Ministry of Economy presents Ukraine Recovery Plan in London, but turns a blind eye to corruption in the Accreditation Agency

The Ukraine Recovery Conference will take place in London on June 21-22. A similar conference was held last year in the Swiss town of Lugano, where Ukraine's reconstruction plan was discussed. Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko emphasized that this year's conference will show "a Ukraine with ambition" to the world.

However, behind the slogans, the Ministry of Economy is hiding real problems, such as corruption in one of the agencies responsible for "industrial visa-free travel" - the National Accreditation Agency of Ukraine (NAAU). It's interesting, this disregard occurs alongside the assessment of Ukraine's progress in meeting the requirements for starting negotiations on EU accession by international partners. This is surprising.

Can corruption in an agency that determines "industrial visa-free travel" be considered as not a serious problem?

At first glance, there seems to be an active fight against corruption in Ukraine. It creates an impression that the Ukrainian government tries to impress NATO and EU officials with "loud exposures" of corruption cases. However, do these "loud" corruption cases mean that there is a real fight against corruption in Ukraine?

During a press conference in Brussels after the NATO summit on June 12, US President Joe Biden stated that Kyiv should more diligently combat corruption. "It depends on whether they meet the criteria. The point is, they still need to fight corruption," Biden said regarding Ukraine's prospects for NATO membership. European officials periodically make similar statements.

Therefore, the real victory of Ukraine over corruption is not yet seen by the US and the EU. Perhaps it is because key Ukrainian government bodies also fail to notice the "small back offices" that exist in various state institutions?

Ukrainian businesses have repeatedly informed the Ministry of Economy regarding corruption in the National Accreditation Agency, which is crucial for Ukraine's investment climate. Relevant complaints have been officially submitted to law enforcement agencies. It concerns deliberate delays in reviewing documents, which sometimes simply "disappear" at the NAAU, the absence of regulations on the approval process for such documents, and a complete lack of transparency in its activities.

The National Accreditation Agency is created as similar bodies worldwide that ensure only safe products enter the national market. The recognition of the NAAU by relevant European bodies is essential. Non-recognition of the NAAU is a direct obstacle to signing the ACAA Agreement (Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products), also known as "industrial visa-free travel."

It is worth noting that Ukrainian exporters have been waiting for this "industrial visa-free travel" for years, as it would eliminate the need for repeated assessment and certification procedures in EU countries for Ukrainian exporters and in Ukraine for importers. However, for some reason, Ukraine has been unable to sign the ACAA Agreement for many years, despite promises made annually by the Ministry of Economy and the government. In October 2021, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Ukraine aims to sign the industrial visa-free travel agreement in 2022. However, prospects for ACAA remain uncertain in both 2022 and 2023.

Nevertheless, for some reason, the Ministry of Economy cannot connect the dots between business complaints, the signing of "industrial visa-free travel," and corruption. For instance, recently, entrepreneurs received a response from Deputy Minister of Economy Nadiya Bigun stating that the ministry cannot initiate any control procedures of the NAAU because the NAAU itself does not see any grounds for it.

Any questions or explanations were not demanded by Nadia Byhun from the entrepreneurs. Moreover, the officials of the Ministry of Economy refused to even remotely listen to representatives of the business community who complained about the NAСU, citing the need for a "preliminary analysis of complaints." However, it turned out that no preliminary analysis was conducted at the Ministry of Economy either.

The response of the Deputy Minister of Economy, Vitaliy Petruk, is also interesting in this context. He stated that the entrepreneurs "did not ask" the leadership of the Ministry of Economy to listen to them, even though there is a video recording available where the entrepreneurs request an appointment. It is noteworthy that both Vitaliy Petruk and the head of NAСU, Serhiy Kostiuk, at different times headed the State Agency of Ukraine for the Management of the Exclusion Zone (SAUEZ).

One gets the impression that officials at the Ministry of Economy have certain convictions that allow them to ignore the business community's complaints regarding corrupt practices at the National Agency for Accreditation of Ukraine (NAСU).

This is also indicated by the fact that NAСU has been without a director since 2020. After the scandalous dismissal of the previous head, for three years (!), the Ministry of Economy has been unable to conduct a competition and appoint a new leader. Currently, NAСU is effectively headed by Serhiy Kostiuk, who does not meet the requirements of the relevant law or international standards. He has not undergone any checks or competitions. Moreover, in December 2014, Kyiv Prosecutor's Office and the Security Service of Ukraine detained Kostiuk on suspicion of abuse of office, which caused damage to the state in the amount of 23 million hryvnias. At that time, he was the Chairman of the Board of "Ukrhazvydobuvannia." Later, he was acquitted by the court.

The described situation also confirms the unwillingness of the Ministry of Economy to change the status quo. Why the key agency, from the perspective of Ukraine's recovery tasks, does not listen to the business community and does not see obvious corruption issues remains an open question. 

Translation of the article into Ukrainian is available at the link.

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