Ukraine widens the import-VAT and duty exemption for drone, demining and remote-weapon components from 30 December 2024

What changed in detail

Law of Ukraine No. 4143-IX of 17 December 2024 amends the Tax Code, and Law No. 4144-IX of the same date amends the Customs Code. Both were published in Holos Ukrainy No. 197 on 29 December 2024 and entered into force the day after publication, 30 December 2024.

Law 4143-IX restates point 95 of subsection 2 of Section XX of the Tax Code. Until martial law is ended or lifted, imports of components (materials, units, assemblies, equipment and component parts) are exempt from VAT when they are for:

• air, ground and water unmanned systems (HS groups 84, 85, 87, 90, 93 and headings 8806, 8906);
• active counter-reconnaissance means (headings 8517, 8525, 8543);
• mechanised demining machines (headings 8427, 8430, 8479);
• remote-controlled weapon systems and munitions used with unmanned systems (group 93).

The goods must be listed in point 9-27 of Section XXI of the Customs Code and imported by a business for use in its own production or repair of those systems. Imports by post and express consignment, and goods previously placed under other customs regimes, are covered.

Law 4144-IX makes the parallel change to Customs Code point 9-27, exempting the same components from import duty.

What it means

The exemption is still in force in November 2026, tied to martial law rather than to a calendar date. Law No. 4709-IX of 4 December 2025 (Holos Ukrainy, 25 December 2025) amended point 95 to cover modernisation as well as production and repair. It also set out when supplying the components onward is not treated as misuse: deliveries to the armed forces and security bodies to repair or upgrade systems the producer sold earlier, scrapped items and goods lost through accident or force majeure. A separate exemption for finished defence goods followed in 2026 (Law 4967-IX).

The relief is conditional on use. Components diverted to anything other than the importer’s own production, repair or modernisation lose the exemption, and VAT and duty become due.