On Friday, the Government of Ukraine approved amendments to Annex XVII-3 (Rules applicable to telecommunication services), Annex XVII to the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement, creating the legal framework for the internal market regime in the telecommunications services sector, including with regard to roaming in public mobile networks, provided for by the draft decision of the Ukraine-EU Association Committee in Trade Configuration, Taras Melnychuk, a representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada, wrote on his Telegram channel.
“We are moving towards Roam like home with the EU. Today, we approved a document that will allow Ukraine to conclude an agreement with the European Union this year,” Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said, commenting on this decision on his Telegram channel.
At the same time, he said that joining the EU roaming space means not only the abolition of call charges, but also modern, transparent European rules in the field of telecommunications.
It is envisaged that the legislation in the field of telecommunications services in Ukraine, in particular with regard to roaming, will be supplemented taking into account current changes in EU legislation.
As First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko commented on the document, this government decision is one of the stages in the implementation of the updated Priority Action Plan agreed by the Ministry of Economy and the European Commission to strengthen the implementation of the Free Trade Area Agreement. The main focus of this plan is the integration of Ukraine into the internal market of the EU.
“The approval of the decision of the Ukraine-EU Association Committee in Trade Configuration will create conditions for Ukraine to receive an internal market regime in the field of roaming. This year, this area will be a pilot project for the full legal integration of Ukraine into internal European regulation,” the press service of the Ministry of Economy quoted Svyrydenko.
Farmers in Romania and Bulgaria staged protests Friday against the European Union’s decision to exempt agricultural products from Ukraine from duties, which ended up oversaturating local markets and contributing to lower prices, the Associated Press (AP) reported Friday.
“Farmers in Romania and Bulgaria staged protests Friday over the European Union’s stance on excessive supplies of Ukrainian agricultural products that have flooded local markets and weakened prices,” AP reported.
Protests took place in Bucharest and other Romanian cities. In Bulgaria, farmers blocked several border points.
“The new harvest is less than three months away and there is a danger that produce cannot be sold above the production price,” AP quoted Liliana Peron, executive director of the Romanian Farmers’ Association, as saying.
Polish farmers have also protested in recent weeks over duty-free supplies of Ukrainian grain to European markets adopted by the EU, forcing the country’s Agriculture Minister Henrik Kowalczyk to resign.
Last year, the EU abolished customs tariffs for Ukraine for freer grain shipments.
On Monday, the European Commission said it wanted to help the Ukrainian population by organizing the export of Ukrainian grain, but it is making sure that the EU market is not hit too hard by Kiev’s support measures.
State-owned Oschadbank (Kyiv) has launched a preferential lending program for agrarians for the 2023 sowing season to purchase seeds, plant protection products, microfertilizers and machinery from Spectrum-Agro LLC (Obukhiv, Kyiv region).
According to the press service of Oschadbank, farmers will be able to purchase agricultural machinery on credit at 5% and 9% per annum for working capital replenishment of up to UAH 90 million under the government program “Affordable Loans 5-7-9%”.
Microfertilizers, plant protection products and soybean seeds produced by Spectrum-Agro can be purchased at a rate of 0.01% per annum for up to UAH 20 million with a seasonally adapted repayment schedule, the release said.
According to Oschadbank, to obtain such a loan, it is enough to provide a simplified package of documents to obtain a decision on it. In addition to priority consideration of applications, all those who have taken advantage of the loan will be able to quickly receive a preliminary decision to replenish working capital through the online platform Agroapp.
The State Bank also reported that since February 24, 2022, it has provided about UAH 10 billion to agricultural enterprises under the Affordable Loans 5-7-9% program. The share of agricultural loans in the total portfolio of this program issued by Oschadbank during the war is 72%. The second place is occupied by trade enterprises, to which the bank issued 16% of loans under the affordable loan program.
“Spectr-Agro is a distributor of plant protection products, fertilizers and agricultural machinery from leading global and Ukrainian manufacturers (Deutz-Fahr, HARDI, Kockerling, Dieci, SOLA).
According to opendatabot, Spectrum-Agro increased its revenue by 1.2% to UAH 6 billion 262.6 million in 2022, while its net profit decreased by 20% to UAH 209.84 million.
State-owned Oschadbank, according to the National Bank, ranked 2nd in terms of total assets (UAH 311.19 billion) among 65 banks in the country as of March 1, 2023.
The attempt to regulate intellectual property rights issues during the war, undertaken after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, has led to problems in the pharmaceutical market, the inability to introduce to the market and launch production of new drugs.
Such opinions were expressed by lawyers interviewed by Interfax-Ukraine, commenting on the consequences for the pharmaceutical market in Ukraine of the law on the protection of individuals’ interests in intellectual property during martial law, imposed in connection with the armed aggression of Russia against Ukraine, adopted in March 2022. The document extends the validity of all intellectual property rights without exception until the day following the day of termination or cancellation of martial law.
