Strasbourg, 09/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - As part of the trilateral negotiations to find practical solutions to Russia's concerns about implementing the EU-Ukraine free trade agreement, a technical level discussion session was held in Brussels on Thursday 4 and Friday 5 June, which was dedicated to technical barriers to trade and customs procedures.
The European Commission reported that as regards technical barriers to trade, Ukraine and the EU asked Russia to provide precise information on the Russian products and sectors that could be affected by implementation of the EU-Ukraine free trade agreement, so as to be able to find specific solutions. As regards customs, Russia asked to receive specific information, but that falls outside the applicable customs cooperation procedures.
The parties agreed to continue their work through an exchange of more detailed information, ahead of another trilateral meeting in Brussels at the end of June or start of July.
Russia did not reiterate its request for implementation of the EU-Ukraine free trade agreement to be postponed at the last trilateral meeting at ministerial level. As provided for under the terms of the ministerial compromise of 12 September 2014 (see EUROPE 11155), this agreement will enter into force on 1 January 2016.
The three parties have nevertheless agreed to step up their efforts at the technical level in order to find practical solutions to the concerns raised by Russia. These are in three areas in particular - customs cooperation, technical barriers to trade and the health and the phytosanitary sector. (Emmanuel Hagry)