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Duties on the import of eggs and sugar from Ukraine have been restored in the EU

by AI | 04.Jul 2024 | Europe in brief AI

Ukraine can continue exporting food to the EU under liberalized rules, but some goods – eggs, poultry, honey, sugar, oats, corn, and groats – have been subject to quantitative restrictions.

Photo: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP

The European Union reinstated tariffs on imports of eggs and sugar from Ukraine on Tuesday. It thus used the so-called safety brake provided for in the new regulation extending free trade with Ukraine until June 2025.

Trade in agricultural products with Ukraine was liberalized in June 2022. In this way, the EU supported Ukrainian producers who found themselves in a difficult situation after the Russian attack on their country.

Regulations lifting tariffs and quotas are in effect for one year. The EU has twice extended trade liberalization with Ukraine, but this year restrictions were introduced.

Ukraine can continue to export food to the EU under liberalized rules, but some goods – eggs, poultry, honey, sugar, oats, corn, and groats – are subject to quantitative restrictions. When calculating these restrictions, the average from 2023, 2022, and the first half of 2021 is taken into account. If import volumes exceed the average from this period, the European Commission can trigger the so-called safety brake leading to the reintroduction of tariffs.

This has already happened in the case of oats; from Tuesday – with the publication of two regulations in the EU Official Journal – tariff protection also applies to egg and sugar exporters.

Tariffs will be reinstated until the end of 2024. The EU will apply the basic rate to egg and sugar producers that applies to other third countries under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. As of January 1, 2025, tariffs may be waived again.

Free trade with Ukraine under the current rules will remain in effect until June 5, 2025. (02.07.2024)