Improving the transportation of perishable products: a new draft law that will change the approach in Ukraine

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has adopted a new project designed to improve the conditions of transportation of perishable products by road transport. Draft Law No. 12182, submitted to the Verkhovna Rada, amends the current legislation and provides for measures aimed at strengthening quality and safety standards for this category of cargo.

New Approach to Transportation of Perishable Products

Serhiy Derkach, Deputy Minister of Community and Territorial Development, explained that the draft law aims to ensure an effective system of allowing vehicles to transport perishable products. Currently, Ukrainian companies exporting these goods are forced to go through the procedure of inspection of transport abroad. If the law is adopted, it will be possible to carry out inspections directly in Ukraine, which will greatly facilitate the activities of almost 8 thousand enterprises and reduce costs for carriers.

Why Is This Important?

In accordance with the Agreement on International Transportation of Perishable Goods, all such transportation must be performed by special isothermal vehicles. Currently, inspections of such trucks, especially for exporters to the EU, are carried out outside Ukraine, which often leads to additional costs and fines for Ukrainian carriers that do not have Ukrainian certificates of compliance.

How the Draft Law Will Help Business

The project requires the creation of a mechanism for internal technical inspections of isothermal vehicles by independent accredited bodies. This will allow Ukrainian companies to reduce the time and money spent on the certification of transport abroad, and will ensure quality and safety standards at the European level.

Economic Benefits for Ukraine

The implementation of this draft law will allow not only to reduce costs for carriers, but also to increase revenues to the state budget due to the creation of new jobs. It is expected that the annual income from the implementation of this act may amount to about 100 million hryvnias.