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Working Party meetings
On the 15
th of 1993, pursuant to Resolution No. 730 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine,
dated 15 September 1993, an Inter-Departmental Commission for Issues of the Accession
of Ukraine to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was established, and
on the 30
th of November Ukraine submitted an official application to the GATT Secretariat.
The formal process of accession may be regarded as having been commenced with
the establishment of the Working Party on the Accession of Ukraine to GATT on
17
th of December 1993, which Working Party is currently chaired by Mario Matus, the
Ambassador of Chile to the WTO (the previous Chairmen of the Working Party were:
Andrew Stoler, the USA, and Sergio Marki, Canada). Presently, the Working
Party of Ukraine includes 42 Members of the WTO (see the Table.), but their number can change. Members of the Working Party
on the Accession of Ukraine to the WTO
(from the 1
st of May 2004, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and the
Czech Republic, which were earlier separate Members of the Working Party, acceded
to the European Communities)
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Argentina |
Canada |
Paraguay | |
Australia |
Kyrgyzstan |
Peru | |
Brasilia |
China |
Romania | |
Bulgaria |
Columbia |
Salvador | |
Honduras |
Republic of Korea |
USA | |
Georgia |
Cuba |
Thailand | |
Djibouti |
Malaysia |
Taiwan | |
Dominican Republic |
Morocco |
Turkey | |
Ecuador |
Mexico |
Hungary | European Communities and
Member States |
Moldova |
Uruguay | |
Egypt |
Mongolia |
Croatia | |
Israel |
New Zeeland |
Switzerland | |
India |
Norway |
Sri Lanka | |
Iceland |
Panama |
Japan |
Meetings of the Working Party are the main elements of the WTO accession process,
at which meetings intermediary results are summed up and the degree of preparedness
of a candidate for WTO membership is determined. Sixteen official meetings
of the Working Party on the Accession of Ukraine to the WTO have been held over
13 years (sometimes, informal meetings have been held). The summary of the
issues and matters that have been considered and the resolutions that have been
passed at each of the meetings are set forth below.
Chronology of the Meetings
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1. |
27 – 28 February 1995
Monitoring of the status of economic reforms and the process of reformation
of the foreign trade regime of Ukraine pursuant to the WTO rules and principles
in view of the Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Regime that was submitted by
Ukraine on the 26
th of July 1994. Responses to the request of the Members of the Working Party.
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2. |
11 – 12 December 1995
Further analysis of the trade regime and its compliance with the WTO rules.
It was resolved to conduct negotiations on access to markets for goods on
the basis of the Concept for transforming the Tariff System proposed by Ukraine.
In the meanwhile, Ukraine had to carry out the tariffication of non-trade
barriers to trading in agricultural products and to harmonize national law
in accordance with the requirements of the WTO Agreements. | |
3. |
24 – 25 June 1996
Analysis of the process of harmonization of Ukrainian foreign trade law in
accordance with the WTO requirements on the basis of informational materials
and answers to the questions poised by the Members of the WTO. The Schedule
of Specific Commitments of Ukraine in the area of services had to be further
improved. The position of the Ukrainian Government in respect of equalization
of the trade and payments balances through the reduction of imports was regarded
as inconsistent with the WTO rules and principles. The system of non-tariff
regulation in Ukraine does not comply with the WTO requirements.
Ukraine had to improve agreements on free trade and industrial cooperation
within the CIS, which agreements were inconsistent with the principles of non-discriminating
trade of the WTO system. | |
4. |
6 – 7 May 1997
The report on results of the first round of negations on access to markets
for goods and services. Analysis of the process of harmonization of the
system for the State regulation of foreign economic activities in accordance
with the WTO rules: the system of non-tariff regulation of imports in Ukraine
was not transparent, did not comply with the requirements of the WTO Agreements.
Analysis of the draft of the Customs Code of Ukraine was generally assessed
positively, but there was a range of comments.
Commitments of Ukraine regarding the harmonization of the system of State
support of the agro-industrial complex in accordance with the requirements
of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture: the Working Party did not agree with
the position of Ukraine regarding the choice of the base period of 1986 – 1990;
Ukraine had to forgo subsidizing exports of products of the agro-industrial
complex. | |
5. |
24 – 25 November 1997
Summarizing of results of bilateral negations on access to markets for goods
and services.
Information on State support of agriculture.
Review of tax law on the basis of the Memorandum on Tax Issues prepared by
the Ukrainian party. The problems were identified: different rates of excise
duties and VAT for analogous domestic and imported goods; violation of the
WTO rules in the Law “On Stimulation of Automobile Manufacture in Ukraine”
(statements from the delegations of the EU and the USA).
Review of the regime of standardization and certification. The following
tasks were identified: to establish an informational center for standardization
and certification; to resolve the issue of mutual recognition of certificates;
to bring the system of standardization and certification into conformity with
the requirements of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade.
Review of the system of sanitary and phytosanitary measures.
