Ukrainian entrepreneurs will be deprived of verification for six months for violating the rules for exporting agricultural products to some EU countries. This was announced by the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solsky, reports
According to Solsky, on 26 January, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted Resolution No. 87, which improves the rules for the export of certain types of agricultural products. According to it, an enterprise may be excluded from the list of verified agricultural entities if it violates these rules.
This applies exclusively to the transit of products through 5 EU countries: Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. The company will be deprived of verification if its products were intended for export to other EU countries but “settled” in one of the five countries.
“For example, if, according to the documents, the sunflower was going to Greece but was sold in Bulgaria, the entrepreneur will be excluded from the list of verified agricultural entities. And he will be able to reapply for inclusion in the list of verified entities no earlier than six months after the exclusion,”
– the Ministry said in a statement.
This decision has already been supported by Bulgarian Agriculture Minister Kiril Vatiev.
The preferential trade regime and its opponents
The European Commission may soon extend the preferential trade regime with Ukraine, which, among other things, provides for free and quota-free imports of Ukrainian products into the EU. However, this provision is not popular with many EU members, who may influence the outcome of this decision and its final provisions.
In particular, a number of Eastern European countries are demanding that the EU impose import duties on Ukrainian grain, citing unfair competition. The ministers of agriculture of Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia sent a letter to the European Commission asking for action, stating that cheaper agricultural products from Ukraine are eating into their export markets.
Last week, it became known that the European Commission is likely to heed the calls of Poland and some other EU countries and introduce a mechanism of restrictions on imports of Ukrainian products. This is likely to be a mechanism that would suspend imports of specific Ukrainian products to a particular national market if that market becomes overcrowded.