WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/REG76/1
15 June 1999
(99-2404)
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements Original:  English
FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN
THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC AND MOLDOVA
The following text reproduces the Agreement between the Kyrgyz Republic and Moldova.
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AGREEMENT ON FREE TRADE BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF
THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE
REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA
The Government of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Government of the Republic of Moldova ,
hereinafter referred to as the Contracting Parties,
aspiring  to the development of trade economic cooperation between the Government of the
Kyrgyz Republic and the Government of the Republic of Moldova on the basis of equality and mutual
benefit,
proceeding  from sovereignty of the right of each State to  follow an independent foreign
economic policy,
intending  to further the growth of economic activity and ensuring of full employment and
raise of the productivity and rational exploitation of resources,
aspiring  to favour the harmonious development an d growth of international trade, and
elimination of barriers on the way of its development,
hereby agreed as follows:
Article 1
1. The Contracting Parties shall not apply customs duties, taxes and levies, which have
equivalent effect, with respect to exportation and/or importation of goods originating in the customs
territory of one Contracting Party and intended for the customs territory of the other ContractingParty.
2. For the purposes of this Agreement and for the period it is effective, goods originating in the
territory of a Contracting Party shall be goods:
(a) wholly produced on the territory of the Contracting Party;WT/REG76/1
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(b) which were subject to processing on the territory of a Contracting Party with the use
of raw material, materials and parts from third countries and which changed (because
of that) the belonging according to the classification of the Goods Nomenclature of
Foreign Economic Activity  at least by one of the first 4 digits;
(c) produced with the use of raw material, materials and parts mentioned in
subparagraph “b”, provided that their total cost does not exceed a fixed share of the
export price for saleable goods.
The rules of origin of goods in detail will be coordinated by the Contracting Parties in a
separate document that will be integral part of this Agreement.
Article 2
Each Contracting Party shall not:
- directly or indirectly impose on goods of the other Contracting Party, subject to this
Agreement, domestic taxes or levies which exceed the relevant taxes or levies
imposed on similar domestically produced goods or goods originating in third
countries;
- with respect to importation or exportation of goods, subject to this Agreement,
introduce any special restrictions or requirements which in a similar situation are not
applied to similar domestically produced goods or goods originating in third
countries;
- with respect to warehousing, transhipping, storing and transporting goods originating
in the territory of the other Contracting Party, and with respect to payments and
transfers of payments, apply rules other than those applied in similar cases with
respect to goods originating in third countries.
Article 3
Under this Agreement, in mutual trade, the Contracting Parties shall refrain from applying
discriminatory measures and introducing quantitative restrictions or measures, equivalent with them,
with respect to exportation and/or importation of goods.
The Contracting Parties may unilaterally establish quantitative restrictions, but in reasonable
limits and for a strictly appointed term.
These restrictions must be exclusive and may be applied only in the event of an acute deficit
of this product in the domestic market and acute deficit of the balance of payments.
A Contacting Party which applies quantitative restrictions in compliance with this Article
must, as far as possible in advance, provide the other Contracting Party with full information
concerning the basic reasons for the introduction, forms and expected terms of applying the
mentioned restrictions.  After that consultations shall be scheduled.
The introduction of quantitative restrictions in compliance with this Article shall be in the
form of a separate Protocol.WT/REG76/1
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Article 4
All settlements and payments on trade economic cooperation between the Kyrgyz Republic
and the Republic of Moldova shall be made in compliance with the Agreement between the
authorized banks of the Contracting Parties.
Article 5
Each Contracting Party shall not allow/permit re-exportation of goods, in respect of
exportation of which the other Contracting Party, where these goods originate from, applies measures
of tariff or non-tariff regulation.
Re-exportation of such goods to third countries may be carried out only by written consent
and on terms and conditions  to be determined by the authorized body of a State which is the country
of origin of these goods.  In the event of non-fu lfilling this provision, a Contracting Party, whose
national interests have been violated, shall have the right to unilaterally introduce measures on
regulating exportation of goods to the territory of the State which carried out non-sanctioned re-exportation.  And the last currency earnings from such re-exportation shall return to the country of
origin of the relevant goods.
Re-exportation shall be exportation of a product (that originates in the customs territory of
one Contracting Party) by the other Contracting Party outside the customs territory of the latter inorder to export to a third country.
Article 6
The Contracting Parties shall, on a regular basis, exchange information concerning laws and
other normative [legislative] acts on economic activity, as well as concerning the issues of trade,
investments, taxation, banking and insurance activity and other financial services, concerning
transport and customs issues, including customs statistics.
The Contracting Parties shall, without delay, inform each other of changes in the national
legislation which may affect the implementation of this Agreement.
The authorized bodies of the Contracting Parties shall coordinate the procedure of exchanging
such information.
Article 7
The Contracting Parties shall aspire to bring to gether the levels of customs duty rates applied
in trade with third countries, and for these purposes they have agreed to arrange regular consultations.
The Contracting Parties shall inform each other of current customs tariffs and all exceptions
to them.
