Brussels, 03/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 3 April, the European Parliament gave the go-ahead to paving the way to temporary and unilateral liberalisation of European customs duties, to help Ukrainian exports of goods, whilst waiting for the signing and entry into force of the free trade agreement.
At the plenary session in Brussels on 3 April, the European Parliament approved by 531 votes in favour, 88 against, with 20 abstentions, the draft regulation the European Commission put on the table offering unilateral trade preferences to Ukraine, whilst waiting for the free trade agreement to enter into force, which accompanies the EU/Ukraine Association agreement that was partly signed on 21 March. These preferences will apply as soon as the formal approval of the Council of Ministers is obtained, sometime over the next few weeks. They will last until 1 November next or until the trade agreement enters into force.
This temporary liberalisation of almost 98% of European customs duties is expected to help generate €500 million in savings a year on customs duties applied to Ukrainian exports. The rapporteur, Pawel Zalewski (EPP, Poland) explained that, “the European Parliament has supported an EU path for Ukraine for many years. This is our first chance to demonstrate our support in practical terms, to help Ukraine during its current economic crisis in the face of dwindling currency reserves and increased pressure from the Kremlin. As Putin closes Russian markets for Ukrainian exports, we are opening them”.
The regulation is part of the €11 billion aid package for the Ukraine, proposed on 5 March by the Commission and adjusted by the European Council. It is based on early application of the free trade agreement provisions on the trade in goods. It will subsequently provide tariff liberalisation for 82.3% of Ukrainian agricultural products and the introduction of quotas for sensitive products (grains, pork, beef and poultry). It also plans to introduce preferences for 83.4% of Ukrainian exports in processed agricultural products. The remaining 15.9% will partially be liberalised through quotas, and tariffs on 94.7% of Ukrainian industrial products will be scrapped.
The regulation contains safeguards: part of the safeguard measure will be used to tackle dangers of fraudulent Ukrainian products being exported; Ukrainian exports will have to respect EU provisions on the labelling of origin and Ukraine will have to guarantee that goods from third countries do not enter the EU via its territory, disguised as Ukrainian products; the EU will also have the right of imposing tariffs again if the imports of Ukrainian goods flood the EU and lead to (or threaten to provoke) significant difficulties for European producers of the same products.
On Thursday, Karel De Gucht, the Commissioner for Trade, immediately welcomed Parliament support for the Commission proposal and said that, “we now look forward to the Council also fast tracking this proposal so that the Ukrainian economy benefits as soon as possible”. (EH)