Kyiv, 19 June 2014 – In 2014, Ukrainian producers will be able to use their quotas twice to export goods duty free to EU member countries. “We can begin to apply the provisions of the EU Association Agreement already this autumn. In the first place, this will create an opportunity for those goods that are subject to tariff quotas, which we will be able to use twice this year. Right now we are using them as preferences. When the Agreement enters into force, autonomous preferences will cease to be effective and we will be able to use the same quotas again, but this time under the Agreement. Therefore, it is a unique year because we will be able to use double amounts for 8 to 9 months,” explained Government Commissioner for European Integration Valeriy Pyatnitsky during a press briefing at the Ukraine Crisis Media Center.
Autonomous trade preferences were introduced by the European Union and began to apply on April 23 this year. Ukrainian producers will be able to benefit from the preferences until November. These include the elimination of import duties on 94.7% of the total amount of industrial goods and 83.4% of agricultural products. The overall economic effect of EU’s trade preferences for the Ukrainian economy may amount to approximately EUR 500M.
Government Commissioner also stated that advanced preferences will continue to apply to certain goods after November: “There are several groups of goods to which privileges will continue to apply for two years. This means that there will be more opportunities for bilateral trade than the EU Association Agreement provides.” Valeriy Pyatnitsky also noted that Ukraine will have to introduce quality standards in line with the EU quality control system. After the economic chapters of the Association Agreement are signed, Ukraine and the EU will begin to implement the free trade area agreement.
