Safeguard duties on import of passenger cars to Ukraine will be revoked as of 30 September 2015. The respective decision was taken by the Interdepartmental Commission on Foreign Trade upon the recommendation of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, that followed, in its turn, the decision of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body.
The safeguard duties were imposed by Ukraine after the conduct of safeguard investigation on imports of passenger cars to Ukraine, regardless of country of origin. These measures were imposed on 14 March 2013 for a duration of three years. The level of safeguard duties varied upon the engine volume of a vehicle, i.e.:
- 6.46% for passenger cars with an engine volume of 1000 cm3 – 1500 cm3 (UKTZED code 8703221000);
- 12.95% for passenger cars with an engine volume of 1500 cm3 – 2200 cm3(UKTZED code 8703231910).
The rates of safeguard duties were liberalized by one-third every yearand reached the level of 2.15% and 4.32% at the time when the decision of the WTO Panel was rendered.
Just to remind: being one of the major exporters of passenger cars to Ukraine, Japan initiated the WTO dispute settlement procedure in 2013. The EU, India, Korea, Russia and Turkey reserved their third-party rights. Subsequently, Australia and the United States did so as well. On 26 June 2015, the Panel report was circulated to the Members, and, on 20 July 2015, it was adopted by the dispute settlement body, having, accordingly, become binding for Ukraine. Later on the same day, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine decided to implement the dispute settlement body's recommendations in a manner that respects its WTO obligations and to revoke the safeguard duties.
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