The Ukrainian Agri Council appealed to the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk with a request to include on the agenda as soon as possible and consider the draft law No. 4558 of 12.30.2020 "On Amendments to Some Laws of Ukraine Regarding the Improvement of State Regulation in the Field of Handling Pesticides and Agrochemicals".

The document was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada almost three years ago. On August 15 of this year, this draft law was already voted on in the first reading. Moreover, the deputies were “for” shortened term for its consideration until the second reading. Nevertheless, the draft law has not yet been finally adopted.

"Over the past few years, the issue of pesticide usage has been hotly debated in Ukrainian society. However, the Law of Ukraine "On Pesticides and Agrochemicals" was adopted in 1995. During the 26 years of its existence, a number of unsystematic changes were made to its provisions, as a result of which the current version of the Law currently contains a number of shortcomings," is mentioned in the UAC’s appeal.

The UAC mentions that the current legislation in this area creates significant obstacles for business. In particular:

1. entrusts the implementation of a number of non-proprietary powers to state authorities;
2. provides for duplication of the subject of regulation simultaneously in different laws;
3. contains duplication of powers of various authorities.

The UAC experts with the support of the USAID Program for Agrarian and Rural Development (AGRO) within the framework of the project "Supporting the economic recovery of the agricultural sector of Ukraine, affected by Russia's military aggression against Ukraine", worked on and submitted amendments to the second reading of the draft law No. 4558, taking into account the need:

1. approximation of Ukrainian legislation to EU legislation, in particular to the provisions of Regulation (EU) No. 1107/2009 in the part that concerns:
   a) requirements for labeling pesticides and agrochemicals;
   b) bringing definitions of terms in accordance with the definitions provided by the EU legislation;
2. bringing the grounds for banning pesticides and agrochemicals usage into compliance with the requirements of the WTO Agreement on the Usage of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures;
3. responding to the results of reforming of the central executive bodies system that form and/or implement state policy in the field of activities related to pesticides and agrochemicals;
4. bringing the Law into line with the Laws of Ukraine "On central bodies of executive power", "On the basic principles of state supervision (control) in the sector of economic activity", "On the List of documents of a permissive nature in the sector of economic activity";
5. elimination of duplication of powers and excessive state regulation;
6. strengthening the fight against falsified pesticides and agrochemicals.

"Given the importance of creating an effective state regulation of activities related to pesticides and agrochemicals, we ask you to contribute to the inclusion of draft law No. 4558 to the one of upcoming meetings of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine agenda and its consideration," the Ukrainian Agri Council urged.