Ukrcement proposes the government to approve the recognition of declarations of indicators of construction materials issued to Ukrainian manufacturers by foreign bodies for assessing conformity with the requirements of EU Regulation 305/2011, due to the absence of such bodies in Ukraine.

"In Ukraine, there are no bodies for assessing conformity with the requirements of Regulation 305. At the same time, if a Ukrainian manufacturer passes a European conformity assessment and draws up a declaration of indicators, then this declaration does not work in Ukraine, because the law states that the manufacturer must obtain a certificate to draw up a declaration from the domestic conformity assessment body," Liudmyla Kripka, the executive director of the Ukrcement association, told Interfax-Ukraine.

At the same time, the government, before the end of martial law and within 90 days after, allowed the provision of construction materials imported to Ukraine from EU member states on the market on the basis of a declaration of indicators of construction materials confirming compliance with EU Regulation 305/2011 issued by foreign business entities.

"Today, the domestic manufacturer is in unequal conditions with the importer. Therefore, we propose to approve the recognition of declarations of indicators of construction products issued by a foreign business entity, which confirms the compliance of products with the requirements of EU Regulation 305/2011 for Ukrainian manufacturers as well," Kripka said.

According to her, today Ukrainian manufacturers can only draw up a declaration for compliance with the Technical Regulations for Construction Materials (Products), approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in 2006 as amended by the decree dated March 22, 2022. Until 2025, this regulation operates in Ukraine in parallel with the European one, however, in order to support the national manufacturer and increase the export of Ukrainian products, it is necessary to recognize European declarations of conformity.

“In addition, there is no independent construction materials laboratory in Ukraine. All national manufacturers that fall under the law on EU Regulation 305/2011 also face this problem,” the expert said.

According to Ukrcement, last year the volume of cement exports decreased by only 3.7% compared to 2021 and amounted to 935,000 tonnes. At the same time, cement production in Ukraine in 2022 decreased by 51% compared to 2021, to 5.4 million tonnes.