On 5 June, the EU extended for another year the suspension of import duties, quotas and trade protection measures for Ukrainian exports to the European Union – known as Autonomous Trade Measures (ATMs).
“This strong testament to the EU’s unwavering support for Ukraine will help alleviate the difficult situation faced by Ukrainian producers and exporters because of Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression,” the European Commission said in a press release.
At the same time,the EU is phasing out by 15 September 2023 the exceptional and temporary preventive measures adopted on 2 May 2023 on imports of wheat, maize, rapeseed, and sunflower seed from Ukraine under the exceptional safeguard of the Autonomous Trade Measures Regulation. The scope of these measures is further reduced from 17 to 6 tariff lines for the four products covered.
These temporary and targeted measures were adopted due to logistical bottlenecks and limited grain storage capacity ahead of the harvest season experienced in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, and on the condition that member states do not maintain any restrictive measures. “The phase out will allow for significant improvements to be made to the Solidarity Lanes and to address challenges to get Ukrainian grain out of the country for this harvest,” says the EU.
To coordinate these efforts, the EU, its above-mentioned Member states, and Ukraine, have set up a Joint Coordination Platform. Its first kick-off meeting took place at technical level on 2 June.
