The Economic Development and Trade Ministry has called on businesses and all interested parties to participate in Ukraine's switch to European and international standards, the ministry has reported on its website.

The ministry said that Ukraine's membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the provisions of the Association Agreement with the EU foresee the adoption of international and European standards in the country as national standards with the synchronous scrapping of GOST (Soviet) standards drawn up before 1992. GOST standards which are currently in effect create extra technical barriers to trade and they will be scrapped this year under the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers.

The ministry said that GOST standards can be scrapped without being replaced to cut the risks to manufacturers, for example, due to GOST standards not being used, or only one or two companies use them, and there is no international or European equivalent (companies could design their own standard and use it).

Also, the ministry is to define GOST standards that should be replaced by relevant national standards, particularly those that are harmonized with international or regional standards. The ministry is to define national standards that are currently being designed, and international and European standards that could be passed as national ones.

The ministry said that sources of financing to create national standards (if there are no similar international or European standards) should be determined. The ministry said that the it will only order for the harmonization of national standards with European and international ones, in line with European practice.

According to the ministry, the national standards fund currently includes 29,600 documents, including 8,849 national standards harmonized with international and European ones and around 13,000 GOST standards designed before 1992.