KIEV: The Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine proposed to revoke a ban on exports of round timber that alegedly causes alarm among the EU member states, reports Interfax-Ukraine.
According Maksym Nefyodov, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, a better option would be the introduction of new mechanisms for protecting the domestic market that meet the requirements and are more compatible with the interests of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“Ukrainian lawmakers along with their safeguard measures regarding timber caused a serious problem in relations between Ukraine and the EU. The 10-year ban on round wood exports made the EU and the WTO raise their concerns. We propose a draft-law that is supposed to resolve this issue: on the one hand, it stipulates revoking the ban in question and on the other hand the introduction of the mechanism designed to protect the domestic market without infringing the WTO regulations, and we hope that MPs will support it,” said Mr. Nefyodov this Wednesday.
Nefyodov suggested that a unified timber registration system should be created, while timber sale should be conducted in two stages – the first series of auctions would be organized for the local producers, while the seconds for the foreign ones during which they would be able to buy timber that had not been sold during the first domestic-market session.
Moreover, he underlined that the EU decision on providing the macro-financial assistance to Ukraine may highly depend on whether or not such a law will be introduced.
