The European Commission has proposed that a permit to launch international sea and river transportations be prolonged with Ukraine, according to the commission's recommendations to the Council of the European Union on the signing of an agreement in the form of an exchange of letters with Ukraine.
An explanatory note to the recommendations reads that according to Article 44 of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, commitments assumed by Ukraine upon its accession to the World Trade Organization will have the advantage over bilateral commitments between Ukraine and the EU.
According to the note, Ukraine has assumed commitments that are mainly equivalent to obligations of the Ukrainian-EU bilateral agreement, apart from Clause 3 of Article 39, according to which EU citizens and companies that provide services on international sea transportations have the right to render international sea and river services in Ukrainian internal waterways and vice versa.
The General Affairs and External Relations Council gave the European Commission a mandate for negotiations on an agreement on sea transportations on April 23, 2007.
The agreement in the form of an exchange of letters was initialed with Ukraine on February 18, 2008.
