Navigating Compliance: Transforming Ukraine’s Export Challenges into Growth

On World Standards Day 2024, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has released a new report analyzing Ukraine's compliance with international quality and safety standards for exports. Based on border rejection data analysis, the study reveals several key challenges facing Ukrainian producers, including gaps in national quality infrastructure to meet European Union and other international market requirements, difficulties adapting to evolving technical regulations and standards for both food and non-food products in major export markets. 

The report utilized UNIDO's Standards Compliance Analytics (SCA) tool to identify specific compliance issues. Notable problems were found in areas such as product certification procedures, labeling requirements, and safety testing and documentation. The analysis, conducted under the Global Quality and Standards Programme (GQSP), provides valuable insights to enhance Ukraine's trade potential. Its findings will guide targeted interventions aimed at addressing private sector compliance challenges, and building institutional capacities to demonstrate adherence to international standards. In this context, the GQSP has identified berries and nuts as key sectors in Ukraine that would benefit significantly from targeted interventions to improve standards compliance for export. 

In alignment with this year's World Standards Day theme, the Standards Compliance Analysis demonstrates a data-driven approach to overcoming infrastructure challenges and boosting industrial development, directly supporting Sustainable Development Goal 9 by enhancing Ukraine's capacity to meet international quality standards and expand its export potential. By pinpointing where producers face the greatest hurdles in meeting international standards, interventions can better target capacity building efforts and infrastructure investments. The findings underscore the need for Ukraine to further develop its national quality infrastructure and help producers demonstrate compliance with importing countries' requirements. Addressing these challenges will be essential for Ukraine to expand market access and boost agricultural exports, particularly to the European Union - currently its largest trading partner.

The full report is available for download in English and Ukrainian.

For more information, contact Dorina Nati (d.nati [at] unido.org)