Sanitary and phytosanitary measures
Main content and commitments of Ukraine
According to Chapter 4, “Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures”, Ukraine has to introduce an equivalent European system for monitoring the quality and safety of food products. To this end, the Government approved the Comprehensive Implementation Strategy of Chapter 4 (hereinafter – SPS Strategy), which defines the schedule of systematic legal approximation of Ukrainian legislation to EU legislation (Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated February 24, 2016, No. 228-p). The main obligations of Ukraine within the framework of the Strategy are as follows:
- reforming the system of state control over food safety, feed and animal by-products in accordance with the EU law;
- establishment of requirements for the production and circulation of new food products, food additives, items and materials in contact with food;
- improvement of legislation on the provision of food information to consumers;
- reforming the mechanism of state regulation of production and circulation of feed;
- improvement of GMO legislation in food and feed;
- improvement of the mechanism of state regulation of production and circulation of veterinary medicine;
- review of the maximum levels of veterinary medicine residues, pesticides and agrochemicals, as well as ensuring effective monitoring of such residues;
- improvement of health and animals welfare legislation;
- fighting infectious and other diseases in animals;
- improving the phytosanitary situation in Ukraine and ensuring the protection of plant health.
Association bodies
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Management Subcommittee of the Association Committee in Trade.
Responsible bodies in Ukraine
- State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection;
- Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food;
- Ministry of Health;
- Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources.
Expected results
The state of adaptation of Ukrainian legislation and cooperation with the EU
In pursuance of Article 64 of the Association Agreement and the SPS Strategy, the following laws were adopted:
- The Law of Ukraine “On basic principles and requirements for food products safety and quality” (No. 771, as amended by the Law of Ukraine No 1602 of July 22, 2014) (effective since September 2015).
- The Law of Ukraine “On state control that is carried out in order to verify compliance with the legislation on food and feed, health and welfare of animals” (No. 2042 of 18.05.2017), will come into force in April 2018;
- The Law of Ukraine “On feed safety and hygiene” (No. 2264 of 21.12.2017) will come into force in January 2020;
- The Law of Ukraine “On amending certain laws of Ukraine on the identification and registration of animals” (No. 1648 dated August 14, 2014);
- Law of Ukraine “On by-products of animal origin that are not intended for human consumption” (No. 287 dated 07/04/2015);
- Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On seeds and planting material” (No. 864-VIII of 08.12.2015) were approved.
Approved and implemented:
- Procedure for approval of export capacities, their introduction and exclusion from a corresponding register;
- Procedure for state registration of capacities, maintenance of the state register of market operators’ capacity and provision of information from it to interested parties;
- Procedure for maintaining market operators and capacities register, for which the operating permit has been issued;
- Methodical recommendations on sampling procedures for the implementation of the state monitoring plan for residues of veterinary medicines and pollutants;
- Instructions for the prevention and control of African swine fever;
- Catalogue of feed materials;
- Procedure for certification, issuing and cancellation of certificates for seeds and/or planting material as well as marking and packing procedure for seeds and similar products;
- Instruction on the prevention and elimination of bird salmonellosis;
- Participation in the European Animal Disease Notification System (ADNS);
- Approved orders of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy for the introduction of identification and registration of horses, pigs and cattle.
Procedures under the system of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) are introduced – system for analysis of risks, hazardous factors and critical points control.
The HACCP system allows to guarantee the production of safe products by identifying and controlling dangerous factors.
According to the current legislation, in 2017 the system should be implemented by large enterprises producing food products with unprocessed ingredients of animal origin: dairies, slaughterhouses, meat processing enterprises; in the fall of 2018, the system has to be introduced at all major food processing enterprises; the fall of 2019 is the deadline for the introduction of the system for all small businesses.
The competent authority in the sphere of sanitary and phytosanitary measures was established – the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection (started since April 6, 2016).
Enhancing access to the EU market
Ukraine received the right to export such products of animal origin to the EU: poultry and poultry products, fish and fish products, honeybees, eggs and egg products, milk and dairy products, collagen, food intestinal raw materials, snails, by-products / non-food products of animal origin.
In the framework of the procedure for the release of Ukrainian beef into the EU market, starting in 2017, Ukraine launched a national programme for the continuous monitoring of the cattle for spongiform encephalopathy.
To date, 290 enterprises have been granted the right to export products of animal origin, including 110 food producers.
A single approach has been introduced to import animal products from the EU Member States to Ukraine: unified forms of international veterinary certificates for milk and dairy products and poultry meat have been agreed. At the moment, in the process of approval are those for collagen and gelatine, pet food, etc.
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