- Country or region
- Ukraine
- Trade topics
- Dispute settlement
- Context
- Bilateral disputes
Summary of the case
The EU includes a dispute settlement mechanism in all its trade agreements so that the EU and its trading partners can resolve disputes.
The system allows for the rapid settlement of disputes and is modeled after the WTO dispute settlement system. It is specifically designed to deal with disputes arising out of the rules of the bilateral trade agreement.
On 16 January 2019, the EU formally requested consultations with Ukraine under the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement on Ukraine’s export ban on unprocessed wood.
Documents
- Panel Ruling - Final Report of the arbitration panel – 11 December 2020
- Integrated Executive Summary of the European Union - 07 October 2020
- EU’s responses to the questions of the Panel at the hearing - 07 October 2020
- Closing Statement of the EU at the Panel hearing - 23 September 2020
- Opening Statement of the EU at the Panel hearing - 22 September 2020
- Ukraine wood export ban: Virtual panel hearing under Covid-19 - 21 September 2020
- Written submission by the EU on export prohibition on wood products from Ukraine - 17 February 2020
- Arbitration panel established on Ukraine’s wood export ban - deadline for submissions - 04 February 2020
- Request for an arbitration panel by the European Union - 21 June 2019
- Request for Consultations by the European Union - 16 January 2019
Latest news
In 2015, Ukraine introduced a 10-year export ban for all unprocessed wood, amending and supplementing a ban of 2005 on ten wood species of low commercial relevance. The EU raised the export ban with Ukraine at all levels and instances since 2015.
The final ruling of a dispute settlement panel set up under the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement found that the Ukrainian ban on the exports of all unprocessed wood is incompatible with the Association Agreement.
UPDATE: Ukraine wood export ban panel timeline under Covid-19 restrictions.