WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG/GEN/N/3 
5 October 2004  
 
(04-4150) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements Original:   English 
   
NOTIFICATION FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
AND ITS MEMBER STATES TO THE  
COMMITTEE ON REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS 
 
  The following communication, dated 1 October 2004, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of the European Communities. 
 
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 The European Communities and its Member States  wish to notify that a number of free trade 
agreements previously in force, which had been no tified pursuant to Article XXIV paragraph 7(a) of 
the GATT and to Article V paragraph 7(a) of the GATS, have been terminated as a consequence of 
the recent enlargement of the Eur opean Union on May 1, 2004.  
  The respective Europe Agreements
1 concluded between the European Communities and its 
Member States at that time, on the one part, and the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, 
Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and the Slovak Republic, on the other part, have lapsed as of the date of 
these countries’ accession to the European Union.    The agreements establishing customs unions between, of the one part, the European 
Communities and its member states and, of the other part, Malta and Cyprus respectively, have also 
lapsed.  
  Trade among all these Parties is now governed by the Treaty concerning their accession to the 
European Union, and by the Treaty establishing the European Community (the “EC Treaty”),
2  and 
free trade agreements among the acceding countries are therefore no longer in force (an overview of 
these agreements is provided in Annex 1). 
 
 In addition, as new members of the European  Union and in accordance with the EC Treaty, 
the acceding countries have become, or are in the process of becoming, parties of the European 
Community’s free trade agreements and customs unions  with third parties. The new members of the 
EU are obliged to terminate all free trade agreements with third parties as of 1 May 2004 at latest (list 
of terminated agreements is provided in Annex 2). 
                                                      
1 This is of relevance for the following WTO-document series and documents, as well as previous 
notifications under the GATT: S/C/N/26, WT/REG139,  WT/REG18/6 (EC/the Czech Republic); S/C/N/188, 
WT/REG144, WT/REG8 (EC/Estonia); S/C/N/187, WT/REG143, WT/REG7 (EC/Latvia); S/C/N/189, 
WT/REG145, WT/REG9 (EC/Lithuania); S/C/N/24, WT/REG50, (EC/Hungary); S/C/N/25, WT/REG51, (EC/Poland); S/C/N/190, WT/REG146 (EC/Slovenia); S/C/N/23, WT/REG52, WT/REG18/7 (EC/the Slovak 
Republic). 
2 See document S/C/N/303 and WT/REG170.  WT/REG/GEN/N/3 
Page 2 ANNEX 1 
 
List of terminated free trade agreements among the new members of the European Union 
 
Countries Cyprus Czech Republic Estonia Hungary Latvia Lithuania Malta Poland Slovakia Slovenia 
Cyprus - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Czech 
Republic - - - - WT/REG62 
 WT/REG11 
Hungary withdrew 
from the CEFTA  WT/REG45 
 WT/REG46 
 - - WT/REG11 
Poland withdrew 
from the CEFTA WT/REG89 
Customs Union 
Amended  WT/REG11 
Slovenia  withdrew 
from the CEFTA 
Estonia - - WT/REG62 - - WT/REG128  WT/REG77 WT/REG77 - - 3 WT/REG63 WT/REG37 
Hungary - - WT/REG11 
The Czech Republic 
withdrew from the 
CEFTA  WT/REG128 
  - - WT/REG84 
 WT/REG83 
 - - WT/REG11 
Poland withdrew 
from the CEFTA WT/REG11 
The Slovak Republic  
withdrew from the 
CEFTA  WT/REG11 
Slovenia  withdrew 
from the CEFTA 
agreement  
Latvia - - WT/REG45 WT/REG77 WT/REG84 - - WT/REG77 - - WT/REG80 WT/REG47 WT/REG34 
Lithuania - - WT/REG46 WT/REG77 WT/REG83 WT/REG77 - - - - WT/REG49 WT/REG48 WT/REG35 
Malta - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Poland - - WT/REG11 
The Czech Republic 
withdrew from the 
CEFTA  3 WT/REG11 
Hungary  
withdrew from the 
CEFTA  WT/REG80 
 WT/REG49 
 - - - - WT/REG11 
The Slovak Republic  
withdrew from the 
CEFTA  WT/REG11 
Slovenia  withdrew 
from the CEFTA  
Slovakia - - WT/REG89 
Customs Union 
amended  WT/REG63 
 WT/REG11 
Hungary  
withdrew from the 
CEFTA  WT/REG47 
 WT/REG48 
 - - WT/REG11 
Poland withdrew 
from the CEFTA - - WT/REG11 
Slovenia  withdrew 
from the CEFTA  
Slovenia - - WT/REG11 
The Czech Republic 
withdrew from the 
CEFTA WT/REG37 
 WT/REG11 
Hungary  
withdrew from the 
CEFTA  WT/REG34 
 WT/REG35 
 - - WT/REG11 
Poland withdrew 
from the CEFTA WT/REG11 
The Slovak Republic  
withdrew from the 
CEFTA  - - 
                                                      
3 The Free Trade Agreement between Poland and Estonia, signed on 5 November 1998, entered into force on 1 March 2002. Informatio n of the Agreement was provided 
in 2000, at the Trade Policy Review of Poland, in document WT/TPR /S/71. In any case, the Agreemen t was terminated on 1 May 2004 , along with all other agreements among 
new member states of the European Union.  WT/REG/GEN/N/3 
 Page 3 
 
 
ANNEX 2 
 
List of terminated free trade agreements with third parties 
 
Central European Free Trade Agreement (withdraw al of Poland, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 
Hungary and Slovenia), WT/REG11 
 Estonia – Bulgaria, WT/REG149 Estonia – EFTA, WT/REG28 Estonia – Faeroe Islands, WT/REG64 
Estonia – Turkey, WT/REG70 
Estonia – Ukraine, WT/REG108   Latvia – Bulgaria, WT/REG151 Latvia – EFTA, WT/REG29 
Latvia – Turkey, WT/116 
Latvia – Ukraine  Lithuania – Bulgaria, WT/152 Lithuania – Croatia Lithuania – EFTA, WT/REG30 
Lithuania – Ukraine 
Lithuania – Turkey, WT/REG61  Poland – EFTA, WT/REG13 Poland – Faeroe Islands, WT/REG78  
Poland – Israel, WT/REG65 
Poland – Turkey, WT/REG107  Czech Republic – EFTA, WT/REG87 Czech Republic – Israel, WT/REG56 Czech Republic – Turkey, WT/REG67 
 
Slovak Republic – EFTA, WT/REG88 Slovak Republic – Israel, WT/REG57 Slovak Republic – Turkey, WT/REG68  
Hungary – EFTA, WT/REG13 
Hungary – Serbia & Montenegro Hungary – Israel, WT/REG54 Hungary – Turkey, WT/REG58  Slovenia – Bosnia-Herzegovina, WT/REG131 
Slovenia – EFTA, WT/REG20 
Slovenia – FYROM, WT/REG36 Slovenia – Israel, WT/REG66 Slovenia – Turkey, WT/REG135  
 
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