Updated terms of preferential trade with EU: reviewing the details of the updated agreement

Representatives of the EU member states have approved a preliminary agreement on resuming the suspension of import duties and quotas for Ukrainian exports to the EU until 5 June 2025. This was reported by the press service of the EU Council. The EU decided to strengthen the existing protective measures, which include taking into account any negative impact on the market of one or several member states.

The updated regulation will be in force from 6 June 2024 until 5 June 2025 and will cover the long-term suspension of all outstanding customs duties and quotas under Title IV of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU.

The regulation will also include two safeguard mechanisms to protect the EU market:

• a strengthened version of the existing mechanism, which will be applied on the basis of regular monitoring, allowing the Commission to apply any measure subject to specific conditions;
• a new automatic safeguard mechanism that will oblige the Commission to re-impose tariff quotas if imports of poultry, eggs, sugar, oats, maize, cereals and honey exceed the arithmetic average of the volumes imported in the second half of 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Key elements of the preliminary agreement:

• Expansion of the scope of the automatic safeguard mechanism to include additional products (oats, corn, cereals and honey);
  reduction of the automatic safeguard triggering period from 21 to 14 days;
• Extension of the baseline period for determining whether imports exceed a certain threshold (adding the second half of 2021 to the 2022-2023 period);
• the Commission's commitment to intensify the monitoring of grain imports, in particular wheat, and to use the instruments at its disposal in the event of market disruptions, as well as to take the necessary steps in accordance with the Association Agreement with Ukraine, to continue the process of mutual tariff liberalisation as soon as possible, in consultation with Ukraine.

The Parliament's position is expected to be approved at the second plenary session in April during the first reading. After that, the Regulation will be adopted by the Council, signed by the representatives of the Council and the European Parliament, and published in the Official Journal by 6 June 2024, when it will enter into force.