The Ukrainian Agricultural Council (UAC) initiated and joined the drafting of the bill, which provides for changes to the current legislation in relation to the use of general-purpose roads by farmers.

"Logistics problems are extremely relevant for farmers. During fieldwork, we receive numerous complaints from agricultural producers from different regions of Ukraine regarding problems with the movement of large-sized agricultural machinery by general purpose roads. To resolve this issue, appropriate changes were made to the current legislation ", - said the deputy head of UAC Mikhail Sokolov.

Thus, the draft law "On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine" On Road Traffic "Regarding the specifics of participation in road traffic of combine harvesters and agricultural tractors with hinged or trailer equipment" establishes that large-sized machinery can be transported by highways without obtaining a special permit, however compliance with a number of requirements. In particular, the movement of combines and tractors must be carried out at the time of daylight. At the same time, the farmer must choose a route on which the moving technique will not take into account the motion of the oncoming vehicles and will leave the possibility of overtaking for cars moving behind.

The bill also proposes to entrust the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine at the level of subordinate regulations to determine the need to involve car cover to support combines and tractors. Such car covers can be equipped with flashing beacons of orange color, the inclusion of which will serve as an auxiliary information for other participants in the movement. On the car, the cover that moves behind may be the Road sign "detour to the left".

Thus, this bill eliminates the obstacles that lead to loss of crop due to inefficient agricultural work as a result of forced delays in obtaining permits for the movement of machinery.

Today, local police departments of the National Police prohibit farmers from using general roads because of the oversight of machinery. According to the current Rules of the Road, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on October 10, according to special rules, the traffic of vehicles whose width exceeds 2.6 meters, the height from the surface of the road - 4 meters, the length - 22 meters, and the actual mass is more than 40 tons.

However, most modern high-performance agricultural machinery exceeds the installed size.

According to the rules of the road for obtaining a permit for the movement of large agricultural machinery it is necessary to apply to the relevant unit of the National Police, which should issue either one-time or three-month permission to travel along this route. However, law enforcement often refuses farmers to obtain such permission.

According to the UAC, the loss of time for obtaining permits is inappropriate and unfounded, especially when, for example, it is necessary to move a combine harvester from one field to another along the route, which involves the passage of 5-10 km by road. At the same time, the conditions of safe traffic must definitely be respected. Therefore, there was drafted an appropriate bill, which will be registered in the Verkhovna Rada in the near future.

In April 2018, the Ukrainian Agricultural Council appealed to First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Maxim Martynyuk and Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov to create a joint working group with the participation of representatives of the UAC to work out and make recommendations for the unimpeded use of general-purpose roads by agrarians.

It is worth noting that in the EU countries, the movement of large-scale agricultural machinery in the field is permitted, and in Ukraine this is considered a violation.