Ukraine Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in ukraine, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Standards for Trade
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Overview

U.S. and other foreign companies have long regarded Ukraine’s system of technical regulations as a significant obstacle to trade and investment. Ukraine has passed several new laws and governmental decrees in recent years aimed at bringing Ukrainian practices in this area into line with the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). As part of the EU-Ukraine Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) Ukraine began approximating its standards to the EU in 2016 and has adopted and introduced various legislative amendments to move towards EU harmonization.  

Standards

Technical regulations in Ukraine are coordinated by the Department for Technical Regulations in the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine and developed by the State Enterprise Ukrainian Scientific, Research and Training Center for Certification, Standards, and Quality (UkrNDNC) which serves as a national standardization body. Enforcement of the quality of products and their compliance with the national standards is done by the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection. Certification is a fee-based service in Ukraine. This certification service is delegated to about 100 accredited certification agencies listed at the National Accreditation Agency of Ukraine. 

An importer, or its Ukrainian trading partner, are free to choose one of the accredited certification agencies and order a product certification needed for sale or production use of products in Ukraine. Depending on the type of product, testing, and applicable certification scheme, the certification process can take up to 30 days. 

Conformity Assessment

In September 2017, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine amended the Law of Ukraine on standardization thereby cancelling the mandatory application of national standards. Voluntary application of standards meets the requirements of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade of the World Trade Organization, as well as European principles of standardization. Certification is also no longer mandatory per repeal of an order, effective March 2018. 

According to Article 15 of the Economic Code of Ukraine, revised August 17, 2022, standardization is required for product development, production, or supply that refers to certain standards if a manufacturer or supplier of products has made a declaration of conformity of production to certain standards or indicated a standard on its label. This also applies in cases where application of standards or codes of established practice are regulated by law. 

Importers can request that a foreign facility be certified in compliance with Ukraine’s technical regulations.  This option usually involves a costly inspection visit by Ukrainian government officials to the facility.  If approved, the supplier receives a certificate of conformity valid for two years to five years and avoids the necessity of certifying each shipment and mandatory laboratory testing of goods upon arrival in Ukraine.

More information about product certification options and the process in Ukraine at the site of State Enterprise “UkrMetrTestStandart” (http://www.ukrcsm.kiev.ua/ https://www.iso.org/member/2172.html) and State Enterprise “Ukrainian Scientific, Research and Training Center for Certification, Standards, and Quality.” 

According to the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers #1067 “Technical Regulation of Low-Voltage Electrical Equipment” and #139 “On Approval of the Technical Regulation for Restricting the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment,” the Declaration of Conformity is required for certain goods during customs clearance and for release in the Ukrainian market.

A Ukrainian official certification center can issue a Declaration of Conformity.  Contact information for official certification centers can be found at the official website of the National Accreditation Agency of Ukraine (NAAU).
Use ePing to review proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures 

The ePing SPS&TBT platform (https://epingalert.org/), or “ePing”, provides access to notifications made by WTO Members under the Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), distributed by the WTO from January 16, 1995 to present. ePing is available to all stakeholders free of charge and does not require registration unless the user wishes to receive customized e-mail alerts. It may be used to browse notifications on past as well as new draft and updated product regulations; food safety and animal and plant health standards and regulations; find information on trade concerns discussed in the WTO SPS and TBT Committees; locate information on SPS/TBT Enquiry Points and notification authorities; and to follow and review current and past notifications concerning regulatory actions on products, packaging, labeling, food safety and animal and plant health measures in markets of interest. 

“Notify U.S.,” operated and maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) since 2003, to distribute and provide access to notifications (and associated draft texts) made under the WTO TBT Agreement for U.S. stakeholders, has reached its end of life.  

Per obligation under the TBT Agreement, each WTO Member operates a national TBT (and an SPS) Enquiry Point. National TBT Enquiry Points are authorized to accept comments and official communications from other national TBT Enquiry Points, which are NOT part of the WTO or the WTO Secretariat. All comment submissions from U.S. stakeholders, including businesses, trade associations, U.S. domiciled standards development organizations and conformity assessment bodies, consumers, or U.S. government agencies on notifications to the WTO TBT Committee should be sent directly to the USA WTO TBT Inquiry Point. Refer to the comment guidance at https://tsapps.nist.gov/notifyus/data/guidance/guidance.cfm for further information. This guidance is provided to assist U.S. stakeholders in the preparation and submission of comments in response to notifications of proposed foreign technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures.

Testing, inspection, and certification

Importers can choose which type of technical standard certificates they would like to apply for should the process be necessary:

  • a certificate for a single batch of goods
  • a certificate for up to one year, which is valid for all imported goods during that year with one or two additional selective tests
  • a certificate for up to two years, for which inspection of production facilities is mandatory

The certification and approval processes are lengthy, duplicative, and expensive, with politics and corruption still often behind arbitrary application of regulations.

Depending on the market strategy and prospects in the market, an American exporter may consider applying for certification of their products in Ukraine. Since all paperwork for submission to a Ukrainian certification agency should be in the Ukrainian language and in person, it is recommended that an American exporter hire an attorney from a local or international law firm for certification of products in Ukraine. Another option is to delegate any required certifications in Ukraine to a Ukrainian trading partner or end-user. As a rule, the following documents issued outside Ukraine confirming a product’s conformity to specific requirements must be submitted to a Ukrainian certification agency:

  • An application stating that the company wishes to certify imported products;
  • A certificate of conformity;
  • User manuals, if available
  • Standards (technical conditions) of production and the procedures for certification;
  • A certificate of accreditation from the testing laboratory;
  • A protocol/summary of test results;
  • A certificate of quality control; and
  • A certificate of origin (manufacturing). 

 

Because the list of documents issued outside Ukraine confirming a product’s conformity changes frequently, businesses should contact one of the accredited certification agencies to confirm requirements. Publications and information regarding Ukrainian standards and technical regulations can be found on the website of the UkrNDNC.

The list of technical regulations and standards and EU Council Directives are available at the website of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine. 

Contact Information
For market feasibility or research purposes, interested U.S. manufacturers can order for a fee a full package of Ukrainian technical regulations relating to their products from ushop@uas.org.ua.
Department for Technical Regulations of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine
12/2, Hrushevskiy Street, Kyiv, 01008, Ukraine
Phone: +380 44 528-85-64, Fax: +380 44 528-90-14
Email: dtr@me.gov.ua

SE “Ukrainian Scientific, Research and Training Center for Certification, Standards, and Quality”
2, Svyatoshynska Street, Kyiv,03115, Ukraine
Phone: +380 44 452-3396; Fax: +380 44 452-6907
E-mail: ukrndnc@uas.org.ua

State Regulatory Service of Ukraine
9/11, Arsenalna Street, Kyiv, 01011, Ukraine
Phone: +380 44 239-76-40
E-mail: inform@dkrp.gov.ua

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