The Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine plans before august 20, 2018 to work on the issue of the creation of the institution of public intellectual property inspectors.
The respective decision was made at the first meeting of the Intellectual Property Council on June 14, according to materials published on the ministry’s website.
According to the report presented by Deputy Minister Mykhailo Tytarchuk, funding the institution is provided at the expense of penalties for copyright infringements.
According to the report, public inspectors have the right to conduct scheduled and unscheduled inspections to identify violations in the field of intellectual property. In addition, the law imposes on them the function of bringing infringers to administrative responsibility – through registration of administrative protocols and sending them to court. In case of revealing signs of criminal offenses, the public inspector sends relevant materials to law enforcement agencies.
However, today there is no such institution in Ukraine, which forces intellectual property entities to apply to court in case of violations, the ministry said.
The ministry pointed out the need for this step in the context of the “Special Report 301” issued by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
The Cabinet of Ministers established the Intellectual Property Council as a consultative and advisory body on February 7, 2018.
Ukraine and Azerbaijan at a meeting of the bilateral working group for energy issues on June 14 in Baku discussed delivery of oil from Azerbaijan to Ukrainian and European oil refineries, the press service of Ukraine’s Energy and Coal Industry Ministry has reported. “The sides discussed the state of the implementation of a project to supply various types of oil to Ukrainian oil refineries and to the countries of the Central and Eastern Europe,” the ministry said.
The involvement of Ukraine to the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project was also discussed.
As reported, Ukraine increased imports of crude oil (foreign trade code 2709) by 36.8% or 102,260 tonnes in January-May 2018 year-over-year, to 380,196 tonnes.
The State Fiscal Service reported that oil for $205.489 million was imported, which is 66.8% more than in January-May 2017 ($123.194 million).
Ukraine in January-May 2018 imported crude oil for $194.853 million from Azerbaijan, $7.176 million from Algeria, $1.844 million from Iran and $1.616 million from other countries.
Rubizhne cardboard packaging mill in Luhansk region, one of Ukraine’s largest cardboard packaging producers, produced 101.98 million square meters of corrugated cardboard boxes in January-May 2018, including goods from its Trypilsky packaging plant, which is 17.3% up year-over-year.
The mills increased production of components of corrugated cardboard (cardboard and fluting) by 7.1%, to 122,200 tonnes.
The total commodity amount produced by both plants in the period in monetary terms grew by 35.3%, to UAH 2.262 billion.
According to UkrPapir association, cardboard packaging production in Ukraine in January-May 2018 grew by 8.4% and amounted to 416.9 million square meters.
The Rubizhne cardboard packaging mill has worked on the packaging market since 1991, and specializes in the production of components for corrugated cardboard (cardboard and fluting) and corrugated cardboard boxes.
Its most important customers are large confectioneries, juice and tobacco producers.
The Rubizhne cardboard packaging mill acquired Trypilsky packaging plant in 2002 and subsequently began producing corrugated cardboard and corrugated packaging.
Smart Maritime Group (SMG) of Smart-Holding starts implementing a contract to build two chemical tanker hulls under an order of Dutch VEKA Shipbuilding WT B.V. The press service of SMG reported that the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the start of building the first hull for the Dutch customer was held at the Kherson Shipyard on Thursday. According to the contract signed in May, SMG will build hulls, install pipeline network, deck equipment and paint the tanker hulls. The cost of the contract is estimated at over UAH 145 million (some $5.6 million). It will take 11 months and a half to build one hull. The second tanker hull will be built at Mykolaiv Shipyard belonged to SMG.
“This is really an important event for Ukrainian shipbuilding, since it is the first foreign contract in the industry since 2013. We have made great efforts to convince the customer, to convince Ukrainian and European banks to finance this project. Today we have good prospects for work and the conclusion of new contracts,” the press service said, citing Director General of SMG Vasyl Fedin.
Tankers are designed for transportation of petroleum products and chemicals on the inland waterways of Europe. The vessel’s overall length is 110 m, width is 13.5 m, the height of the side is 6.59 m, the hull is 1200 tonnes, and the cargo capacity is 5,320 tonnes.
According to the press service, SMG and VEKA Group cooperate in the shipbuilding market for more than 10 years. During this period, SMG has built eight hulls for chemical tankers for VEKA. In total, 12 vessels of the same class were built for the Dutch market.
The deficit of Ukraine’s foreign trade with goods in January-April 2018 grew 1.5-fold year-over-year, reaching $1.423 billion ($968.6 million in January-April 2017), the State Statistics Service reported on Tuesday. In April, the deficit was $221.6 million, while in March – $460 million, in February – $457 million and in January – $284.1 million.
In January-April 2018, exports of goods grew by 12.8% year-over-year, to $15.457 billion, and imports – by 15.1%, to $16.88 billion.
In April 2018 compared with the previous month seasonally adjusted volumes of exports fell by 3.6% and imports – by 1%. The seasonally adjusted deficit of foreign trade in April 2018 was $577.7 million, in March it was $473.9 million, in February 2018 – $352.9 million and in January – $519.9 million.
As a result, the coefficient of coverage of imports by exports was 0.92 (in January-April 2017 some 0.93).
The service said foreign trade operations were conducted with partners from 210 countries.
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) on June 14 approved $250 million in political risk insurance for national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy covering its revolving gas purchase facility. OPIC said on its website that this will help Naftogaz build up gas reserves during the summer months to maintain a reliable supply and affordable prices. Earlier OPIC said that it is planned that the relevant loans, the total amount of which can reach $270 million, will be attracted by Naftogaz from Goldman Sachs International and other international financial institutions.
OPIC said the implementation of the project will allow Naftogaz to purchase gas in the amount of up to 4% of the annual consumption of Ukraine at an attractive price for its subsequent sale in the autumn-winter period.
Naftogaz Ukrainy unites the largest oil and gas producing enterprises of the country. The holding is a monopolist in transit and storage of natural gas in underground storage facilities, as well as oil transportation via pipelines throughout the country.
