WT/REG247/R/I  
 
4 February 2016  
(16-0744)  Page: 1/8  
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements  Original: English  
 
UKRAINE-KAZAKHSTAN IMPLEMENTATION REPORT  
 This Implementation Report has been draf ted in accordance with Article 15 of the 
Transparency Mechanism Decision and following the draft guidelines contained in JOB/REG/4 
issued in January 2013. 
  This report does not prejudge the Parties' po sition on the concept and the duration of the 
implementation periods in FTAs and their relationship to the "reasonable length of time" within the 
meaning of Art. XXIV: 5(c) of the GATT 1994 or "the reasonable time-frame" within Art. V: 1(b) of the GATS.   
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1  BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE AGREEMENT 
1.1.  The Free Trade Agreement between the Cabi net of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government 
of the Republic of Kazakhstan was signed on  17 September 1994 and entered into force on 
19 October 1998. The Agreement was notified to the WTO on 18 August 2008 by Ukraine. 
1.2.  In 2011 the CIS countries signed FTA, which had to replace bilateral FTAs. However, 
Ukrainian bilateral agreements, including FTA with Kazakhstan, still remain in force. 
1.3.  The Agreement covers only trade in goods as defined by Article XXIV: 7(a) of GATT 1994. 
Statistical data on trade in goods between the Parties as well as some indications on Parties' 
import coverage after full implementation of the Ukraine-Kazakhstan FTA can be found in Annex 1 of this report. Annex 2 contains information on Ukraine's trade defence measures. 
2  PROVISIONS ON TRADE IN GOODS 
2.1  Import duties, charges and quantitative restrictions 2.1.  The Parties committed not to apply import tariffs, taxes and charges on imports from another 
Party higher than those imposed on domestic goods or imports from third countries. 
2.2.  Rules for transportation, storage and payments for goods originating in another Party should 
not differ from those applied to domestic goods or goods from third countries. 
2.3.  If needed, exemptions from the free trade regime are issued as separate protocols. 
2.1.1  Tariffs 
2.4.  Duty-free trade regime is applied for majori ty of goods; however there are some exemptions 
(see 2.3). 
2.5.  No tariff quotas are applied under Agreement. 
2.1.2  Quantitative restrictions 2.6.  Parties committed that they would avoid introducing quantitative or other special restrictions 
except the cases they are justified under GATT and for a strictly defined time period. WT/REG247/R/I 
 
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  2.7.  Ukraine applied import quotas on cane  sugar from 1998 to 2001 and from 2003 to 2004; 
however, Ukraine did not import cane sugar from Kazakhstan. Import quotas on selected types of coal and coke were introduced in Ukraine in 2013. Imports from Kazakhstan in 2013 and 2014 were under quota among other suppliers. 
2.1.3  Products excluded from liberalization  
2.8.  Protocol №398_0271 (1994) envisaging exemptions from th e Agreement is an integral part of 
the Agreement. 
2.9.  Ukraine imposes export tariffs on some bovine animals (cows and sheep) and leathers and 
skins. Kazakhstan excluded from free trade regime alcohol and non-alcohol beverages as well as 
tobacco produced in Ukraine. 
2.1.4  Final tariff schedule applied by RTA parties 2.10.  Duty-free trade is implemented over the en tire tariff schedule unless exemptions are agreed 
upon between the parties and respective protocols are ratified by both Parties. 
2.2  Export duties, charges and quantitative restrictions 
2.2.1  Tariffs 
2.11.  No export duties, or taxes and charges of equivalent effect should be applied by the Parties 
in bilateral merchandise trade.  
2.12.  However, Ukraine imposed export duties on waste and scrap of metal since 2006. According 
to the Law of Ukraine № 441-V
2, this export duty is applied i rrespective of existing free trade 
agreements. 
2.2.2  Quantitative restrictions 
2.13.  Parties committed that they would avoid introd uction of quantitative or other special exports 
restrictions except cases justified under GATT and for a strictly defined time period. 
2.14.  Ukraine has applied export quotas on selected types of precious metals and stones since 
1992. Since 2012 export quotas were applied to some non-renewable natural resources, in 
particular, on natural gas of the Ukrainian origin, slag, ash and residues containing copper and zinc. 
2.3  Regulatory provisions on trade in goods 
2.3.1  Rules of origin  2.15.  For the purposes of the Agreement, the good s originating from the customs territories of the 
Parties are defined as follows: (a) completely produc ed in the territory of the Party; (b) processed 
in the territory of the Party using inputs from th ird countries; (c) produced using inputs from third 
countries. 
2.16.  Detailed rules of origin had to be ag reed upon by parties in a separate document. 
2.17.  Both Ukraine and Kazakhstan were the Parties to the Rules of Origin of Goods dated 
September 24, 1993
3, which was signed by the CIS member states. Later both Parties were the 
signatories of the new Decree on Rules of Origin of Goods4, signed by the CIS members in 2001, 
                                               