Partner and Co-Head of the Intellectual Property Practice at Arzinger Law Firm Taras Kisliy noted that the law was adopted at one of the most dramatic stages of military aggression, when many citizens were forced to leave their homes and could not fully work, “including those who work in the field of intellectual property – for example, submit documents for renewal of trademark certificates or patents for inventions”.
“In order to prevent this from leading to mass miss deadlines for filing all sorts of documents with the Patent Office, this law was basically passed. But its wording, unfortunately, was not clear enough and was perceived differently, primarily in relation to the pharmaceutical market, “- he said.
The lawyer explained that the originator pharmaceutical companies (owners of active drug patents – IF) “saw in this law that their patents, which should expire during the war, now will not actually expire and will remain in force as long as the war lasts”. As a result, after the law was passed, there was a discussion among intellectual property professionals. Some of their colleagues (including the authors of the law) believed that the patents had not been extended, while others insisted that the vague wording of the law could be interpreted as carte blanche for the originator pharmaceutical companies, which would hold a monopoly on their drugs throughout the war.
Kislyy specified that this led to dozens of lawsuits, disruption of entry into the market of cheaper generic drugs, state budget losses on more expensive drug purchases, reduced access to treatment for patients and many other negative consequences”.
The lawyer also stressed that in terms of extending the monopoly on pharmaceuticals, the adopted law directly contradicts the European commitments of Ukraine, in particular the provisions of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. At the same time, only international generic pharmaceutical companies that received an open-date monopoly benefited from the law.
“International generic pharmaceutical companies, which release cheaper analogues of drugs on the market after the end of patent protection, suffer greatly in this situation. Now they are deprived of the possibility to plan to enter the market with new drugs at all. All they have to do is to sue and hope that the court will make a legal decision in this situation of direct conflict with the provisions of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. However, trials are ongoing and the Supreme Court has not yet put a final point in this category of cases,” he said.
At the same time, Kislyy noted that the situation with domestic pharmaceutical manufacturers is even worse.
“The current interpretation of the law actually closes them to foreign markets due to the peculiarities of registration procedures, necessary for the sale of medicines,” – said the lawyer.
In turn, a lawyer of the law firm “Legal Alliance” Alexander Tsurkan said that the risks of losing intellectual property rights at the beginning of the war were indeed high and in some cases the law justifiably allowed to retain these rights to trademarks and patents, which expired during the martial law.
“An example can be given where a company owned trademarks and patents on drugs that expired after February 24, 2022. The company was relocated, the employees were outside of Ukraine and at the beginning of the war no one was physically able to file for renewal of IP rights. Thanks to this law all IP rights of the company were preserved, competitors were not able to take advantage of the expiration of trademark certificates and register identical trademarks. The loss of intellectual property rights for business is sometimes equal to the loss of business itself”, he said.
At the same time Tsurkan agrees that this law has a number of drawbacks. In particular, he called the extension of patents beyond their maximum possible term of legal protection one of its problems.
“The term of a patent in Ukraine is 20 years, and at the end of that term, legal protection is usually cancelled, and everyone can use the present invention. However, because of the law, patents that should have lost legal protection since the beginning of martial law continue to operate, and as a consequence some of the patents are already in effect for 21 years instead of the maximum term of 20 years,” he said.
In particular, the case of the drug “Caspofungin-Teva”, whose patent expired during martial law, is currently pending before the Cassation Economic Court. Plaintiff was the patent holder for the active ingredient “caspofungin,” and the patent expired on April 16, 2022, and after that date other pharmaceutical companies could use the substance in medicinal products without infringement.
The defendant, in turn, knowing of the termination of legal protection, applied for registration of a drug using the compound “caspofungin” and intended to begin selling such a drug after the termination of the plaintiff’s patent.
The trial and appellate courts found that the law extends the term of the patent, the defendant is prohibited from using the compound “caspofungin” and from selling the drug “Caspofungin-Teva” protected by such patent.
“Thus, the problematic aspect of the law is to provide the patent owner with an additional term of legal protection beyond the maximum possible, so other players in the market cannot produce an identical product,” Tsurkan explained.
At the same time, the lawyer noted that “Ukrpatent” has repeatedly pointed out in its letters that the continuation of patents, under the law, applies only to patents that could have been extended (and not to those that have been terminated – IF), but the courts did not agree with this position.
As an example, the lawyer cited a court case on the drug Exib, for which the patent was expiring during the war and another pharmaceutical company began using the chemical formula of the invention in its drugs. The court did not agree with the position of “Ukrpatent” and prohibited the use of the patent’s formulation, valid beyond the maximum possible period, in the drug “Exib.
“Thus, the courts now formally apply the law without deep analysis for compliance with international law and the arguments of “Ukrpatent”, which adds additional term of protection to patent owners, turning such patents into evergreen,” – said Tsurkan.
