The European Parliament adopted by 531 votes to 68, with 20 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the reduction or elimination of customs duties on goods originating in Ukraine.
Parliament adopted its position at first reading following the ordinary legislative procedure. The amendments adopted in plenary are the result of an agreement negotiated between the European Parliament and the Council.
Following the unprecedented events recently experienced by Ukraine and the political, economic and security challenges that the country is facing, the Regulation would unilaterally eliminate or suspend temporarily the trade barriers (customs duties, quotas or tariffs) in respect of imports from Ukraine into the Union, at a level bilaterally agreed by the two parties in the EU-Ukraine Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) negotiations.
This unilateral trade measure should :
· remove 94.7% of EU tariffs currently charged on industrial goods imports from Ukraine and reduce them for the remaining handful of industrial goods;
· remove EU tariffs on over 80% of Ukraines farm produce exports.
However, the EU will restrict the amounts of sensitive products, such as cereals, pork, beef, poultry, and processed food, that may be imported tariff free, so as not to harm the interests of EU producers of these products.
In order to prevent any risk of fraud, the entitlement to benefit from autonomous trade preferences should be conditional on compliance by Ukraine with the relevant rules of origin of products and the procedures related thereto, as well as on its involvement in effective administrative cooperation with the Union.
A safeguard clause would permit the Commission to suspend in whole or in part the preferential regime when imports from Ukraine covered by the Regulation cause or threaten to cause serious difficulties for Union producers of similar or directly competing products.