Legislative and Regulatory Framework of Cooperation with the EU

On the Status of Implementation of the Association Agreement

In order to organize the work for implementation of the Association Agreement by the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Coordination Council and working groups in the relevant areas (transport policy and infrastructure, security and transportation of dangerous goods, air transport, road transport and roads, railways, maritime and river transport and postal communications) have been established.

14 regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approving 44 plans for implementation have been prepared and approved by the Ministry of Infrastructure.

The Comprehensive Plan of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine on realization of the implementing activities for the second half of 2016 has been approved by the order of the Ministry of Infrastructure.

The Activity Implementation Indicators within the EU Legislation Framework Implementation Plans:

The first stage for legislative adaptation is transposition of the EU acquis communique into the Ukrainian legislation.

Therefore, as part of realization of activities for the implementation of the Association Agreement in 2014 – the first half of 2016 the Ministry of Infrastructure put the main focus on the development of primary legislation in the relevant sectors of transport.

For today, 4 basic laws of Ukraine have been submitted to the Verkhovna Rada:

- on Harmonization of Ukrainian Legislation in the Field of Road Transport with the EU Legislation

- on Railway Transport

- on Inland Waterway Transport

- on Amendments to Some Legislative Acts to Harmonize them with the EU Legislation in the Field of Transport of Dangerous Goods.

Two regulations of the CMU (amendments to the traffic regulations, approval of the Technical Regulation on safety of railway rolling stock) and 3 orders of the Ministry of Infrastructure (procedure for inspection of tanks for dangerous goods transportation, approval of the Commission on the evaluation of ratings of protection and plans for protection of ports and port facilities, changes to the Procedures for arrival of ships to seaports) have been approved.

The adoption of the necessary by-laws in accordance with the procedures identified in the Ukrainian legislation will take place after the adoption of framework laws.

IN THE FIELD OF ROAD TRANSPORT

The Draft Law of Ukraine "On Harmonizing the Road Transport Legislation of Ukraine with the EU legislation" (No 4683 of 17 May 2016) was developed and submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine by the Ministry of Infrastructure.

The Draft Law takes into account the provisions of 14 EU Legislative and Regulatory Acts - 7 Regulations and 7 Directives, 4 of which are not present in Annex 32 to the Association Agreement.The Draft Law amends 7 major existing laws and will regulate the market of road transport (market access, operating time, speed limitation devices, tachograph, technical inspections).

The main objectives of the project:

•  to restore public belief in the authorities and laws which is destroyed by corruption.
•  to provide the conditions for competition by improving the quality and safety level, but not by neglecting the human safety, by use of dangerous vehicles, violation of working and rest conditions for drivers, speeding, over-loading vehicles, etc.
•  to establish the same level of safety for international and inland transport, to provide the same level of safety for citizens of Ukraine and EU countries.
•  to raise social standards of passenger transport services, to legalize the income of carriers, to make services accessible for all categories of passengers.
•  to establish simple, transparent and equal conditions of access to transport markets to ensure that violators have no advantages, and people do not suffer for a profitable business of some persons.

It should be noted that the Directives No 92/6/EEC (on installation and operation of speed limitation devices for certain categories of motor vehicles in the Community) and No 2009/40/EC (on roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers) shall be implemented by all vehicles used for international transport of goods within 1 year after the entry into force of the Association Agreement (November 2015).

Despite of the state of the domestic legislation, international road transportation is actually carried out according to the international requirements (UNECE) and requirements of the countries, which are crossed.

In addition, the Directive 2014/45/EC of the European Parliament and Council of 3 April 2014 on periodic roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers and repealing Directive 2009/40/EC came into force in the European Union (Official Journal of the European Union, L 127, 29 April 2014, pp. 51-128). This Directive is a part of the so-called "packet inspection," which consists of three basic, recently adopted Directives: Directive 2014/45/EC on periodic roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers, Directive 2014/47/EC on the technical roadside inspection of the roadworthiness of commercial vehicle and Directive 1999/37/EC of 29 April on the registration documents for vehicles, last amended by the Directive 2014/46/EC on the registration documents for vehicles.

The provisions of the Directives No 92/6/EEC, No 2014/45/EC and No 2014/47 are included into the Draft Law of Ukraine "On Harmonizing the Road Transport Legislation of Ukraine with the EU legislation”. Therefore, today in order to meet our commitments under the Association Agreement, we are in a constant dialogue with the committees of the Verkhovna Rada to accelerate the adoption of the mentioned draft law.

After the adoption of the framework law, over 70 legislative and regulatory acts shall be repealed, amended or developed in 5 years.

At present, the draft law is under consideration by relevant committees of the Verkhovna Rada.

