This renewal reaffirms the EU’s unwavering political and economic support for Ukraine, after two years of Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression. 

At the same time, the EU has decided to reinforce the protection of sensitive agricultural products by beefing up safeguards already included in the currently applicable autonomous trade measures, which includes taking into account any adverse impact on the market of one or several member states, rather than just on the EU market as a whole (as is the case now). A new automatic safeguard will also be added for certain sensitive products, such as poultry, eggs, sugar, oats, maize, groats and honey.

The autonomous trade measures (ATMs) will allow Ukraine to continue generating its own income from trade flows with the EU, which is important to support its economy. Coupled with the EU’s extensive military, financial and humanitarian support, this will help Ukraine with its long-term recovery as well as its gradual integration into the EU internal market.

Main elements of the regulation

The regulation will apply from 6 June 2024 until 5 June 2025 and concerns the continued suspension of all outstanding customs duties and quotas under Title IV of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement (DCFTA).

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

• a strengthened version of the existing mechanism, which will apply on the basis of regular monitoring, allowing the Commission to impose any measure provided that specific conditions are met;
• a new, automatic safeguard mechanism which will oblige the Commission to reintroduce tariff-rate quotas if imports of poultry, eggs, sugar, oats, maize, groats and honey exceed the arithmetic mean of quantities imported in the second half of 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Key elements of the provisional agreement

• extending the scope of the automatic safeguard mechanism to include four additional products (oats, maize, groats and honey)
• shortening of the time period for activation of the automatic safeguard from 21 to 14 days
• extending the reference period to determine if imports exceed a certain threshold (adding the second half of 2021 to the period 2022-2023)
• the Commission’s commitment to enhanced monitoring of imports of grain, in particular wheat, and to use of the tools at its disposal in the event of market disruptions, as well as a commitment to take the necessary steps under the Association Agreement with Ukraine, as soon as the new ATMs are adopted, to pursue, through consultations with Ukraine, the process of reciprocal tariff liberalisation

Next steps

The European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade is invited to confirm the outcome of the interinstitutional negotiations tomorrow.

The Parliament’s position at first reading is then expected to be adopted at the second plenary session in April.

The regulation will then be adopted by the Council, signed by the representatives of the Council and the European Parliament and published in the Official Journal, before entering into force on 6 June 2024.

Background

On 31 January 2024, the European Commission proposed extending the suspension of import duties and quotas on all imports from Ukraine to the EU for another year. The proposal was presented in the context of Russia’s continuing war of aggression against Ukraine, the resulting need to continue to support Ukraine economically, and considering that Ukraine was granted EU candidate status in June 2022 and accession negotiations were opened in December 2023.