Ukraine should adopt a state concept of sector development to develop the timber market. The head of the Agriculture Sector of the Better Regulation Delivery Office Andriy Zablotsky stated that at the round table on “Timber export: in the search of compromise”.
According to him, applying any restrictive measures towards timber exports is not reasonable without introducing the effective regulation of timber registration and trade, procedures for issuing certificates of origin and increasing the liability for violations of law.
He also noted that according to WTO rules, Ukraine could introduce other restrictive measures toward timber exports, but these measures should comply with WTO standards.
The expert stressed that a lack of effective regulation has a more distorting impact on the internal market than it would have in the case of clear game rules for the market. For example, according to the State Statistics Service, we export more timber to the European Union and less timber according to the Eurostat in terms of certain positions, and vice versa. This shows a negative impact of prohibiting timber exports without the effective regulation on the internal market.
“Ukraine should first focus on developing the internal regulation that would help to support domestic producers, and only then think about how to limit exports and for what purposes. After all, the instruments that we can apply under WTO rules have a different impact on internal market participants. And we should take it into account and calculate the consequences,” Andriy Zablotsky said.