September 25 2002, 15:20 UNIAN

Parliament of Ukraine considered bill about cancellation of seasonal duties

Verkhovna Rada has considered in first reading a bill of amendments into the law about state regulation of agricultural products imports. The draft law was submitted by President. It stipulates removal of articles, regulating application of seasonal duties on imports of agricultural products and non-tariff regulation of livestock products imports, from the above-mentioned law.

According to experts, adoption of such amendments will promote harmonisation of national legislation with the requirements of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which is an essential condition of Ukraine's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). According to Part 2 of Article 4 of the Agreement on Agriculture, WTO members are to substitute non-tariff measures of regulating agricultural products imports, including quoting of imported products, for tariff methods (i.e. establishment of duties), except as stipulated by the Agreement.

At the same time the specialists note that removal of the article about seasonal duties from the law would mean for Ukraine a loss of an important instrument for protection of its agricultural market. They say the institution of seasonal duties should not be simply cancelled, but rather should be corrected in accordance with requirements of the Agreement on Agriculture clause, regulating usage of tariff restrictive measures against imports of specific agricultural goods. This will allow using permitted by GATT/WTO measures to protect domestic market of Ukraine from imports of agricultural goods in too large amounts or at too low prices.