Institutional framework:

The cooperation between Ukraine and the EU and its Member States is guided by the Association Agreement, including its Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) provisions.

The list of the EU customs regulations that Ukraine has committed to transpose into the national legislation is provided for by Annex XV “Approximation of Customs legislation” of the Chapter 5 “Customs and trade facilitation” of the Title IV “Trade and trade-related matters ” of the Association Agreement.

The EU-Ukraine Customs Sub-Committee is established in the framework of the Association Agreement (AA). It is a platform for enhancing dialogue with the EU on customs matters. This Sub-Committee is responsible for monitoring the convergence of the Ukrainian legislation and procedures under the AA commitments. The last meeting of the Sub-Committee took place on 23 September 2020 in the format of video conference. At the meeting, the Sides summed the results of customs cooperation and agreed to update Annex XV taking account for changes in the EC customs legislation.

Ukraine’s priorities in the customs area include:

• Setting up the national computerasied transit system;;
• Accession to the Convention on common transit procedure and the Convention on the simplification of formalities in trade in goods;
• Implementation of the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) program and mutual recognition of the AEO;
• Approximate legislative provisions regarding protection of intellectual property rights during cross-border movement of goods and reliefs from customs duty to the EU standards;
• Introduce up-to-date customs control technologies to facilitate trade in goods between Ukraien and the EC.

The Roadmap on accession to the EU/EFTA common transit procedure was adopted in 2018 (http://sfs.gov.ua/data/files/229681.pdf). It includes all phases and steps required for the full implementation of the common transit rules, including application of NCTS. Ukraine has been receiving a considerable support for introduction of the common transit procedure and the AEO within the EU4PFM program.

Since 1 January 2019, Ukraine has started applying the provisions of the Regional Convention on Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Preferential Rules of Origin (PEM Convention) in bilateral trade with the EU.

The PEM Convention is an instrument that establishes identical rules of origin for goods used in the framework of free trade agreements between its contracting parties. The use of the PEM Convention increases export opportunities for Ukrainian producers, in particular by reducing the customs duty rates for import into countries that are parties to this Convention of products, made from raw materials or components imported from other countries that are parties to the PEM Convention.

Useful Links: 

• Association agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and Ukraine, of the other part: https://www.kmu.gov.ua/diyalnist/yevropejska-integraciya/ugoda-pro-asociacyu
• State Customs Service of Ukraine: http://www.customs.gov.ua/
• Directorate-General of Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD): https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/home_en
• World Customs Organisation (WCO): http://www.wcoomd.org/
• Information on the EU market's import rules for goods originated from Ukraine (and other countries): https://trade.ec.europa.eu/tradehelp/
• Tariff quota data: https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/dds2/taric/quota_consultation.jsp?Lang=en