05.09.2013

The EU Commission has indicated that imports of eggs and egg products from Ukraine will not be subject to the same welfare standards as required of EU egg producers, despite the creation of a free trade area. In a letter to EU packers and traders body EUWEP, the commission says that, according to international trade agreements, the EU cannot impose union law on third countries.

The letter does indicate that, within three months of the agreement taking effect, Kiev will have to submit a "comprehensive strategy for the implementation of the sanitary-phytosanitary chapter.......Until the process of approximation of animal welfare legislation has been completed, the EU will import products of animal origin, including eggs, from Ukraine under the same conditions as for third countries."