The European Parliament adopted by 586 votes to 1, with 7 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the draft Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of the Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine on the carriage of goods by road.
Parliament gave its consent to the conclusion of the agreement.
Road freight transport between the European Union and Ukraine is currently governed by two main mechanisms, namely the bilateral transport agreements between EU Member States and Ukraine and permits granted in the framework the ECMT multilateral quota system within the International Transport Forum. Both these mechanisms impose quotas on hauliers from both sides, regarding transit and bilateral trade.
Since the increased use of the number of transport operations by road compared to normal times would exceed the quotas set out in the bilateral agreements between Member States and Ukraine and given via the ECMT within the International Transport Forum, this Agreement on road transport between the European Union and Ukraine would therefore replace existing bilateral transport agreements between Member States and Ukraine and facilitate the use of alternative transport by road for operators, as bilateral operations and transit would be liberalised between the two Parties.
In addition, since the beginning of the Russian-led war against Ukraine, many Ukrainian drivers are no longer able to follow the administrative procedures related to driver documents such as international driving permit applications or issuances of new documents in the event of lost or stolen documents. This Agreement will enable the two Parties to address these issues under exceptional circumstances.
The Agreement provides for measures that:
- exempt drivers from the requirement to present an international driving permit;
- recognise decisions taken by Ukraine to extend the administrative validity of driver documents and;
- facilitate the exchange of information between the competent authorities of the two Parties with the aim of combatting fraud and forgery of driver documents.