On 20 June, the European Union requested Kiev to set up an arbitration panel on Ukraine's export ban on certain timber.
Since 2005, Ukraine has applied a permanent export ban on timber and sawn timber of ten wood species (acacia, chequers, cherry, pear, walnut, chestnut, yew, black cherry, sycamore and juniper).
Since November 2015, Ukraine has implemented a temporary ban on the export of all unprocessed wood for a period of 10 years (since January 2017 for pine wood).
According to a note verbale from the European delegation to the Ukrainian authorities, on Thursday 20 June, Ukraine's export restrictions are incompatible with Article 35 of the Association Agreement. The latter prohibits these measures in all their forms.
Consultations, launched in February 2019, failed to identify a common solution, as also stated in the EU letter to the Ukrainians.
The request for a panel is in line with Article 306 of the 2014 Association Agreement between the two entities.
To consult the note: https://bit.ly/31U2Yes (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)