1 http://zakon3.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/398_027   
2 http://zakon2.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/441-16 
3 http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/997_055  
4 http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/997_484   WT/REG247/R/I 
 
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  as well as current Agreement on Rules of Origin of Goods in Commonwealth of Independent 
States5, which entered in force in 2011. 
2.18.  No special references to the WTO Agreement on Rules of Origin are included in the Article I 
of the Agreement. 
2.3.2  Non-tariff barriers 
2.19.  No specific commitments regarding standards, technical regulations and conformity 
assessment procedures are included into the Agreement. 
2.20.  However, in 1997 the Parties signed Agreement on cooperation in standardization, 
metrology and certification.6 
2.3.3  Sanitary and phytosanitary measures 2.21.  No specific commitments regarding sanitary and phytosanitary measures are included into 
the Agreement.  
2.3.4  Trade defence instruments 2.22.  No specific commitments regarding trade defence instruments are included in the 
Agreement. 
2.23.  Introduction of tariff on woven fabrics of cotton from 2007 to 2010 affected imports from 
Kazakhstan as imports occurred during 1998-2006, stopped during the application of tariff and 
restarted in 2012-2014. Quota on steel pipes applied in 2008-2016 affected imports from 
Kazakhstan in 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2014. Introduction of tariff articles of asphalt in 2005-2009 affected imports from Kazakhstan in 2007. Quota on pumps and engines introduced in 2005-2006 affected imports from Kazakhstan during its application. Information about Ukrainian trade 
defence instruments that could affect Kazakhstan can be found in Annex 2 to the report. 
3  PROVISIONS ON TRADE IN SERVICES 3.1  Commitments 
3.1.  The Agreement does not cover trade in services. 
4  OTHER PROVISIONS IN THE AGREEMENT  4.1  Export control 
4.1.  The Agreement does not contain any specific commitments on export control. 
4.2  Transit  4.2.  Free transit principle is an important precon dition for implementation of the Agreement. Both 
Parties committed to ensure free transit of goods originating from customs territory of another 
Party or third countries.  
4.3.  Parties took an obligation to provide another Party's exporters, importers or carriers with all 
available and necessary facilities and services for transit on terms that are not worse than those 
provided to their own transport operators or carriers of any third country. 
                                               
5 http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/997_m65   
6 http://zakon5.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/398_082   WT/REG247/R/I 
 
