EU Frees Ukrainian Textiles

The European Union and Ukraine have agreed to make their respective markets from next year on more open to the textile and garment trade. Under a treaty signed in Brussels during the third meeting of the Ukraine-EU Commission, Kyiv has pledged to cut customs tariffs for textile and clothing items imported from European Union member states. Brussels has agreed in its turn to lift all restrictions on textiles being imported from Ukraine. All the documents required to validate the textile agreements will be approved early next year, the European Union’s Internet site reports. Welcoming the agreement signed, EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy stressed: “This deal is part of the community’s strategy to actively seek access to Third World markets for our textile industry. The agreement also manifests the European Union’s desire to grant our partners access to our market by way of increasing or lifting quotas. In the case of Ukraine, we opted for the latter.”

Under the new textile agreement, which will remain in effect until December 31, 2004, Ukraine lifts all its existing customs tariffs on textiles and garments from the European Union. Kyiv can impose some tariffs on imported textile goods only if they do not exceed the EU ones set under the World Trade Organization (WTO) regulations. Should Ukraine levy any restrictive tariffs, it must duly notify Brussels before March 2001. In all probability, such restrictions will be imposed with respect to garments and carpets. It is only after receipt of this information that the EU will cancel its own quotas for the import of Ukrainian textiles.

Ukraine and the EU have also come to terms about certain concessions as the initial step in textile liberalization. In particular, this means Kyiv will reduce tariffs on EU garments and other finished goods by 13% and those on carpets by 17%. In response, the EU is to increase quotas for the import of Ukrainian men’s shirts and trousers by 70%, women’s shirts and blouses by 70%, women’s coats by 40%, men’s suits by 30%, and women’s dresses by 70%.