanism, which will apply on the basis of regular monitoring, allowing the Commission to impose any measure provided that specific conditions are met;

a new, automatic safeguard mechanism which will oblige the Commission to reintroduce tariff-rate quotas if imports of poultry, eggs, sugar, oats, maize, groats and honey exceed the arithmetic mean of quantities imported in the second half of 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Key elements of the provisional agreement

extending the scope of the automatic safeguard mechanism to include four additional products (oats, maize, groats and honey)

shortening of the time period for activation of the automatic safeguard from 21 to 14 days

extending the reference period to determine if imports exceed a certain threshold (adding the second half of 2021 to the period 2022-2023)

the Commission’s commitment to enhanced monitoring of imports of grain, in particular wheat, and to use of the tools at its disposal in the event of market disruptions, as well as a commitment to take the necessary steps under the Association Agreement with Ukraine, as soon as the new ATMs are adopted, to pursue, through consultations with Ukraine, the process of reciprocal tariff liberalisation

Next steps

On April 9, the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade is proposed to confirm the results of the inter-institutional negotiations.

The European Parliament's position is expected to be adopted in the first reading at the second plenary session in April.

The regulation will then be adopted by the EU Council, signed by representatives of the EU Council and the European Parliament, published in the Official Journal of the EU, and then enter into force on June 6, 2024.

Addendum

On January 31, 2024, the European Commission proposed to extend the suspension of import duties and quotas on all imports from Ukraine to the EU for another year.