The United States will lift 100% tariff sanctions on goods from Ukraine.

September 1, 2005

The United States announced on August 31 that it will lift 100% tariff sanctions on mineral fertilizers, refrigerator equipment, textiles, shoes, metallurgic products and other goods from Ukraine in recognition of the Ukrainian Government's efforts to improve its protection of intellectual property rights (IPR).

In a press release announcing the lifting of the sanctions, U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman pointed to the passage of legislation on optical disks (CDs/DVDs) by the Ukrainian Rada (parliament) in July 2005 that became law on August 2, 2005 as the main reason for the U.S. lifting sanctions on $75 million worth of Ukrainian exports. Adoption of this law was also essential for Ukraine's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its attempts to gain market economy status by the U.S.

The legislation puts in place critical changes to the criminal code, the law on licensing detailing certain kinds if economic activities, including the regulation, exporting and importing of optical disk systems.

The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) designated Ukraine as a "Priority Foreign Country" in the U.S. government's "Special 301 process" in 2001 because of the country's failure to protect intellectual property rights. USTR claimed that Ukraine was the largest producer and exporter of pirated optical media in Europe, and initiated a Section 301 investigation. USTR added 100% tariff sanctions against Ukrainian exports in 2002. Ukraine has remained on the 301 list as a "Priority Foreign Country" for the past four years.

USTR also announced that it will conduct a Special 301 Out-of-Cycle Review (OCR) to focus on Ukraine's IPR enforcement and consider Ukraine's status as a Priority Foreign Country and its eligibility for Generalized System of Preferences benefits.

Stanislav Nikolaenko, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine: "Passage of the Ukrainian law on optical disks marks the readiness of the executive and legislative branches of the Ukrainian government to compromise for the sake of the country's national interests. Taking into account all the difficulties that accompanied the introduction and passage of laws necessary for Ukraine's accession to the WTO, we should applaud the effective work of the State Department for Intellectual Property and the Ukrainian government as a whole, as well as the courage of parliamentarians who voted in favor of the legislation despite the opposition's efforts to block the parliament speech floor."

Mykola Palady, Chairman of the State Department for Intellectual Property,
Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine: "We applaud the response by the U.S. Government to Ukraine's steps to improve intellectual property rights protection. We are now focused on ensuring enforcement of the newly passed laws and coordinating efforts by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, executive agencies, the business community and the general population to achieve success in this area."

Serhiy Movchan of the Coalition for the Intellectual Property Rights (CIPR) in Ukraine: "Today's lifting of tariff sanctions is a successful illustration of the combined business and government effort aimed at protecting Intellectual Property (IP). CIPR will continue to cooperate with all branches of the Ukrainian government as well as various public organizations to advocate for additional improvement of IPR protection. This month, the Coalition will also sponsor, "Relevant Problems in Intellectual Property," an annual State Department IP conference in Alushta, Crimea."