The draft law is being finalized by the Ministry of Infrastructure, taking into account the comments and suggestions of the Verkhovna Rada committees and representatives of the industry (associations, motor carriers, operators, etc.), meetings and round tables are held in order to reach mutually acceptable positions.

IN THE FIELD OF RAILWAY TRANSPORT

The new Law of Ukraine "On Railway Transport" was developed and submitted to the Verhovna Rada in December 2015 and re-submitted on 5 May 2016, No 4593, due to the change of the Government. The Law includes 3 EU Directives and 6 Regulations. The Law was developed in consultation with the experts of the "Railway Twinning". According to the EU experts, the draft Law is an important step towards the implementation of Directives and Regulations of  the Agreement.

Now the draft law is under consideration by the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Transport and the Ministry of Infrastructure is accompanying the draft law. On 18 March 2016, a round table was organized in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to discuss it with the People’s Deputies of Ukraine, relevant central bodies of executive power, "Ukrzaliznytsia" and representatives of business circles. On 29 March 2016, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine sent a request to provide the position regarding the issues discussed at the round table, a response was sent on 6 April 2016.

To take into account the business’ comments, if it is possible and appropriate to take them into account while the draft law is considered by the Committee, meetings with the representatives of the Committee on Transport of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, JSC "Ukrainian Railways" and representatives of the European Business Association were held at the Ministry of Infrastructure on 13 June 2016 and 21 June 2016.

Also, in order to fulfil the obligations under the Association Agreement, the JSC "Ukrainian Railways" was established in the IV quarter of 2015. In the second quarter of 2016, the work on the re-registration of the Company branches in accordance with the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 25 June 2014 No 200 was ongoing.

The Ministry of Infrastructure took measures to attract professional and effective managers with the European experience to manage the national companies, including implementation of reforms that will develop the economy of the public enterprises of the transport industry.

According to the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 20 April 2016 No 282, Mr Wojciech Balczun was appointed the Head of the Executive Body of the JSC "Ukrainian Railways". The new Head of the company started work on 6 June 2016. The resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of 1 June 2016 No 349 approved the new composition of the Executive Body of the JSC "Ukrainian Railways".

The new Executive Body of the JSC "Ukrainian Railways" includes top managers with experience in managing large European companies, reforming the railway industry and practical knowledge in making effective management decisions for steering the company out of crisis.

The work for elimination of technical barriers and harmonization of 1435 mm and 1520/1524 mm track systems is ongoing, primarily through the development of technical cooperation in the framework of the Organization for Cooperation of Railways (OSJD) and the European Railway Agency (ERA) for the interoperability of these systems.

IN THE FIELD OF MARITIME TRANSPORT

According to Annex 17 of the Association Agreement the Ukrainian experts together with the European experts have developed an updated Roadmap for approximation of the Ukrainian legislation to the EU law in the field of international maritime transport.

In addition, the Ukrainian side has again prepared documents on ratification of the International Labour Organisation Convention 2006 on the Maritime Labour and sent for approval to the involved bodies of executive power.

Also, the process of Ukraine's accession to the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems on Ships is at the final stage. Ukraine's accession to the Convention will contribute to the approximation of national standards for the use of anti-fouling systems to the European and global standards and improvement of legislation of Ukraine in the field of environmental protection of marine waters.

In order to implement the Directive 2010/65/EС on reporting formalities for ships arriving in and/or departing from ports of the Member States and the Directive 2002/59/EС on establishing a Community vessel traffic monitoring and information system, the Order of the Ministry of Infrastructure of 25 September 2015 No 387 approved changes to the Procedure for registration of vehicles coming to the sea port, providing the permission for vessels to leave the port and the registration of vessel leaving the seaport (reduce the load from the crews entering the seaports of Ukraine by significantly reducing the number of copies of the ship's papers and certificates to be provided to the captain of the seaport after the arrival of the vessel to the port).

The work on creation of the European standard sea navigation system of Ukraine and its further integration to the SafeSeaNet has begun.

The work is being carried out on implementation of the requirements of the Memorandum of Understanding on port State control in the Black Sea region to the national legislation of Ukraine, including amendments to the Regulation on control of ships in order to ensure safety of navigation, approved by the Order of the Ministry of Transport on 17 July 2003 No 54.

Preparations are under way to conduct the mandatory IMO audit, scheduled for 2018.

In addition, it was also decided to establish a new body that will be entrusted with functions of the Maritime Administration of Ukraine. The Maritime Administration is expected to begin operation in the beginning of 2017.

In order to deregulate activities in the ports, 5 (five) resolutions of the Government were adopted, which greatly simplify the control procedures and registration of vessels in ports.

