Ukraine filed a complaint at the WTO against Poland, Hungary, and theSlovak Republic, claiming they violated GATT 1994.

This article reports the factual and legal basis of the consultation requests of Ukraine submitted to
the WTO on September 21, 2023.
On September 21, Ukraine submitted requests for consultation to the WTO against Poland,
Hungary, and the Slovak Republic, claiming those states violated Articles XI:1, V:2, X:1, 4.2, and
5 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade of 1994 (“GATT 1994”) by their import
prohibitions on certain agricultural products from Ukraine. I will discuss the legal issues by first
outlining the factual background of the dispute and then mentioning the allegedly violated Articles
of the GATT 1994. Importantly, Poland, Hungary, and the Slovak Republic have not yet issued
their counterclaims.
Although the factual circumstances surrounding the disputes are similar, I will mention the legal
regulations of the allegedly violating parties separately based on how those states and the EU in
particular prompt current disputes before the WTO.
1) Poland
a) Order 717, adopted by the Minister of Economic Development and Technology of the
Republic of Poland on April 15, 2023, imposed a ban on the importation of a wide range
of agricultural products from Ukraine, including a ban on the transit of these goods via
Poland’s territory.
b) Order 751, adopted by the same Minister on April 21, 2023, replaced Order 717 and
applied until June 30, 2023, imposed an import prohibition on the same broad list of
agricultural goods of Ukrainian origin, but exempted goods in transit from this ban.
c) Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 2023/903 of May 2, 2023, adopted by the EU Commission,
replaced the prior measures of Poland and imposed a ban on the importation of four
categories of Ukrainian agricultural products into the Republic of Poland, Hungary, the
Slovak Republic, Romania, and the Republic of Bulgaria until June 5, 2023, with the
possibility of extending this measure.
It is regulated as follows: “Except for the execution of contracts that were signed before the entry into
force of this Regulation, the release for free circulation or placing under the customs warehousing, free zone
or inward processing procedures of the products listed in the Annex to this Regulation originating in
Ukraine, shall only be allowed in Member States other than Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania or
Slovakia.”
d) Regulation (EU) 2023/1100 of June 5, 2023, adopted by the EU Commission, extended
the prohibition introduced by Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 2023/903 of May 2, 2023, until
September 15, 2023.
e) Order 1898, adopted by Poland on September 15, 2023, banned imports of Ukrainian
grain, in particular wheat flour and meal/bran.
2) Hungary
a) Government Decree 130/2023 (IV. 18.), adopted by Hungary on April 18, 2023,
temporarily banned imports of meat products, eggs, honey, vegetables, grains (such as
wheat, rye, barley, maize, etc), flour, oily seeds, sugar, and wine from Ukraine. It was
effective from April 19 until September 16, 2023.
b) Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 2023/903 of May 2, 2023, adopted by the EU Commission,
replaced the prior measure of Hungary and imposed a ban on the importation of four
categories of Ukrainian agricultural products into the Republic of Poland, Hungary, the
Slovak Republic, Romania, and the Republic of Bulgaria until June 5, 2023, with the
possibility of extending this measure.
c) Regulation (EU) 2023/1100 of June 5, 2023, adopted by the EU Commission, extended
the prohibition introduced by Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 2023/903 of May 2, 2023, until
September 15, 2023.
d) Government Decree 430/2023 (IX. 15.) on the Amendment of the Government Decree
130/2023 (IV. 18.) imposed a ban on importation of Ukrainian products such as grains,
rapeseed and sunflower seeds, certain meat products, wheat, rye, barley, corn (and
products made of them), vegetables, sugar, wine, honey, and eggs.
3) The Slovak Republic
a) On April 13, 2023, temporary prohibition by Slovak Republic on processing and
introducing Ukrainian wheat into its feed and food chain, allegedly because a nonauthorised pesticide (chlorpyrifos) had been detected in a sample of this product.
b) Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 2023/903 of May 2, 2023, adopted by the EU Commission,
replaced the prior measure of the Slovak Republic and imposed a ban on the importation
of four categories of Ukrainian agricultural products into the Republic of Poland, Hungary,
the Slovak Republic, Romania, and the Republic of Bulgaria until June 5, 2023, with the
possibility of extending this measure.
c) Regulation (EU) 2023/1100 of June 5, 2023, adopted by the EU Commission, extended
the prohibition introduced by Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 2023/903 of May 2, 2023, until
September 15, 2023.
d) Resolution No. 466/2023 of the Slovak Republic prohibited the import of wheat, corn,
rapeseed, and sunflower seeds from Ukraine. It was effective from September 15 until
December 31, 2023.
Legal basis of the complaints
Ukraine claimed that legal regulations adopted by Poland, Hungaria, and the Slovak Republic
violated the followings:
(i) Articles XI:1 of the GATT 1994, as they prohibit or restrict the importation of
agricultural goods from Ukraine to the territories of the allegedly violating states;
(ii) Article V:2 of the GATT 1994 to the extent that the measure of the allegedly violating
states either de jure or de facto restricts freedom of transit of Ukrainian agricultural goods
through their territory to other EU Member States;
(iii) Article X:1 of the GATT 1994, as the allegedly violating states failed to publish its
regulations at issue promptly in such a manner as to enable the Government of Ukraine
and traders to become acquainted with them;
(iv) Article 4.2 of the Agreement on Agriculture, as the allegedly violating states have
maintained, resorted to, or reverted to measures of the kind which have been required to
be converted into ordinary customs duties, such as import prohibitions and restriction on
Ukrainian agricultural goods; and
(v) Article 5 of the Agreement on Agriculture to the extent that it is applicable, because,
inter alia, neither the EU, nor allegedly violating states does not appear to have reserved
their right to apply measures that fall under the scope of this provision to most of the
products at issue in their Schedule of Concessions under the GATT 1994; these measures
take the form of a ban instead of a duty; and these measures are discriminatory as they
apply only to Ukrainian imports and not also to other WTO Members’ imports.