European Union Agrees We Have Market Economy

Our state has at last been granted the status of a market- economy country, which was the subject of almost all the meetings between representatives of Ukraine and the European Union. As the European Union’s official website reports, the Council of Ministers of the European Commission has passed a resolution to grant Ukraine (as well as Albania, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Vietnam, and Mongolia) special market- economy treatment. Representatives of the Council of Ministers had promised as long ago as last May that they would follow the course of reforms in Ukraine during the summer and make a corresponding decision in the fall. The decision turned out to be, perhaps unexpectedly, in Ukraine’s favor.

The main advantage of our market nature being recognized is a mitigated procedure of antidumping investigations. The new rules in line with the decision made came into force on October 12. The recognition of this status for Ukraine by the European Commission is in fact the first step toward World Trade Organization membership. European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy stressed, welcoming the Council of Ministers’ decision, that “the extension of this treatment testifies to important economic reforms now underway in these countries. From now on, all transition economy countries, when joining the WTO, will be automatically included in this specific system.”

The special “market economy treatment” was first introduced in antidumping legislation in 1998 and was only valid for Russia and China, Interfax- Ukraine reports. This regime enabled exporters in these countries, depending on the situation, to act as market economy exporters, provided there is proof that prices and tariffs are not controlled by the state and function in the conditions of a market economy in line with antidumping requirements.