Ukraine resumes state registration of feed additives

In 2020, Ukraine’s parliament passed the law on Feed Safety and Hygiene. This law sought to bring Ukrainian veterinary standards in line with European regulations, but due to several gaps, blocked the registration of feed additives.

A disruption to Ukraine’s feed additives market

Dmytro Kyryliuk, committee manager of the European Business Association, warned that the new law brought strong turbulence to Ukraine’s feed additives market. He said it has caused a disruption in supplies and has forced some farmers to change feed composition. The share of imported feed additives in Ukraine ranges between 75% and 90%, estimated Oksana Jurchenko, president of Ukraine’s pig farmers association. With no timely measures taken to address this issue, it could have worsened feed compositions used by some companies in Ukraine and impair the financial performance of livestock companies, Jurchenko warned.

Unoperational registration system

Under this law, all companies submitting an application to register a feed additive in Ukraine must submit a registration dossier which has a detailed description of the product. However, the absence of an approved registration dossier form has meant that the entire state registration system was not operational.

Preventing a complete collapse

In January 2021, Ukraine president, Volodimir Zelensky, passed a decree allowing the re-registration of feed additives. As explained by Ukrainian farmers, this decision prevented the livestock industry from a complete collapse, as state registration in Ukraine was valid for 5 years, and as of early 2021, up to 30% of all permits were about to expire. The new rules primarily concern feed additives that have never before been registered in Ukraine . Due to legal uncertainty, it is believed that not a single new feed additive passed state registration in Ukraine in the past year.

Standards are in line with EU legislation

“Now more than 7,000 economic entities, whose activities are related to the production and circulation of feed, have the opportunity to register safe and high-quality feed additives,” said Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine, Irina Novikova. She added that the registrational dossier standards had been developed in accordance with European legislation.

“Its adoption was an important step in bringing the Ukrainian feed market in line with EU requirements,” Novikova said. “Until recently, the lack of regulatory requirements for the registration dossier blocked the procedure for state registration of these products and created an artificial shortage of feed additives in Ukraine.”