Article 8
The Contracting Parties shall acknowledge incompatibility of unfair business practice with
the objectives of this Agreement and shall be ob liged not to allow/permit and eliminate particularly
the following methods:WT/REG76/1
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- agreements between enterprises, decisions made by their associations and general
methods of business practice aiming at pr eventing from or restricting competition or
violating conditions for it on the territories of the Contracting Parties;
- actions with the help of which one or several enterprises use their dominant position
restricting competition on the whole or considerable part of the territory of the
Contracting Parties;
Article 9
When carrying out measures of tariff and non-tariff regulation of bilateral economic relations,
for exchanging statistical information and carrying out customs procedures, the Contracting Partieshave agreed to apply a single nine-digit Goods Nomenclature of Foreign Economic Activity based on
the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System and the Combined Tariff Statistical
Nomenclature of the European Economic Community.  The Contracting Parties shall, for their own
needs, if necessary, carry out the development of a Goods Nomenclature beyond nine digits.
The introduction of a standard copy of the Goods Nomenclature shall be carried out on a
mutually coordinated basis through the available representative offices in relevant international
organizations.
Article 10
The Contracting Parties have agreed that the observance of the principle of transit freedom
shall be the most important condition for achieving the objectives of this Agreement and shall be an
essential element of the process of their attachment to the system of international division of labour
and cooperation.
In this connection, each Contracting Party shall provide a free transit, via its territory, of
goods originating in the customs territory of the other Contracting Party and/or third countries and
intended for the customs territory of the other Contra cting Party or any third country. Each Party shall
provide exporters, importers or carriers with means and services available and necessary for ensuring
transit of a means and service on terms and conditions not worse than those on which the same means
and services are provided to their exporters, importers or carriers or to exporters, importers or carriersof any third State.
 The Contracting Parties have agreed that transit tariffs by any kind of transport including
tariffs on loading and unloading works shall be economically based.
Article 11
This Agreement shall not prevent either of the Contracting Parties from the right to take
measures  generally accepted in the international practice, which are considered by the Party
necessary for protecting its vital interests or which are undoubtedly necessary for the implementationof the international agreements to which it is a signatory or intends to become a signatory, if these
measures concern:
- information affecting interests of the national defence;
- trade in weapons, ammunition and military equipment;
- investigations or production connected with needs of defence;
- deliveries of materials and equipment used in nuclear industry;WT/REG76/1
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- defence of public moral and public order;
- protection of industrial or intellectual property;
- gold, silver or precious metals and stones;
- health protection of people, animals and plants.
Article 12
The provisions hereof shall replace provisions of the Agreements earlier concluded between
the Contacting Parties, if the latter is not compatible with the provisions of this Agreement or is
identical to them.
Article 13
Nothing herein shall prevent the Contracting Parties from establishing relations, which do not
contradict the objectives and terms hereof, with States which are not Parties hereto and with their
associations and international organizations.
Article 14
Disputes between the Contracting Parties regarding the interpretation or application of the
provisions hereof shall be settled by way of negotiations.
The Contracting Parties shall aspire to avoid conflict situations in mutual trade.
The Contracting Parties shall determine that claims and disputes between business entities of
both countries as a result of interpretation or fulfilment of commercial contracts or deals (if they are
impossible to be settled in a friendly way on the basis of consultations and negotiations), unlessotherwise coordinated, shall be the exclusive competence of Economic Courts (permanent or “ad
hoc”) created on the territories of the Contracting Parties or on the territory of third states determined
by the Parties which have signed Contract.
The Parties may also determine the applied material right, standards and procedures and a
place for conducting hearing of the case.
Either Contracting Party shall ensure that effective means on the acknowledgement and
carrying out arbitration decisions be on its territory.
Article 15
To implement the objectives of this Agreement and work out recommendations on improving
trade economic cooperation between the two states, the Contracting Parties have agreed to establish a
joint Moldova-Kyrgyz Commission which will, by concordance of the Parties, get together in the
Kyrgyz Republic or Republic of Moldova.
Article 16
The Contracting Parties have agreed that the Kyrgyz Republic may establish its trade
representative office in the Republic of Moldova, and the Republic of Moldova may establish its trade
representative office in the Kyrgyz Republic.WT/REG76/1
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The Contracting Parties shall additionally coordinate the legal status of these trade
representative offices, their functions and location.
Article 17
Any state may, provided that the Contracting Parties approve this, join this Agreement on
terms agreed between a joining State and the Contracting Parties.
Article 18
This Agreement shall come into force on the date of exchanging written notifications on the
fulfilment by the Contracting Parties of all necessary formalities.
The Agreement shall be terminated upon the expiration of 12 months from the date of a
written notification of one of the Contracting Parties concerning the termination of the Agreement.
Done in the city of Minsk on 26 May, 1995, in tw o originals. Each is in the Moldova, Kyrgyz
and Russian languages.  And all the texts shall be equally valid.
For the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic:  A. DjumagulovFor the Government of the Republic of Moldova:  A. Sanguely
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