You're reading: Ukrainian car importers have not imported cars to which additional duties apply, says VAAID head

Ukrainian car importers as of May 2013 had imported practically no cars with the 1-2.2 liters engines, to which the duties on passenger cars introduced from April 14, 2013 apply, Head of the All-Ukrainian Association of Car Importers and Dealers (VAAID), Oleh Nazarenko, has said.

“According to the information I have from the customs service, since
the moment the duties took effect, importers have not supplied cars to
Ukraine. They managed to import a certain number of cars before the
duties took effect,” he said at a meeting with reporters.

Nazarenko said that the situation has lead to revenues to the
national budget from imports of cars in May being almost zero, while the
position of the revenues from imports of cars in total customs revenues
had been third, after imports of oil and gas.

Importers do not want to forecast the further situation on the market, taking into account the economic situation, he said.

“Now the economic situation is such that there are no lines even for
cars at reduced prices. Those who wanted to buy a car did it before the
introduction of the duties [this is seen in sales of cars in March and
April], and waiting for the possible cancelation of the duty it is
unlikely that the potential buyers will buy cars at the higher price,
and they will prefer to wait until the end of the year,” Director
General of AWT-Bavaria, Oleksandr Tymofeyev, said.

Car importers believe that the duties will be canceled even earlier than the period they are in effect.

“From May 15 a 90-day period started, during which the WTO [World
Trade Organization] could introduce sanctions against Ukraine, and now
the government is waiting to pass the law on the vehicle recycling tax.
If the international community and Europe do not react, they will
quickly approve the vehicle recycling tax,” Nazarenko said.

As reported, on March 14, 2013, the government’s Uriadovy Kurier
newspaper published a decision of the Interagency Commission for
International Trade approved on April 28, 2012, to introduce special
duties on imports of new passengers cars with engines from 1,000 to
1,500 cubic centimeters at a rate of 6.46%, and cars with engines from
1,500 to 2,200 cubic centimeters at a rate of 12.95%, irrespective of
the country of origin and export.