How European Commission wants to change the "transport visa-free" and what it means for Ukrainian hauliers

The European Union aims to extend the "transport visa-free regime" with Ukraine, allowing bilateral freight moving to continue without permits. But it wants to make the Agreement more efficient for all.

In order to prevent imbalance in the Ukraine-EU transport market, the European Commission proposes changes to the Agreement. Relevant proposals for discussion have already been sent to the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine.

Read more about the proposed changes and Ukraine's stance in the column by Serhii Derkach, Deputy Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure – Extension of transport visa-free: European Commission conditions and Ukraine's stance.

The author writes that last autumn, this very Agreement, according to Polish hauliers, was the key reason for blocking the border with Ukraine. According to them, the Agreement caused an imbalance in the bilateral transport market.

Serhii Derkach notes that Ukraine disagrees with the Polish hauliers, and can "confirmed it with the numbers."

"It is important that the Agreement has had a positive impact not only on the Ukrainian market but also on imports from EU countries to Ukraine by road transport, which increased by a third," writes the Deputy Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine.

So the European Commission proposes to make the Agreement more effective.

According to the author, a key victory is its extension not for a year, but for 18 months to ensure predictability and stability in the road transport market.

"As part of the changes to the Agreement and for its effective implementation, it is proposed to create a special working group. It should consist of 16 members – eight from the EU and eight from Ukraine," adds Serhii Derkach.

Furthermore, as the Deputy Minister notes, the European Commission proposes to require all drivers, not only Ukrainian ones, to have a license for transportation.

According to him, European colleagues propose creating an information exchange system between competent authorities.

In addition, another proposal, which the author is confident can be easily implemented, is special marking for lorries, Ukrainian and EU. This refers to markings for vehicles performing transportation in accordance with the Agreement.

The Deputy Minister notes that some proposals need to be clarified.

For example, it is proposed that lorries leaving Ukraine empty should have documents for the transported goods.

"The liberalisation agreement also proposes to supplement the provision on informing the Agreement parties about hauliers who systematically violate the rules. It is about significant violations of traffic rules, cabotage and document forgery. Here, the European Commission proposes to create a mechanism for sanctions against such hauliers for each side," writes the author.

The most disputable is the possibility for one side, in this case the EU, to suspend the Agreement's operation fully or partially in certain geographical areas, for example, in one or several states, in case of significant imbalance in the bilateral transport market, according to the Deputy Minister.

As the ministry claims, both the directly proposed provision and the definition of a "serious market threat" need to be more clear.

"And this is what we will insist on," the Deputy Minister says.

The good news is that even the implementation of the corresponding provision requires a decision by the Joint Committee of the Agreement. In other words, it must be supported by the EU majority.