KYIV, Sept 25 – On Thursday, Parliament approved the first reading of changes to the Law On Scrap Metal that would introduce a 30 percent duty on ferrous metal exports, Ukrainian News reported.
338 deputies voted for the changes. 226 votes were needed to pass.
In addition, the draft law proposes that only specialized enterprises with an equipped territory of no less than 1000 square meters and with a license from local state administrations will be able to carry out scrap metal operations.
The draft law bans enterprises from buying industrial scrap from physical persons.
The draft law also establishes a compulsory requirement that purchases of household scrap metal from physical entities (individuals) must be recorded through cash registers.
According to the draft law, household scrap metal is defined only as industrial items used in the household.
Currently, exports of ferrous scrap metal are not subject to duty.
During the first seven months of this year, ferrous scrap metal exports rose by 8.9 percent compared with the same period last year, to 2.873 million tons for $242.545 million.
In January-July of last year, ferrous scrap metal exports amounted to 2.638 million tons for $175.947 million.
