EU asks for a panel with Ukraine on wood export ban
Dispute settlement | Brussels, 21 June 2019
The EU requested yesterday the establishment of an arbitration panel under the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement on Ukraine’s export ban on unprocessed wood.
The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement prohibits any form of export restrictions. The EU considers therefore that keeping in place since 2005 a permanent ban on exports of sawn wood violates the terms of the agreement. This is also the case for the additional ten-year ban on exports of all unprocessed wood effective since 2015.
The EU has raised the issue of the export ban with the Ukraine authorities at all levels and instances since 2015. The ban remains though in place, which is why the EU has decided to launch a formal dispute settlement procedure.
The current panel request comes after consultations with the Ukrainian government held in Kyiv on 7 February 2019, which failed to resolve the matter. The EU hopes that the matter can be resolved during the arbitration panel proceedings and that Ukraine eliminates the trade restrictions in line with the requirements of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
Enforcement of international trade rules has been identified as a top priority in the Commission’s ''Trade for All'' strategy of 2015. This step shows that the EU takes implementation and enforcement of our trade agreements seriously.
