In March 2025, Ukraine reached an important stage on the way to membership in the European Union, successfully undergoing official screening compliance with EU legislation within the negotiation section "Free movement of goods". This was reported by the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, emphasizing the importance of this step for future integration into the European market.
The preparation for screening lasted for about half a year and included active interaction between different state bodies and structures of Ukraine. As part of the screening, which took place on March 3-6, 2025, the Ukrainian side presented more than 44 presentations on 59 acts of EU legislation governing industrial products. These acts cover the technical standards that should be harmonized with European standards to ensure the free export of goods to the European market.
Deputy Minister of Economy Vitaliy Kindrats stressed that the European side praised Ukraine's progress in harmonizing its norms and fulfillment of obligations under the Association Agreement with the EU. This testifies to the country's significant movement towards European standards, especially in industrial production and regulation of technical requirements.
Screening is an important stage in the official procedure, which is held in the framework of negotiations between the European Union and candidate countries. It allows you to determine how national legislation corresponds to EU law. The procedure takes place in 33 negotiating chapters, which are grouped into six thematic clusters. Screening is performed for each of these blocks, and after its completion, the European Commission will provide a report on the basis of which the EU Council will decide to open a negotiation cluster.
This stage is an important first step in the process of negotiating EU membership. In case of successful screening and further implementation of all necessary reforms, Ukraine will be able to finally get closer to integration into the EU.
The implementation of this section in the future will allow Ukrainian enterprises to freely export products to the EU market without technical barriers, which will provide new opportunities for economic development. It is important that unobstructed access to European markets will be the result of harmonization of Ukrainian standards with European standards, which will help Ukrainian manufacturers increase their competitiveness and reduce the cost of compliance with technical requirements.
The process of screening and adaptation of Ukrainian legislation to EU norms has not yet been completed. However, significant progress is now visible to this task. Having passed this stage, Ukraine has taken another step towards real EU membership and strengthened its position in the European arena. Accordingly, the country is preparing for further stages of negotiations, where priorities for reforms in other key areas will be determined.