Also, a Draft Law of Ukraine on amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On Seaports of Ukraine" regarding functioning of the port community information system, ISPS (registration number 3761 of 13 January 2016) was prepared.

Over 700 forwarding companies, 14 state regulatory and law enforcement agencies, more than 130 maritime agents, 6 port operators are connected to the ISPS.

IN THE FIELD OF INLAND WATERWAY TRANSPORT

In order to open the inland waterways of Ukraine for ships under the third countries flags in accordance with the commitments made by Ukraine under the WTO, a number of draft laws have been developed and submitted to the Parliament:

1) on inland waterway transport of 4 August 2015 No 2475а (partially includes the provisions of 4 Directives) (legal settlement of shipping on IWW of Ukraine, determining the legal regime for infrastructure, improvement of river management, promote competitive services market, refocus cargo traffic on the environmentally friendly and economical river transport);

2) on bringing changes into the Maritime Code of Ukraine of 23 April 2015 No 2712 (renewal and replenishment of the fleet under the flag of Ukraine);

3) on bringing changes into the Customs Code of Ukraine of 23 April 2015 No 2713 (simplification of business activity in the field of shipping, reduction of licensing procedures by abolishing the permission of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine to carry out cabotage transport).

According to the Directive 2005/44/EC "On harmonised river information services on IWW of the Community":

- river information systems (RIS) on inland waterways with zones of influence on the Ukrainian sections of the rivers Danube and Dnipro have been created and put into operation

- regulation on River Information Services on IWW of Ukraine has been approved

The regulations of the Directive No 2008/68/EC on inland transport of dangerous goods and the Directive No 96/75/EC on the systems of chartering and pricing in national and international inland waterway transport in the Community will be considered in individual by-laws. In order to implement the Directive 2008/68/EC on inland transport of dangerous goods, a draft Regulation for inland transport of dangerous goods of Ukraine was developed.

However, according to the requirements of the European Community Directive 96/50/EC and the Recommendation regarding certificates skippers, adopted by the Resolution of the seventy-seventh session, the Decree of the Ministry of Infrastructure of 7 October 2014 No 490 "On Approval of the Procedure of Issuance Skipper of a Merchant Ship Allowed to Sail on IWW" was developed.

The priorities of cooperation with the EU in the field of IWW of Ukraine are:

- the inclusion of IWW of Ukraine to the regional network of the Eastern Partnership;

- joint participation in the project "Restoration of the E-40 waterway on the Dnieper-Vistula section: from strategy to planning", which brings together the interests of Ukraine, Belarus and Poland in the development of inland waterway connections of the Baltic and Black Seas.

IN THE FIELD OF TRANSPORT SAFETY

In order to implement the Directive No 2008/68 a Draft Law “On Amendments to Some Legislative Acts to Bring Them in Accordance with EU Legislation in the Field of Transportation of Dangerous Goods”, that takes full account of the Directive 2008/68/EC (reg. No 4644 of 11 May 2016), has been registered. The Draft Law was approved by the appropriate committee of the Verkhovna Rada on issues of transport and sent to a first reading.

The draft law of Ukraine provides the improvement of conditions for transportation of dangerous goods up to the European level by reviewing national legislation in this the area, determining functions, duties and responsibilities of a body authorized for security transportation of dangerous goods and other participants in the transportation of such goods.

In order to harmonize the conditions of transportation of dangerous goods in inland traffic with the existing international documents, amendments to the Rules of safety and the procedure of the liquidation of emergencies with dangerous goods during transportation by railway transport, Rules on bulk cargo transportation, Rules on dangerous goods transportations have been adopted. These changes were approved by the order of the Ministry of Infrastructure of 5 November 2014 No 565 and registered in the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on 25 November 2014 under No1496/26273.

In order to ensure the prevention of accidents that occur due to the leakage of dangerous goods, non-compliance of technical condition of tanks and their equipment to the requirements of the legislative and regulatory acts, a procedure for checking the tanks transporting the dangerous goods was developed and approved by the Order of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of 12 May 2015 No 166/550 (registered in the Ministry of Justice on 5 June 2015 under No 663/27108).

The draft Procedures for Transportation of Dangerous Goods by Inland Waterways of Ukraine were developed to determine the conditions of carriage of dangerous goods, compliance of vehicles and personnel of shipping companies that carry hazardous cargo with the national and European legislation on transportation of dangerous goods. The draft Procedures have been submitted for re-approval due to the changes in the composition of the Government of Ukraine.

After the adoption of the Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to Some Legislative Acts to Bring Them in Accordance with EU Legislation in the Field of Transportation of Dangerous Goods” it is planned to amend some orders of the Ministry of Infrastructure regarding special education for workers of the dangerous goods transportation entities in the railway and river transport to establish requirements to the bodies responsible for security and to other participants of the transportation process.

