Business associations call on Ukraine and Poland to sign the Common Border Agreement as soon as possible

The business community, united by the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, European Business Association, Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Association of International Road Cargo Carriers, Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs, All-Polish Union of Road Transport Employers, Polish Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers,  calls on the Governments of Ukraine and Republic of Poland to facilitate the development of existing joint checkpoints and construction of new ones on the Ukrainian-Polish border as well as to ensure the soonest signing of the Joint Border Agreement between the Republic of Poland and Ukraine.

The full-scale war in Ukraine has immensely affected the supply chains of goods. Due to the closure of Ukraine's airspace, the blockade of some of Ukraine's sea and river ports, and significant damage to the country's railway network and infrastructure, road freight transportation through the western checkpoints became almost the only means of international goods transportation.

Despite the joint efforts of the Ukrainian and Polish sides and related parties to establish an effective passage of commercial vehicles through the western checkpoints on the border, namely: systematic development of road infrastructure on the Ukrainian and Polish sides of the border, assistance to modernize the Shehyni-Medyka border crossing point, the introduction of an electronic queue at all existing checkpoints, commercial vehicles are forced to stand idle at the border for several days, while the existing arrangements for the electronic queue for all participants require improvements.

According to the electronic queue data, as of the beginning of July current year, the waiting time in the general queue at the Yahodyn-Dorohusk checkpoint is approximately 7 days, and the waiting time in the queue for veterinary control is over 13 days. Obviously, the waiting time leads to a slowdown in the turnover of goods and financial losses for the carriers due to transport delays and breaches of contracts. According to rough estimates of carriers, a day of idle time for a commercial vehicle costs 300-400 euros.

In order to stimulate the reduction of queues at the borders, decrease the duration of inspection, reduce financial losses for idle time for commercial vehicles, avoid penalties for late implementation of international contracts, and speed up export-import operations between Ukraine and the EU countries, which is especially crucial in the conditions of complicated logistics and infrastructure restrictions during the war, the business community calls on the Governments of Ukraine and the Republic of Poland to:

- ensure the soonest signing of the Joint Border Agreement between Ukraine and the Republic of Poland;

- strengthen the dialogue between the Ukrainian and Polish sides and relevant EU institutions on the improvement of current joint checkpoints and establishment of new ones on the Polish-Ukrainian border by using available tools of intergovernmental cooperation and mechanisms of multilateral diplomacy;

- contribute to the search for ways to converge customs procedures at the Polish-Ukrainian checkpoints and the development of appropriate recommendations for changing the customs legislation of Ukraine and the practices of the state customs services of both countries;

- speed up the decision-making process by the State Customs Service of Ukraine on the modernization of border crossing points on the Ukrainian-Polish border.

We express our gratitude to the responsible Ukrainian and Polish state authorities for all efforts to ensure a smooth cargo flow in both directions between Ukraine and the EU.