Four EU countries – Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Estonia – propose to Brussels to ban the import of waste and scrap ferrous metals, copper and aluminum from Russia.
Such a proposal was presented at a meeting of the European Union Environment Council held on March 25, the Lithuanian Environment Ministry said.
“Lithuania proposes that the European Commission assess all possibilities at EU level and make a proposal to suspend waste imports from Russia to the EU or allow Member States to adopt unilateral restrictive measures. We believe that such imports contribute to financing Russia’s war against Ukraine and should be stopped,” Lithuania’s deputy permanent representative to the EU, Ambassador Jurga Kasputene, said at the council meeting.
According to the Environment Ministry, more than 118 million euros worth of waste and scrap ferrous metals, copper and aluminum were imported from Russia to the EU in 2022-2023. Most of these imports go through Lithuania.
According to the ministry, cross-border transportation of waste is regulated by the Basel Convention and the Waste Transportation Regulation, so individual member states cannot unilaterally ban or restrict such imports.
ALUMINUM, BRUSSELS, COPPER, FERROUS METAL, IMPORTS, RUSSIAN FEDERATION, SCRAP
According to customs statistics released by the State Customs Service of Ukraine, Ukrainian companies increased aluminum imports by 4.2 times to $60.431 million in January-February this year ($26.930 million in February). At the same time, exports of aluminum and aluminum products in the first two months of 2024 decreased by 4.2 times compared to the same period a year earlier, to $15.618 million (in February – $7.619 million).
Last year, exports of aluminum and aluminum products increased by 0.7% compared to 2022, to $97.616 million.
In addition, in 2022, Ukraine reduced imports of aluminum and aluminum products by 33.4% to $340.398 million.
Exports of aluminum and aluminum products in 2022 decreased by 42.7% compared to 2021, to $96.972 million.
Ukraine in the first six months of 2023 reduced imports of nickel and nickel products by 4.4 times compared to the same period of 2022 – to $7.699 million ($1.355 million in June), aluminum and aluminum products increased by 25.9% to $168.234 million ($31.461 million).
Exports of aluminum and aluminum products in January-June this year decreased by 0.9% year-on-year to $48.032 million ($8.297 million in June), lead and lead products decreased by 5.7% to $7.806 million ($1.121 million), nickel and nickel products totaled $125,000 ($18,000), compared to $1.266 million in the first half of 2022.
According to customs statistics released by the State Customs Service of Ukraine, Ukraine in 2022 reduced imports of nickel and nickel products by 49.9% compared to 2021 – to $59.754 million, aluminum and aluminum products – by 33.4%, to $340.398 million.
Exports of aluminum and aluminum products for 2022 decreased 42.7% from 2021 to $96.972 million, lead and lead products decreased 68.7% to $11.970 million, and nickel and nickel products decreased 73.9% to $1.268 million.
According to customs statistics released by the State Customs Service of Ukraine, the export of aluminum and aluminum products in January-May this year increased by 0.7% compared to a year earlier – to $39.735 million (in May – $8.306 million), lead and aluminum products decreased by 17.2% – to $6.684 million ($1.214 million).
Exports of aluminum and aluminum products for 2022 decreased 42.7% from 2021 to $96.972 million, lead and lead products decreased 68.7% to $11.970 million, and nickel and nickel products decreased 73.9% to $1.268 million.
Ukrainian enterprises in January reduced exports of aluminum and its products by 33.7% compared to January 2022 – to $6.776 million, lead and its products by 41.4% – to $1.633 million, nickel and nickel products – $3 thousand, whereas in January 2022 it was $397 thousand.
Exports of aluminum and aluminum products for 2022 fell 42.7% from 2021 to $96.972 million ($6.330 million in December), lead and aluminum products fell 68.7% to $11.970 million ($1.396 million) and nickel and aluminum products fell 73.9% to $1.268 million ($0.1 million).
People’s deputies of Ukraine propose to modernize and synchronize the legislation in the Ukrainian wine industry in accordance with international standards, in particular to allow bottling wine in metal cans of food aluminum and kegs of aluminum and stainless steel.
The corresponding bill number 9030 “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the development of wine production and simplification of economic activity of small wineries” was registered in Parliament on February 17.
Among the authors of the document, in particular, the head of the parliamentary committee on finance, tax and customs policy Daniel Getmantsev, the head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy Alexander Haydu, head of the parliamentary committee on economic development Dmitry Natalukha and head of the parliamentary faction “Servant of the People” David Arahamia.
“The current legislation has norms for bottling wine products only in glass containers. Such norms indicate outdated national standards. In such economically developed countries of the world as USA, Great Britain and France it is allowed to pour wine in metal cans from food aluminum, and also kegs from aluminum and stainless steel. Therefore, taking into account current international practice, it is proposed to allow bottling wine in such packaging”, – clarify the authors of the draft law in the explanatory note to the document.
It is also proposed to cancel the need to obtain a license for the production of alcoholic beverages for small Ukrainian wine producers. Instead of licensing, it is proposed to establish a register of small producers of wine products, inclusion in which would be the basis for a business entity to acquire the status of a small producer of wine products.
The draft law No. 9030 proposes to eliminate a number of onerous existing requirements to material and technical base of small producers of wine products, as they buy raw materials of Ukrainian origin (grapes, fruits, berries, honey) for their activities which facilitates the development of agro-processing in the country.
In addition, it is assumed to simplify the reporting procedure for wine producers, from the current monthly to the annual, which will reduce the bureaucratic burden on them. At the same time, the responsibility of small producers of wine products will remain in the form of a fine for failure to submit or late submission of a report or submission of a report with inaccurate information about the volume of production and/or circulation (including import and export) of alcoholic beverages.
The authors of the draft law emphasize that the document is designed to bring national legislation in line with international practices and current trends in the wine industry, involves the removal of unjustified administrative barriers to the activities of producers of wine, fruit and/or honey drinks and allows for the creation of favorable conditions for the development of small production of wine products in Ukraine.
According to the explanatory note to the bill, by the time of its development in Ukraine there are only 26 small winemaking productions, while in 2013 their number reached a hundred, and in 2018 – 52. Thus, the wine industry in Ukraine is in decline, although Ukrainian producers at the international level demonstrate the high quality of their product and receive recognition and rewards.
“For example, in Italy there are 48 thousand small production of wine products, in France about 27 thousand, in Spain – almost 14 thousand in Georgia – more than 1 thousand. Even in countries with a less favorable climate for viticulture (or climatic conditions similar to Ukraine), their number is higher than in Ukraine. Thus, in Slovakia there are more than 28 thousand small wineries, in Germany – about 10 thousand, in Czech Republic – about 1,2 thousand, in Canada – 900, in Poland – 400, in the Netherlands – over 180 (and this number is constantly growing), “- say the authors of the bill.