The basic documents for transporting the dangerous goods are the UNECE documents (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe):

the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR),

the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Inland Waterways (AND).

In accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On Carriage of Dangerous Goods", the regulations of road transport in this area lies within the competence of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA). For the purpose of implementing the Directive 2008/68/EC the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has prepared:

- the draft Law “On Amendments to Article 35 of the Law of Ukraine "On Traffic" to bring the frequency of mandatory technical inspection for vehicles specialized in carriage of dangerous goods in accordance with the provisions of the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods (ADR).

- the draft Law “On Accession to the Protocol Amending the ADR” to enhance the level of safety in carriage of dangerous goods by road, to bring national legislation into compliance with the EU regarding carriage of dangerous goods.

- the draft Regulation of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On Amendments to Paragraph 30.3 of the Rules of the Road” concerning the registration of information table of dangerous goods. These Regulations are approved by the Ministry of Infrastructure without comments.

IN THE FIELD OF AVIATION

The Ukrainian side has made all necessary arrangements to sign the Common Aviation Area Agreement (the CAA Agreement). Only paragraph 31 "Territory" in Article 2 remains unresolved in the part concerning the EU. It is expected that after the referendum regarding the exit of Britain from the EU, some positive changes will take place and signing of the agreement will become possible already this year.

The work on the development of a Roadmap in the area of aviation in order to implement the European standards is ongoing.

Also, Agreements between the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine and the European Committee on the convergence of certification systems and working arrangements between the State Aviation Service of Ukraine (SASU) and EASA on cooperation in the field of civil aviation security are ready to be signed.

Working arrangements between the State Aviation Service of Ukraine (SASU) and EASA concerning participation in the EU SAFA programme and the collection and exchange of aircraft safety flights information have been signed.

In addition, the work is continuing on creation of more liberal conditions for regular air communication with the EU Member States in a bilateral format.

IN THE FIELD OF POSTAL SERVICES

According to the Article 114 and Annex XVII-4 of the Association Agreement, Ukraine has entered into commitment to harmonize the Ukrainian legislation in the area of postal services with the EU Directives in order to implement the provisions of the Association Agreement on creating deep and comprehensive free trade area.

Approximation of legislation shall be made in accordance with the roadmap for the implementation and application of the provisions of the Directive 97/67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997 on common rules for the development of the postal services internal market of the Community and to improve the quality of service with changes.

The draft roadmap  was sent to the Support Group of Ukraine, as well as posted on the website the Ministry of Infrastructure for review by public and other players in postal and courier services market. Then the draft roadmap  was agreed with the central body of executive power and submitted to the Government on 25 September 2015 No 10824/16/10-15. The modified version of the Roadmap was submitted to the EU through the CMU by the letter of the Ministry of Infrastructure from 24 November 2015 No 13116 /16/10-15.

In addition, considering the necessity to harmonize the current Ukrainian legislation in the area of postal service with the abovementioned Directive, which establishes the general rules of the postal services of the internal market and improvement of the quality of these services, the Ministry of Infrastructure in conjunction with the Ukrposta has developed a Draft Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On Postal Communication" (hereinafter - the Draft Law).

The main tasks for the implementation of the Directive is to ensure that Ukraine complies with its obligations as defined by the Articles 109-114 of the Association Agreement and the objectives of the Directive:

- promote the development of the postal services market;

- stimulate competition in the provision of postal services;

- simplify the registration procedures for postal operators;

- protect the state interests, users and postal operators in the provision of postal services;

- provide access to universal postal services;

- implement obligations under international agreements in the area of postal services, which are binding for Ukraine.

The adoption of the Draft Law will allow to make legislative and organizational changes in the provision of postal services in order to address the deficiencies hindering or slowing down the development of postal services in Ukraine.

If the Draft Law is adopted, the by-laws aimed at implementing certain provisions of the Law are to be adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, the National Commission, carrying out state regulation in the communication and information area (NCCIR).

The Draft Law was submitted to the internal reconciliation process and public discussions in October 2015. It has received a number of critical comments from the interested private operators and the authorities of Ukraine, particularly from the national regulator NCCIR.

In order to reach a mutually acceptable Draft Law, a number of meetings had been held, including meetings with the European experts, and an updated version of the Draft Law was prepared in May 2016, which is generally acceptable for public authorities and the national operator of Ukrposhta, but has again received a significant number of comments from private operators of postal services.

In order to discuss and develop a mutually acceptable version of the Draft Law, a series of meetings have been held with the participation of all stakeholders, including private operators.

A harmonized Draft Law  has been prepared and will be soon submitted for the internal coordination process and public discussion.