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Welcome to official website of Ukraine's WTO Enquiry Point and Information Processing Centre
The main principles of WTO are non-discrimination (i.e. a WTO member must treat all other members equally); national treatment (i.e. a WTO member should treat traders of another WTO member in the same way as its national traders) and transparency (i.e. the rules and regulations of each member of the WTO are certain and known to all other members). The Ukraine WTO Member Request and Information Processing Centre has been established to ensure Ukraine’s transparency obligations which in turn, ensure the other principles and obligations are met.
Transparency means that not only should the rules and regulations of any WTO member comply with obligations and commitments of individual WTO agreements, but that any changes to the laws and regulations relating to a country’s trade regime should be “notified” to the WTO and that any member has the right to “enquire” to another member as to the current laws and regulations in force. To ensure that Ukraine fulfils its transparency obligations, the Centre will take overall responsibility for notifying the WTO of changes in the laws and regulations of Ukraine and answering enquiries from other WTO members on the current trade regime operated in Ukraine. Moreover and more importantly, the Centre will monitor changes in the trade regime of other WTO members and advise interested parties in Ukraine and make enquiries to other WTO members on market entry conditions for Ukrainian traders to ensure that traders know the rules of international markets in which they operate. This degree of certainty, combined with the dispute settlement process of WTO which ensures Ukrainian traders are treated fairly will lower the risk of trade and promote Ukrainian exports and growth. This was the prime reason for Ukraine joining the WTO.
The WTO Enquiry Point and Information Processing Centre is responsible in Ukraine for WTO compliance, exercising of rights and information dissemination. It was established by Resolution No. 408 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in 2005.
The functions of the Centre are prescribed in paragraph 3 of the Resolution:
- collecting, processing and sharing information with WTO members and the WTO Secretariat
- dealing with requests and notifications from WTO members, providing responses and notifying the WTO of changes in Ukraine’s trade regime
- providinginformation to Ukrainian stakeholders on the WTO
- coordinating Ukraine’s membership in international organizations and the participation of appropriate national and local executive authorities in international events
- analysis of international trade agreements
- the coordination of actions to collect, process and share information in the field of international economic relations and international trade
- the taking of other measures in accordance with GATT/WTO Agreements
This website is part of the Centre’s strategy for providing information on Ukraine’s membership of WTO and is the first point of contact for interested parties. Feedback and suggestions on improving our service would be greatly appreciated.
The objectives of this website are therefore to increase understanding and provide information on the following specific areas:
Objective 1: Provide information and links to general information on the WTO and its relevance to Ukraine
Objective 2: Provide specific information on the benefits of WTO accession and the on-going accession process
Objective 3: Act as a portal for enquiries to Enquiry Points in other WTO member states
Objective 4: Provide information on the rights and procedures of various stakeholders in Ukraine to ensure fair trade and non-discrimination
Objective 5: Publicise notifications from other member states of relevance to Ukrainian traders
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