Monday, February 23, 2009

President Signs the Law Providing 13% Surcharge to Import Customs Duty

On 20 February 2009 the President signed the Law providing legal amendments aimed at balance of payment improvement due to financial crisis. It is expected to reduce the volume of imported goods and consequently decrease the flow of currency abroad by provision of temporary 13% surcharge to customs duty on imported uncritical goods.

The Law defines the list of uncritical import goods subject to 13% surcharge. It includes meat and meat products, food and non-food products of animal origin, alcoholic beverages, textile and clothing, electric heaters, refrigerators, motor vehicles. This list is not exhaustive and may be amended at the suggestion of the Cabinet of Ministers adopted by the Ukrainian Parliament.

The term of application of 13% surcharge is 6 months and may be prolonged for up to 1 year by the Cabinet of Ministers. Notwithstanding this the Ukrainian Parliament may cancel 13% surcharge at any moment. The Law comes into force in 10 calendar days after its official publication.

The Law doesn’t explain applicability of 13% surcharge to import goods originated from states members to free trade agreements with Ukraine. For example, the Multilateral Agreement on Establishment of Free Trade Zone[1] provides customs duty exemption for goods originated from CIS states. Considering that the Law treats 13% surcharge as a customs duty it is subject to exemption under the abovementioned international agreement which prevails over national laws of Ukraine. Consequently 13% surcharge to customs duty on imported uncritical goods is unlikely to be applicable to goods originated from CIS and Macedonia.



[1] §1, Article 3 of the Multilateral Agreement on Establishment of Free Trade Zone, dated 15 April 1994

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well I to but I think the brief should secure more info then it has.