The EU and Ukraine decided today to prolong and update their current road transport Agreement. The Agreement aims at helping Ukraine access world markets by facilitating transit through EU countries and further developing its links with the EU market. First signed on 29 June 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the agreement has substantially increased trade by road between Ukraine and the EU, to the benefit of both economies.
The Agreement is therefore prolonged until 30 June 2025, with tacit renewal for another period of six months, unless one of the parties disagrees and has solid and clear evidence that there is a major disturbance of its road transport market or that the Agreement’s objectives are clearly no longer being met. To enhance implementation, the Agreement now includes the following provisions to:
- Require transport operators to carry documents proving authorisation for international carriage and compliance with the Agreement.
- Require documents certifying that unladen operations are directly linked to a transit or bilateral operation, as per the Agreement.
- Enhance compliance by road haulage operators with Agreement obligations, in particular addressing fraud, forgery of driver documents, and traffic safety offences, which could lead to the loss of rights to provide transport services specified in the Agreement.
- Introduce a safeguard clause allowing suspension of the Agreement in specific geographical areas if a road transport market in this area experiences major disturbances attributable to the Agreement.
For more information, please see here.