The following intentions of Ukraine were positively perceived: to accede
to the Reference Paper; to reduce the tariff rates for the group of goods,
which are covered by the Information Technology Agreement, to the level of
zero by 2005; not to use export subsidizing for agriculture. |
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6. |
10 June 1998
There were concerns caused by the deterioration of the trading and investment
regime of Ukraine, which had occurred recently, and concerns caused by the
invariable practices of discrimination in respect of VAT and excise duty taxation
and application of minimum customs value.
Summarizing of results of the bilateral negotiations on access to markets
for goods and services.
Further review of issues relating to State support of agriculture, standardization
and certification, sanitary and phytosanitary rules.
The Ukrainian delegation disseminated a Memorandum on Protection of Intellectual
Property Rights in Ukraine. | |
7. |
12 July 2000
A 2-year break between the 6
th and 7
th meetings delayed the process of Ukraine’s accession to the WTO. As a
result of the 2-year stagnation, the previous results in many areas of the
negotiations were brought to naught. Therefore, the 7
th meeting became of an informative nature, and renewal of multilateral and
bilateral negotiations on the accession of Ukraine to the WTO should be considered
as the main result of this meeting. | |
8. |
13 – 14 June 2001
Status and prospects of bilateral negotiations on access to markets for goods
and services.
Discussion of issues relating to State support of agriculture.
Discussion of information materials that were prepared by the Ukrainian party,
to wit: review of legislative acts and draft laws as to their conformity to
the WTO Agreements; answers to the consolidated request of the Members of the
Working Party; a mechanism of implementation of legislation in high-profile
areas of trade relations; fees that were collected at the time of importation
of goods into the customs territory of Ukraine; a Schedule for the approval
of draft laws for a period of 18 months; review of law in the area of protection
of intellectual property rights.
The pre-condition of completing the process of negotiations on the accession
of Ukraine to the WTO is the unconditional fulfillment of the Schedule for
the approval of high-priority draft laws to harmonize Ukrainian legislation
in accordance with the WTO rules. | |
9. |
25 – 26 June 2002
Harmonization of Ukrainian legislation in accordance with the WTO requirements:
15 laws out of 20 laws specified in the Schedule for the approval of high-priority
draft laws were passed. The Members of the Working Party were provided a
new Schedule listing 15 draft laws for approval by March 2003.
Discussion of documents provided by the Ukrainian party on issues of customs
valuation, import licensing, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary
measures, protection of intellectual property rights, tax law, the veterinary
regime and other aspects of the trade regime.
A resolution was passed to prepare a checklist of questions on the trade regime
of Ukraine. Responses to these questions would be used as a basis for preparation
of final documents: the Report of the Working Party and Protocol of Accession
of Ukraine to the WTO.
The multilateral meeting of Members of the Working Party on agricultural issues.
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10. |
25 February 2003
Progress in the bilateral negotiations on access to markets for goods and
services. Review of answers to the checklist of questions on the foreign
trade regime. A resolution was passed to prepare the first version (literally,
“elements”) of the draft Report of the Working Party. | |
11. |
27 October 2003
Review of the elements of the draft Report of the Working Party. All
delegations attending the meeting supported a proposal of the Chairman of the
Working Party to move from preparation of elements of the draft Report of the
Working Party to working on a full-scale draft Report. Thus, Ukraine entered
officially into the final stage of formation of commitments relating to the
WTO membership.
A multilateral meeting of the Members of the Working Party on agricultural
issues: a principle agreement was reached as to the methodology of calculation
of the aggregate measurement of State support for the agro-industrial sector
in Ukraine. | |
12. |
26 April 2004
Commencement of an official discussion of the full-scale Report of the Working
Party and determination of further steps aimed to speed up the accession of
Ukraine to the WTO. A detailed discussion of each of 7 sections in the draft
Report.
A multilateral meeting of the Members of the Working Party on agricultural
issues.
Bilateral negotiations on access to the markets for goods and services. | |
13. |
20 September 2004
Review of the draft Report of the Working Party, in particular the Sections
that relate to taxation, subsidizing and price setting in Ukraine.
Bilateral negotiations. | |
14. |
22 March 2005
Review of the draft Report of the Working Party. The draft is 70% agreed,
and additional information and clarifications need to be provided in respect
of certain Sections.
Bilateral negotiations.
A multilateral meeting on issues of agriculture. | |
15. |
23 November 2005
A schedule of work between Ukraine and the WTO for the first half of 2006
was formulated. | |
16. |
15 June 2006
State support of agriculture: Members of the WTO keep insisting on the change
of the base period from 1994 – 1996 to a later period and of the correction
of the aggregate measure of support (AMS) through the elimination of tax benefits.
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17. |
25 January 2008
Members of the Working Party adopted the “accession package” of Ukraine: the
Report of the Working Party, the schedules of commitments of Ukraine in goods
and services, a draft decision of the WTO General Council and a draft Protocol
of accession. On February 5, 2008, the accession package was considered and approved by
the WTO General Council. The President of Ukraine and Director General of the
WTO signed the Protocol of Accession of Ukraine to the WTO.
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