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  4.3  Re-exports 
4.4.  Re-exports of certain goods could be limited in case of arrangements between the Parties. 
Such arrangements should be included to the Agreements on trade and economic cooperation. 
4.5.  The Parties signed Agreement on economic cooperation during 1999-2009 in 1999; however, 
it did not contain any provisions on re-exports. 
4.4  Trade and competition 4.6.  Unfair business practices are recognized as those which contradict the Agreement. These 
unfair business practices include those which aim at hindering or restricting competition at Parties' 
markets, as well as using market power.  
4.7.  Cooperation in the field of competition po licy in the Commonwealth of Independent States is 
regulated by the Agreement on Coordinated Competition Policy
7 signed on 25 January 2000. 
4.5  Common classification 
4.8.  Parties committed to use 9-digit commo dity nomenclature based on the Harmonized 
Commodity Description and Coding System for th e purposes of tariff and non-tariff measures, 
customs operations as well as exchange of statistics. 
4.9.  The most recent commodity classification used by Ukraine is based on 2012 edition of the 
Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS). Kazakhstan uses Unified commodity 
nomenclature of foreign economic activity of the EurAsEC Customs Union, which is also based on 
2012 edition of HS. 
4.6  Economic cooperation and capacity building 4.6.1  Information exchange 
4.10.  For the purposes of the Agreement the co mpetent authorities of the Parties agreed upon 
exchange of information on customs matters, including full-scope customs statistic. 
4.11.  The Parties agreed to exchange informat ion on Free Trade Agreements, which the Parties 
had signed with third countries.  
4.12.  Information exchange channels are official  enquiries to Ministries, meetings of the Joint 
Ukrainian-Kazakh Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation, international 
organizations and meetings.  
4.6.2  Joint commission 4.13.  Parties agreed to establish Joint Ukrainian-Kazakh Commission in order to monitor 
realization of the Agreement and work on further improvement of trade and economic cooperation. 
4.14.  The Joint Ukrainian-Kazakh Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation was 
established in 1995, according to Article 12 of th e Ukraine-Kazakhstan FTA. The recent twelfth 
meeting of the Commission took place on 16 July 2015 in Kyiv.  
4.15.  During the Commission meeting, the Parties agreed to develop further trade and economic 
cooperation based on the principles of WTO and do not apply in bilateral trade provisions of Annex 6 to the FTA between the CIS member states. These arrangements were set out in the Protocol of 
the twelfth session of the Joint Intergovernmental Ukrainian-Kazakh Commission for Economic 
Cooperation
8. 
                                               
7 http://zakon1.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/997_502    
8 http://www.kmu.gov.ua/control/publish/article?art_id=248339164   WT/REG247/R/I 
 
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  4.7  Protection of legitimate objectives 
4.16.  The Agreement does not preclude the Parties from application of commonly acceptable in 
international practice measures needed to protect their legitimate objectives or implement their commitments according to current or perspective international agreements. 
4.17.  The legitimate objectives which allow Parties to implement these measures include: 
protection of public morality and order; pr otection of human, animals and plant health; 
environment protection; protection of art, archeological and historical treasures; protection of 
industrial and intellectual property; trade in gold, silver and other precious metals and stones; 
preservation of non-renewable natural resources; export restrictions in case domestic price is lower than the world price because of government support; imbalances of BoP. 
4.18.  Also countries are allowed to apply regulatory instruments in case they are referred to: 
information that affects interests of national defence; trade in arms; trade in raw materials and 
equipment used in nuclear industry; measured applied in international relations during war or emergency; measures according the UN Charter needed to protect international peace and safety. 
4.19.  On 28 December 2014 the Law of Ukraine "On measures concerning stabilization of the 
balance of payments of Ukraine in compliance with  Article XII of the General Agreement on Tariffs 
and Trade 1994" No. 73-VIII
9 and the Law of Ukraine "On Amending the Customs Code of Ukraine 
(concerning stabilization of the balance of payments)" No. 74-VIII10 entered into force. Pursuant to 
these Laws, Ukraine introduced temporary import surcharge of 10% for agricultural goods and 5% for non-agricultural goods, except essential goods.  
4.8  Dispute settlement  
4.20.  The Parties agreed to resolve all the disput es on interpretation and implementation of the 
Agreement through negotiations.  
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9 http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/73-19   
10 http://zakon2.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/74-19   WT/REG247/R/I 
 
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  ANNEX 1 
STATISTICS ON TRADE IN GOODS 
Table A1.1: Ukraine: Imports from Kazakhstan (million $) 
Year Total Agricultural products* Non-agricultural products* 
1996 243.6 1.9 241.6 
1997 403.7 1.1 402.5 
1998 345.7 0.1 345.6 
1999 164.9 0.8 164.1 
2000 412.6 23.8 388.8 
2001 666.0 18.3 647.7 
2002 382.9 3.0 379.9 
2003 492.8 232.4 260.3 
2004 394.8 80.1 314.7 
2005 186.4 14.8 171.6 
2006 965.7 19.2 946.5 
2007 1686.6 8.0 1678.5 
2008 3118.8 8.7 3110.2 
2009 2033.9 6.6 2027.3 
2010 766.2 6.6 759.6 
2011 1675.9 2.8 1673.1 
2012 1494.9 5.6 1489.3 
2013 683.6 7.2 676.4 
2014 375.8 12.4 363.4 
* WTO definition. 
Source: UN ComTrade.  
 
