A clearer and more compliant demand channel for "personal military imports" may emerge in Ukraine, but it is naturally a small-caliber and highly restrictive policy tool, rather than an inclusive tax reduction for general consumers...

According to an interpretation by Ukraine's "Justice-Law"("Суд ебно-ри д иче ская газета"), Ukraine is advancing two legislative proposals related to military vehicles-Bills Nos. 15194 and 15195, which propose to establish a set of new rules for active military personnel to "import vehicles in the name of individualsand exempt themselves from customs taxes and fees." The report emphasized that this is not a "return to zero customs clearance" for everyone, but is specifically tailored to the needs of military personnel, while adopting clear restrictions to prevent it from being used for commercial reselling.

The newspaper recalled that the relevant needs had been "in the making for a long time." After the abolition of "zero customs clearance" in 2022, front-line vehicle replenishment relies largely on humanitarian assistance channels, but two problems have been exposed in practice: first, the monthly demand of Ukraine's defense forces is about 3000 vehicles, which makes it difficult for volunteers and donor systems to stably cover in the long term; second, during the use and circulation of humanitarian vehicles, legal risks can easily arise, such as being questioned as "non-targeted use." Therefore, the new bill attempts to "bring vehicle acquisition back to the legal track" and replace gray space with institutionalized personal imports.

According to the "Judical-Law News", the objects to be eligible for duty-free import are active-duty military personnel, which mainly include two categories: one is those who have been mobilized into the army after February 24, 2022; the other is those who are still in service at the time of import processing. Contract soldiers. The handling method can be operated by the soldier himself or through an authorized representative.

In terms of the scope of vehicles, the bill is set quite wide: it includes not only passenger cars and trucks, but also motorcycles, trailers, and even "bodies". What is more critical is the scope of taxes and fees: it is proposed to provide "full exemptions" to the above-mentioned imports, including import tariffs, value-added tax (VAT) and consumption tax (excise).

But in order to stop the opening of "doing business in the name of military personnel", the bill also sets several red lines. "Jurid-Law" pointed out that although there are not many restrictions, each one directly points to commercial risks: first, each soldier is allowedto enjoy one discount, and in principle, only one vehicle can be imported; second, vehicles areprohibited for three years. The sale or transfer of vehicles is prohibited within three years; third, the import of transportation from "invading countries" is prohibited-in the current context of Ukraine, mainly referring to vehicles of Russian origin. In addition, the bill also excludes high-end cars: vehicles that are less than 5 years old and whose prices exceed the prescribed threshold (above 375 minimum wages) will not apply to the tax exemption.

The "Judic-Law News" believes that the essence of this design is to "legalize the personal import of military vehicles", allow vehicles to be registered under private names without paying taxes and fees, and at the same time use constraints such as a "three-year ban on transfer" to reduce arbitrage space.

written in the end

For China's second-hand car exporters, the significance of this legislative trend is that a clearer and more compliant demand channel for "personal military imports" may emerge in Ukraine, but it is naturally a small-calibre and highly restrictive policy tool, rather than a universal tax reduction for general consumers. If the bill is implemented in the future, suppliers need to pay special attention to transaction compliance boundaries-buyer qualifications, whether the vehicle meets the "within 5 years + high value" exclusion condition, whether the source of the vehicle and the document chain may be identified as an "aggressor country", and the impact of the three-year transfer ban on buyers 'financial arrangements and willingness to trade. For exporters, rather than treating it as a "demand blowout", it is better to treat it as a market segment with clear rules but strict screening.

Source: Guangdong Good Car

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