Import license in Ukraine

An important question for business entities is the licensing of different types of business activity. Before mastering a new segment of market, experienced businessmen study the necessity if registration of authorization document for legal carrying out the commercial transactions. From the point of view of the licensing, the external economic activity is a rather specific sphere. This is explained by the fact that the nomenclature of the goods, whose import and export require licensing, changes yearly.

In order to gain insight in the situation with the import licensing, one should clear up which documents regulate this problem. The main legal normative documents regulating these questions are the Laws of Ukraine “About licensing of certain types of economic activity” and “About external economic activity”.

Analysis of the said documents shows that the registration of import of discs for laser information processing and medicinal products, import of precursors, psychotropic, narcotic substances into Ukraine, and also import of holographic protective elements is required by the Law “About licensing of certain types of economic activity”. Based on the norms of this law, the trade of alcohol, tobacco, pesticides implies registration a corresponding license. Consequently, import of such goods, including tobacco products and alcoholic drinks, is subject to licensing.

However, this list is not comprehensive. With reference to Article 16 of the Law of Ukraine “About external economic activity”, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approves every year the list of goods for whose import a license will be required the next year. The corresponding list for the year 2014 was approved by the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 950 dated 25.12.2013. In the annexes 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, the goods are given for whose import a license will be required in 2014. Special attention should be paid to the annexes 3 and 4, in which the ozone-destroying substances and the goods containing such substances are given.

Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine “About external economic activity” sets out five types of licensing of the commodities and materials import: a special license, an open license, a general license, an import license, a one-time license.

Different aspects of import licensing are given in Article 16 of the Law of Ukraine “About external economic activity”. The licensing of import transactions is provided in two forms: automatic and manual licensing.

Automatic licensing is the total of administrative measures of the corresponding executive authority for registration of an authorization document for an entity engaged in external economic activity for carrying out of import of the goods for some period, regarding to which (goods) no quotes were set out. Consequently, the non-automatic licensing is a total of administrative measures for import of the goods for which various restrictions were fixed.

The licensing of import in automatic mode has no restrictive influence on the products whose import requires getting a license. The non-automatic licensing is used in fixing the quantitative and other restrictions for import of commodities and materials.

A decision about use of specific mode of licensing of products import is taken by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

Registration of only one type of license is required for each type of goods. This document is registered by the central executive authority for the matters of economic policy, and also by the structural subdivision of the regional state administration (in Kyiv, that is the Kyiv municipal state administration) within the powers and authorities available.

Besides the types of licensing, the current law defines the conditions that are essential for introduction of procedure of import licensing, a corresponding procedure of getting license, and also the time limits for registration. The basic document in those matters is considered to be the Law of Ukraine “About external economic activity”

In Article 16 of the Law of Ukraine “About external economic activity”, the circumstances are given under which the import licensing is introduced. The following belongs thereto:

• rapid degradation of factors of external payments and of the national balance of payments, when other measures are inefficient;
• serious reduction of minimal rate of national gold and foreign currency reserves;
• providing the protection of people’s life and health, protection of environment, flora and fauna, keeping with the rights of intellectual property, protection of national historical, archeological or artistic patrimony , public morals, and also based on requirements of other national safety;
• import of silver and gold, besides precious metals;
• protection of Ukrainian manufacturers at increase of import, as a result of which the considerable harm is caused to them or a threat if such harm is created by import of similar or directly competing products. This measure is introduced provisionally, and it is used during the period that provides non-admittance of serious harm to domestic manufacturers or compensates their harm, which implies a possibility of returning the required profitability;
• providing the patent protection, copyright protection and protection of trademarks;
• measures connected with performance of international agreements;
• taking measures as a response to unfriendly and discriminative actions of foreign countries, economic groupings and customs unions.

In case the subject of barter transactions is products whose import requires getting a license, so the licensing of those transactions is carried out.