Table A1.2 : Kazakhstan: Imports from Ukraine (million $) 
Year Total Agricultural products* Non-agricultural products* 
1996 92.0 13.1 78.9 
1997 93.3 9.8 83.5 
1998 90.7 2.7 88.0 
1999 57.9 3.8 54.2 
2000 81.2 7.2 74.0 
2001 154.6 20.8 133.7 
2002 217.1 52.6 164.4 
2003 323.7 65.4 258.3 
2004 722.6 93.5 629.1 
2005 839.8 95.9 743.9 
2006 979.7 149.0 830.8 
2007 1517.5 233.3 1284.2 
2008 2104.8 377.2 1727.7 
2009 2131.6 251.4 1880.2 
2010 1358.5 321.8 1036.7 
2011 1734.4 355.9 1378.4 
2012 2923.0 350.6 2572.4 
2013 2269.6 287.1 1982.6 
2014 1208.8 256.1 952.7 
* WTO definition. 
Source: UN ComTrade.  WT/REG247/R/I 
 
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  Table A1.3: Ukraine import coverage after full implementation of the Agreement  
Coverage 1998  1999   2013  2014  
% of tariff lines 100 100 … 100 100 
% of imports 100 100 … 100 100 
Note:  Line coverage (% tariff lines)  is calculated as duty-free quota-free Ukraine's tariff lines on imports 
from Kazakhstan divided by total Ukraine's tariff lines on impo rts from Kazakhstan. 
 Trade coverage (% imports ) is calculated as duty-free quota- free Ukraine's imports from Kazakhstan 
divided by total Ukraine's imports from Kazakhstan. 
 For calculation of the coverage rates the preferenti al tariffs in force on 1 January of the indicated 
years has been used.  
Source: Ukraine- Kazakhstan FTA. 
 WT/REG247/R/I 
 
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  ANNEX 2 
TRADE DEFENCE INSTRUMENTS  
Table A2.1: Ukraine: safeguard measures app lied irrespective to the country of origin 
HS 
Nomenclature Code Product description Measure Years 
HS 1996 1905906000 Bread, pastry, cakes, 
biscuits and other bakers' 
wares tariff 2003-2007 
HS 1996 8413919090; 
8412905000; 
7325109900; 
7326909700 Parts of pumps and 
engines; articles of iron or 
steel quota 2005-2006 
HS 1996 6804221800 Millstones, grindstones, 
grinding wheels tariff 2005-2009 
HS 1996 6807101000 Articles of asphalt or of 
similar material tariff 2005-2009 
HS 1996 3506100010 Glues tariff 2006-2007 
HS 1996 8482109000 Ball bearings tariff 2006-2009 
HS 1996 6002921000; 
6002923000; 6002929000; 6002933100; 6002933300; 
6002933900 Knitted or crocheted 
fabrics tariff 2007-2010 
HS 1996 5208221500; 
5208221900; 
5208229500; 
5208229900; 
5208290000; 
5208321500; 
5208321900; 
5208329500; 
5208329900; 
5208390000; 
5208521000; 
5208529000; 
5208590000 Woven fabrics of cotton tariff 2007-2010 
HS 1996 8539311000 Electric filament or 
discharge lamps tariff 2007-2010 
HS 1996 7304291100 Steel pipes quota 2008-2016 
HS 1996 3605000000 Matches tariff 2009-2012 
HS 1996 7005293500 Sheet glass tariff 2009-2010 
HS 2007 8703221000; 
8703231910 Motor cars tariff 2013-2015 
HS 2012 6911100000 Tableware and kitchenware 
of porcelain tariff 2014-2017 
Source: the official newspaper "Uryadoviy Courier".  
 
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