Support to Association Agreement Obligations in Transport Sector in Ukraine (AASISTS III)
Supporting Ukraine’s transport authorities to advance rail, road, and maritime reforms in support of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement
Challenge
Ukraine’s transport sector is vital to trade, export logistics, mobility and economic recovery, yet it faces substantial regulatory and institutional reform needs alongside the effects of Russia’s military aggression, infrastructure damage and changing logistics routes. The project addresses gaps between Ukrainian transport policies, legislation and administrative capacity and the EU acquis across rail, road and maritime transport. It also responds to the demands of Ukraine’s EU accession process, which require public authorities to prepare, coordinate and implement reforms while maintaining transport services and supporting recovery.
Approach
AASISTS III provides technical assistance across rail, road and maritime transport. Support combines regulatory and legal analysis, compliance reviews and drafting assistance with institutional strengthening and practical knowledge exchange. The project helps authorities develop and implement reforms and align primary and secondary legislation with EU requirements and relevant international instruments. Activities include technical notes, gap analyses, correspondence tables, stakeholder consultations, workshops, training, expert input and on-the-job support.
The project also supports the Ministry’s EU-Ukraine dialogue and accession-related work, including legal harmonisation, transport policy and trans-European networks. Stakeholder engagement and coordination with other EU-funded and donor initiatives help ensure that assistance is responsive to beneficiary priorities and complementary to other support.
Goals and Results
The project will strengthen Ukrainian public authorities’ capacity to design and implement transport reforms under the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, promote regulatory convergence in rail, road and maritime transport, and improve authorities’ ability to adopt, implement and enforce EU-aligned legislation. Across the three interim reports, documented outputs include assessments of draft railway laws and a railway reform roadmap; technical reviews and materials on railway interoperability, infrastructure funding and service facilities; a road-sector reform plan; analysis of draft legislation on public passenger transport and a completed correspondence table for Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009; gap analyses of six EU legal acts affecting road transport; draft secondary legislation on seat belts and mirror retrofitting; and workshops on screening preparation and vehicle weights and dimensions.
Maritime outputs include reviews and technical notes on port services, maritime regulatory bodies and vessel inspection frameworks. The project also contributed to EU accession screening preparations and to Ukraine’s National Programme for adoption of the EU acquis, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on 1 April 2026.