Ukraine starts bilateral meetings with EU on free movement of goods
On 3 March 2025, bilateral meetings between the representatives of Ukraine and the European Commission started in Brussels, Belgium, within the framework of the official screening of the compliance of Ukrainian legislation with EU law under Chapter 1 – Free movement of goods, which is part of Cluster 2 – Internal Market.
Bilateral meetings within the framework of the screening are an integral part of the negotiation process of Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.
Vitaliy Kindrativ, Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine, and Taras Kachka, Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Representative of Ukraine, are making presentations offline in Brussels.
Speaking online, the Chief Negotiator, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and Minister of Justice of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna reaffirmed Ukraine’s priority to accelerate its integration into the EU, in particular through the fulfilment of commitments and the conclusion of the Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (ACAA). She also reaffirmed the commitment to bring national legislation in line with EU law within the relevant section.
“We see the free movement of goods as a key pillar of our accession to the EU, as well as a key element of our economic resilience. The full alignment of the Ukrainian legal framework with the European one is our commitment in this process. At the same time, over the past decade since the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU, Ukraine has demonstrated a high level of harmonisation of its free movement of goods legislation with EU legislation and has fully reoriented itself towards European standards. This work will remain a priority for us,” the Deputy Prime Minister stressed.
The screening meetings under negotiating Chapter 1 will last four days. The Ukrainian delegation will present reports covering the following issues:
On 3 March – issues on Free Movement / Non-Harmonised Products, Conformity Assessment, Conformity Labelling and Technical Regulation, Standardisation, Market Surveillance and Product Liability, Construction Products, and the Law on Zero Emission Industry;
On 4 March – issues related to Metrology, Transport Legislation, Technical Equipment and Related Requirements, and Pressure Equipment;
On 5 March – issues on Industrial Products, Electrical and Electronic Equipment, EU Basic Chemicals Legislation, and Other Chemical Products;
On 6 March – issues related to footwear and textiles, eco-design, defence products, firearms, crystal products, cultural goods, pricing of medicines, regulation of forced labour.
The Ukrainian side was represented, both online and offline, by Andrii Kreitor, Deputy Head of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection (offline), Volodymyr Hevko, Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Budget, representatives of the Ministry of Economy, the National Accreditation Agency, the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Health, the State Emergency Service, the State Service for Export Control, the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving, and others.
Background
The free movement of goods is one of the four fundamental freedoms that ensure the effective functioning of the EU’s internal market. The principle of free movement of goods means that goods must move freely from one part of the European Union to another. In a number of sectors, this general principle is complemented by a harmonised regulatory framework that follows the “old approach” (setting precise product specifications) or the “new approach” (setting general product requirements).
The harmonised European product legislation that needs to be transposed constitutes the largest part of the legislation in this chapter. In addition, sufficient administrative capacity is needed to implement trade restrictions and horizontal and procedural measures in areas such as standardisation, conformity assessment, accreditation, metrology and market surveillance.