<\/p>\n
On October 7, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine registered a draft Law \u201cOn Amendments to the Customs Tariff of Ukraine on Unification of Import Duty Rates on Certain Goods\u201d (\u21166149). The document proposes to increase (or unify) import duty rates for the vast majority of crop protection products from 0% to 2%.<\/span><\/p>\n The initiators of this draft law forecast that the unification of import duty rates will lead to\u00a0<\/span>“simplification of the classification procedure and acceleration of customs clearance of goods with no need for laboratory testing.”<\/span><\/em>\u00a0However, according to business representatives, this is unlikely to happen because, for most commodity items, which are classified as CPPs, the current rate of import duty is 0%, and increasing it to 2% will not affect the complexity of the classification procedure and the speed of customs inspections. Instead, systematic and consistent reform of the Customs is required. And it should aim for providing better service and not for filling the state budget.<\/span><\/p>\n What is more important is that this initiative can foster the development of unfair competition in the CPP market, as it will put some international companies in an unequal position not only concerning local producers but also to international CPP importing companies that import products from EU member states at a rate of 0%. As a result, this initiative, according to business representatives, will negatively affect the sentiments of investors.<\/span><\/p>\n