The preliminary assessment mission of the EU reports on Ukraine’s readiness for industrial visa free regime

Following the results of seven months of work of the preliminary assessment mission of the European Union, a final report on the readiness of the quality infrastructure for the signing the Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (ACAA), the so-called "industrial visa-free regime" was presented at the  Ministry of  Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine.

The meeting was held on May 5 under the chairmanship of  Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine - Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka with the participation of the experts of the preliminary EU assessment mission, representatives of the European Commission and the EU Delegation to Ukraine.

"The expert working group held a total of 18 online meetings, which resulted in a number of recommendations. It is necessary to expand the list of EU documents for assessment in order to conclude the ACAA Agreement, a new format of Tables of compliance of Ukrainian legislation with EU legislation and improve translations. At the same time, European experts noted that over the past 10 years, Ukraine has achieved significant results in implementing EU legislation in priority sectors, " Taras Kachka commented.

The assessment work was carried out concerning compliance of horizontal and vertical legislation of Ukraine on technical regulation, standardization, metrology, conformity assessment, accreditation, market surveillance and consumer protection with EU legislation.

The European side, in turn, commended the constructive and highly professional dialogue with Ukrainian experts, which began in October 2020 as part of the previous EU assessment mission. The attention was paid to the importance of implementing technical assistance projects in the development of Ukraine's quality infrastructure. Additional meetings will be held in the near future on further steps to attract technical assistance.

According to the meeting outcomes, the European side is expected to officially wrap up the work of the preliminary EU assessment mission. The next step will be the start of work on obtaining a mandate to negotiate the conclusion of the ACAA Agreement.

Background

The EU-Ukraine Association stipulates for the establishment of an "industrial visa-free regime", i.e. products manufactured in Ukraine and covered by the ACAA Agreement will be marked accordingly, and the relevant certificates for such products will be recognized in the European Union without additional testing.

The first priority sectors of industrial products for "industrial visa-free travel" are low-voltage electrical equipment, electromagnetic compatibility of equipment, machinery.