Business welcomes the postponement of eExcise

10/ 12/ 2025

On 3 December, Parliament adopted in the second reading a draft law that provides for postponing the launch of the electronic excise system (eExcise) until 1 November 2026. The European Business Association welcomes this decision, as the business community has consistently emphasised the critical need for a delay. Over the past six months, member companies of the EBA have been among the key initiators of active dialogue with the state: they organised and took part in round tables, working meetings, discussions with government officials and MPs, and also submitted official appeals with concrete proposals. All these steps aimed to secure the adoption of legislative amendments that would allow businesses to properly prepare for the launch of the eExcise system. According to the EBA’s experts, the system’s current level of technical readiness remains insufficient. Moreover, businesses were effectively deprived of the opportunity to conduct proper testing of the system, as envisaged by law. Therefore, launching eExcise as early as 1 January 2026 would have created significant risks for major market operators. This could have led to large-scale disruptions to business operations, temporary shortages of legal products on store shelves, a rapid expansion of the shadow segment, and, consequently, billions in losses for the state budget. Postponing the launch of eExcise by ten months will allow companies to carry out comprehensive testing of the system, adapt digital solutions, integrate new accounting processes, and verify all stages of excisable goods movement under the future traceability model. The next important step expected by the business community is the timely readiness of a complete, fully functional eExcise system for testing, including the offline application and all other components. This will lay the foundation for further digitalisation of processes and the development of a transparent, well-regulated excise goods market in Ukraine. Business is grateful to the Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy, Danylo Hetmantsev, and to the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, for taking the business community’s position into account.

On 3 December, Parliament adopted in the second reading a draft law that provides for postponing the launch of the electronic excise system (eExcise) until 1 November 2026. The European Business Association welcomes this decision, as the business community has consistently emphasised the critical need for a delay.

Over the past six months, member companies of the EBA have been among the key initiators of active dialogue with the state: they organised and took part in round tables, working meetings, discussions with government officials and MPs, and also submitted official appeals with concrete proposals. All these steps aimed to secure the adoption of legislative amendments that would allow businesses to properly prepare for the launch of the eExcise system.

According to the EBA’s experts, the system’s current level of technical readiness remains insufficient. Moreover, businesses were effectively deprived of the opportunity to conduct proper testing of the system, as envisaged by law. Therefore, launching eExcise as early as 1 January 2026 would have created significant risks for major market operators. This could have led to large-scale disruptions to business operations, temporary shortages of legal products on store shelves, a rapid expansion of the shadow segment, and, consequently, billions in losses for the state budget.

Postponing the launch of eExcise by ten months will allow companies to carry out comprehensive testing of the system, adapt digital solutions, integrate new accounting processes, and verify all stages of excisable goods movement under the future traceability model.

The next important step expected by the business community is the timely readiness of a complete, fully functional eExcise system for testing, including the offline application and all other components. This will lay the foundation for further digitalisation of processes and the development of a transparent, well-regulated excise goods market in Ukraine.

Business is grateful to the Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy, Danylo Hetmantsev, and to the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, for taking the business community’s position into account.