The EU regulation on the Ukrainian grain import ban has been announced!

As we already informed you in our previous newsletter on April 18th, 2023, the Government of Hungary issued its decree regarding the transport of certain animal and agricultural products from Ukraine which are intended for the Hungarian market. (Government Decree 130/2023. (IV. 18.)). The executive decree 2023/903 of the European Union Commission, effective May 2, now replaces the member states’ decrees.

Import prohibition

The EU regulation is in effect from May 2 to June 5, after June 5 only the Hungarian government regulation will be in effect. This means that from April 19 to May 2, and after June 5, only the Hungarian government decree will be in force expectedly, while between May 2 and June 5, the amended Hungarian and EU rules coexist. The EU rule and the amended Hungarian decree implementing it must be applied to contracts concluded after May 2.

During this period, in Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, it is not possible to release certain grains into free circulation, subject them to customs warehousing, customs free zones or active processing procedures, but the prohibition does not apply to transit procedures.

Several detailed rules have changed compared to the previous state of the regulation:

• the range of sensitive products was significantly reduced from 25 to 4, animal products were removed one by one, and the range of plant products was also significantly lowered;

• in connection with the transit exemption, a 15-day period was introduced in contrast to the previous 7-day rule, and the clause regarding the carrier's declaration was also removed;

• Transactions subject to EKÁER have not changed, but the range of products has narrowed here as well due to the decrease in the number of sensitive products, however barley and rye have been added to the EKÁER obligation.

This newsletter provides general information and
does not constitute tax advice.

22 May, 2023