According to him, pharmaceutical companies very carefully monitor the validity of their competitors’ patents and in the last months of the patents they start preparatory actions to bring new drugs to the market.
“Because of this law, after the end of 20 years of patent protection, the companies that expected to bring the product to market cannot do so, because the IP rights of the patent owner formally continue to operate even in cases where they should no longer. In this situation, on the one hand, there is a positive effect for pharmaceutical companies, which are owners of patents, because they have received an additional period of legal protection, but on the other hand pharmaceutical companies, having made pre-sale preparation and waiting for the end of the patent, cannot sell their medicinal product,” he said.
“The law was passed at a difficult time and was intended to protect and equitably preserve intellectual property rights in every possible way. However, the creation of legislative opportunities to provide additional term of legal protection contrary to the provisions of international conventions is a negative effect for many players in the market, “- said the lawyer.
For her part, partner of the law firm Asters Yulia Semenii also believes that the need for this law was due to the war, and its purpose was to prevent the applicants and right holders from losing their rights due to noncompliance with the terms. However, the situation with patents in the pharmaceutical market was a side effect of this document.
To resolve the problem, according to Semenya, could be the position of the Supreme Court in this category of cases, where it will be determined that the law does not extend the patents for medicines or to amend it.
“All bona fide pharmaceutical players always strive for transparent and clear rules of the game. Now the said law has created chaos, the elimination of which is waiting for the whole pharmaceutical market”, – stressed the lawyer.
The net inflow to Ukraine in the week of April 1-7 rose to a record 97,000 people from 18,000 a week earlier, which can be explained by Easter holidays and school vacations in Europe.
According to the State Border Service in Facebook, the flow to leave Ukraine in that week decreased from 247 thousand to 241 thousand people, while the flow to enter jumped from 265 thousand to 338 thousand people.
According to the Ministry, the number of cars crossed the western Ukrainian border, in the 14th week of the year also increased, but not so significantly – from 127 thousand to 132 thousand, and the number of vehicles with humanitarian cargoes declined – from 688 to 522.
The largest net inflow to Ukraine – from 15 to 27 thousand people per day – was fixed on April 1-3, when 47-58 thousand people daily entered the country, which resulted in queues at the border, especially from Poland.
Polish Border Guard Service also recorded a significant net inflow to Ukraine for the last seven days – 87.7 thousand people compared to 18.6 thousand a week earlier.
According to the Polish Ministry, the weekly flow from Ukraine to Poland reduced from 165.8 thousand people to 155.3 thousand, whereas the return flow from Poland to Ukraine increased from 184.4 thousand people to 243.0 thousand.
In total, since the beginning of the war, by April 7, 2023, 10.95 million people had arrived in Poland from Ukraine, while in the opposite direction 9.17 million people were transported.
As it was reported, since May 10, 2022, the outflow of refugees from Ukraine was replaced by an inflow, which lasted until September 23 and amounted to 409 thousand people.
However, during the last week of September, the net outflow was 28 thousand people at once, and one of the possible reasons was a reaction to mobilization in Russia and “pseudo-referendums” in the occupied territories, and then the probable reason for the continued net outflow was the massive shelling of the energy infrastructure. It temporarily stopped in the second half of December and early January for the period of the holidays, but from the second week of January it resumed again and cumulatively since late September by the anniversary of the full-scale war reached 223 thousand people.
However, since that moment 130 thousand more people entered Ukraine than left.
As Deputy Economy Minister Sergei Sobolev noted in early March, the return of every 100,000 Ukrainians home gives a 0.5% increase in GDP.
According to UNHCR data as of April 4, a total of 20.19 million people left Ukraine since the war began (not including the flow of people into the country), of which 10.61 million left for Poland, 2.85 million for Russia (data as of October 3), 2.45 million for Hungary, 2.19 million for Romania, 1.28 million for Slovakia, 0.80 million for Moldova and 0.02 million for Belarus.
At the same time, according to the UN data, 11.63 million people arrived in Ukraine from February 28, 2022 to April 4, 2023 (excluding the data of Hungary, Russia and Belarus).
The number of Ukrainians registered in Europe with temporary protection status or similar reached 5.027 million on April 4, increasing by 19 thousand during the week.
Ukraine’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Japarova will visit New Delhi next week to discuss, among other things, providing additional humanitarian aid, The Hindu reported, citing diplomatic sources.
“Ukraine has requested additional humanitarian aid from India, including pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and energy equipment to repair energy infrastructure damaged during the war, and both sides are expected to discuss providing such support,” the report said.
Japarova is also expected to extend an invitation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Kiev.
Diplomatic sources said final arrangements are still being discussed, but confirmed that Emine Japarova, the first deputy foreign minister, is expected to arrive in Delhi on Monday and hold an interagency dialogue and meet with media and think tanks in the capital to enlist Ukraine’s support in India,” the report noted.
