RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/REG75/3
20 September 2000
(00-3752)
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements Original:  English
FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN
THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC AND UZBEKISTAN
Communication from the Kyrgyz Republic
I. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE AGREEMENT
1. Membership and Dates of Signature, Ratification and Entry into Force
The Parties to the Agreement are the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic on one side and the
Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the other.
The Agreement was signed on 24 December 1996.On 20 March 1997, the Kyrgyz Republic notified the Republic of Uzbekistan that no internal
procedures were required, and the Agreement could become effective.  Afterwards, on 1 April 1997,Uzbekistan informed the Kyrgyz Republic that it  considers the Agreement entered into force on
20 March 1998.
2. Type of Agreement
The Agreement creates a free-trade area.  It provides for the elimination of customs duties,
taxes and charges, having an equivalent effect to customs duties, as well as quantitative restrictions,on substantially all the trade between the Parties.
3. Scope
The Protocol on Exceptions to the Free Trade Regime with Uzbekistan was signed on
24 December 1996.  Exceptions cover goods subject to export tariff, export and import licensing, and
quotas.
There are no import and export quotas currentl y in place in the Kyrgyz Republic.  Although
the Protocol calls them exceptions, the import and export licensing requirements are permitted underthe relevant provisions of GATT 1994.  Therefore, according to Article XXIV:8(b) trade in these
goods is not excluded from the trade data for the purposes of calculating the trade coverage.
In 1999 for the period from 1 July till 1 December, seasonal duties were introduced by the
Kyrgyz Republic with respect to the export of grain (1001) and flour (1101.00).
1  Since these duties
are no longer in force, that creates a situation where currently there are no restrictions applied by the
Kyrgyz Republic in trade with Uzbekistan.  Furthermore, according to the Protocol on Amendments
and Supplements to the Agreement on the Creation of a Free-Trade Area, the Parties to the Agreement
agreed not to introduce new quantitative and tariff restrictions on imports and/or exports in trade
                                                     
1 Effect of these duties to the coverage in trade with Uzbekistan in 1999 is shown in Annex I.WT/REG75/3
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between them.  Within twelve months starting from the date of entry into force of the Protocol, the
Parties shall enter into bilateral arrangements on ph asing out existing restrictions in trade between
them.  Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyz Republic have not signed such bilateral arrangement yet.
4. Trade Data
Data on intra-trade is represented in Annex II.
II. TRADE PROVISIONS
1. Import Restrictions
Currently, the Kyrgyz Republic applies no customs duties, or tariff quotas and charges having
an equivalent effect to customs and fiscal duties to imports from the territory of Uzbekistan.  Neither
there are quantitative restrictions on imports from the territory of Uzbekistan applied by the
Kyrgyz Republic.  According to the changes to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
Free-Trade Area (FTA) Agreement introduced by the Protocol of 2 April 1999, no restrictions willremain in effect after this Protocol is fully implemented.
2. Export Restrictions
Currently, the Kyrgyz Republic applies no customs duties, or tariff quotas and charges having
an equivalent effect to customs and fiscal duties to exports to the territory of Uzbekistan.  Neither
there are quantitative restrictions on exports to the territory of Uzbekistan applied by the
Kyrgyz Republic.  According to the changes to the CIS FTA Agreement introduced by the Protocol of
2 April 1999, no restrictions will remain in effect after this Protocol is fully implemented.
3. Rules of Origin
For the purposes of the Agreement, origin of goods is determined according to the CIS Rules
of Origin of Goods of 24 September 1993, as amended
2 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules).
According to the Rules, the country of origin of a product is considered a CIS country in which the
product was wholly produced or subject to substantial transformation.  The Rules provide for a list of
goods, which are considered wholly produced.  Substantial transformation may be manifested through(i) an  ad valorem  portion, (ii) a list of production or technological processes, and (iii) changes of tariff
headings.  The list of production or technological processes is still being negotiated among the Parties
to the Agreement.  In cases where there are no criteria specified with respect to a particular product,
the general criterion of changes in tariff heading is applied.  A product is considered substantially
transformed if its tariff classification has changed at any of the first four digits with a list ofexceptions.  Such exceptions are being developed and may contain a list of production or
technological operations which, though cause a change in tariff line, are not considered a sign of
substantial transformation, or are considered such only if certain conditions are followed, and also
may contain a list of production or technological operations which, though do not cause a change in
tariff line, are considered a sign of substantial transformation, provided that certain conditions arefollowed.
The Rules provide for a possibility of using a cumulative principle of origin while applying
the criterion of substantial transformation.  The cumulative principle can be used with respect to the
CIS countries.  However, the Rules do not contain detailed provisions regarding cumulation.
                                                     
2 The text of the Rules was circulated in document WT/REG82/1.WT/REG75/3
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4. Standards
The Parties to the Agreement may unilaterally introduce measures generally accepted in
international practice and necessary to protect life and health of human and environment, and to
protect animal and plant life.  The Agreement does not provide for common standards or mutualrecognition of certificates.  However, in accor dance with the Agreement on the Uniform Policy on
Standardization, Metrology and Certification, which was executed by the CIS countries, the Parties to
the Agreement mutually accept certificates issued by accredited institutions of the Parties.
5. Safeguards
Article 5 of the Agreement permits the application of measures between the Parties in case of
balance-of-payment difficulties.  The Parties to the Agreement may unilaterally introduce quantitative
restrictions and measures, having an equivalent effect to quantitative restrictions or other special
restrictions, on the trade in products covered by the Agreement as a safeguard measure only in cases
provided for in the WTO Agreements.  A Party to the Agreement, which applies a restriction, shall
provide full information on reasons for the introduction, forms and estimated terms of applying themeasure, following which consultations are to be held.  There is no specific safeguard provision
related to agriculture.
6. Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Measures
The Agreement does not contain any specific provisions concerning anti-dumping and
countervailing measures.  The Parties to the Agreement may unilaterally introduce quantitative
restrictions, and measures having an equivalent effect to quantitative restrictions or other special
restrictions, on the trade in products covered by the Agreement only in cases provided for in the
WTO Agreement, which includes the application of an tidumping or countervailing measures.  A Party
to the Agreement applying a restriction should provide to the other Party full information on reasons
for the introduction, forms and estimated duration of applying the measure.  In addition, the Parties
have acknowledged incompatibility of unfair business practice with the objectives of the
Agreement (Article 8).
III. GENERAL PROVISIONS OF THE AGREEMENT
1. Exceptions and Reservations
1.1 General exceptions
The Agreement does not preclude the Parties from using measures necessary to protect the
vital interests or to fulfill internatio nal agreements related to the following:
- protection of life and health of people, environment, animals and plants;- protection of public moral and order;- trade in gold, silver or other precious metals and stones;- preservation of exhaustible natural resources;
- limitation of products export, if domestic prices for them are lower than the world
prices as a result of the implementation of state support programs;WT/REG75/3
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- protection of industrial and intellectual property;
- protection of values of national treasure;1.2 Security exceptionsThe Agreement does not preclude the Parties from using measures necessary to protect the
vital interests or to fulfill internatio nal agreements related to the following:
- national security;- trade in arm, ammunition and military equipment;- supplies of fissionable materials and sources of radio-active substances, utilization of
radio-active wastes;
- measures applied in military time or  under other extraordinary circumstances in
international relations;
- actions for the fulfilment of obligations on the basis of the UNO’s Charter to preserve
the international peace and security.
2. Accession
There is no provision in the Agreement allowing other countries to join it.
3. Dispute Settlement Procedures
Disputes between the Parties shall be settled through negotiations or other means mutually
agreed by the Parties.
4. Relation with Other Trade Agreements
The Agreement does not establish any specific relation with other bilateral, plurilateral and/or
multilateral trade agreements.
5. Institutional Framework
The Joint Kyrgyz-Usbek Commission is established for the implementation of the Agreement
and development of recommendations to improve the trade and economic relations between the
Parties to the Agreement.
IV. OTHER
Other provisions of the Agreement refer to the following:
- Internal Taxation:  no internal taxes and charges shall be applied by any Party,
implying directly or indirectly discrimination against the products of the other Party;
- Storage, reloading, warehousing, transportation, payments and transfer of payments:
no measures discriminating the products of other Party;WT/REG75/3
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- Re-exportation:  each Party to the Agreement undertakes not to re-export goods,
originating from the territory of the other Party, to third countries unless it gets
permission from the latter.  This provision applies with respect to the goods to which
the Party, where these goods originate from, applies measures of regulation of foreign
economic activity or grants privileges upon exportation from its territory;
- Freedom of transit;- The Parties have agreed to use the CIS Goods Nomenclature of Foreign Economic
Activity based on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System and the
Combined Tariff-Statistical Nomenclature of the European Union.WT/REG75/3
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ANNEX I
Trade between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan
Trade Coverage
1997 1998 1999
Value
(thousand
US$)Coverage
in
percentageValue
(thousand
US$)Coverage
in
percentageValue
(thousand
US$)Coverage
in
percentage
IMPORTS
HS Chap. 1 - 24 2,407.1 100 2,597.5 100 1,357.5 100
HS Chap. 25 - 97 126,204.9 100 119,644.5 100 48,611.0 100
TOTAL 128,612.0 100 122,242.0 100 49,968.5 100
EXPORTS
HS Chap. 1 - 24 10,166.6 100 6,064.7 100 3,792.9 36.5
HS Chap. 25 - 97 91,345.6 100 32,477.7 100 42,775.8 100
TOTAL 101,512.2 100 38,542.4 100 46,568.7 94.8
IMPORTS &
EXPORTS
HS Chap. 1 - 24 12,573.7 100 8,662.2 100 5,150.4 53.2
HS Chap. 25 - 97 217,550.5 100 152,122.2 100 91,386.8 100
TOTAL 230,124.2 100 160,784.4 100 96,537.2 97.5
Source:  National Statistics Committee.WT/REG75/3
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ANNEX II
Imports into the Kyrgyz Republic from Uzbekistan
(Thousand US$)
Year H.S.
Chapter 1997 1998 1999
Total 128,612.0 122,242.0 49,968.5
1 605.2 1.0 65.9
2- - 1 . 5
3 - 15.2 -
4 11.2 67.7 -
7 73.8 34.7 7.2
8 237.1 23.7 3.2
9 185.6 47.0 1.0
10 47.6 25.4 2.1
11 10.7 52.0 -
12 - 8.1 22.5
14 5.5 - -
15 632.6 1,778.1 26.9
16 1.2 1.1 59.1
17 160.9 271.7 78.4
18 - 7.0 55.8
19 29.4 21.0 337.9
20 74.3 99.8 11.5
21 1.8 1.8 -
22 312.4 133.9 238.3
23 - 4.9 -
24 17.8 3.4 446.2
25 1,224.0 1,314.8 726.1
26 10.6 - -
27 106,178.8 98,499.4 42,086.9
28 376.4 375.4 889.8
29 122.8 11,760.3 111.4
30 145.1 14.5 1.7
31 4,646.3 424.8 373.4
32 125.8 222.12 5.2
33 3.8 1.3 13.3
34 118.6 46.0 2.0
35 4.5 - -
36 - 9.0 -
37 - - -
38 4.3 1.0 86.4
39 98.2 35.2 1.5
40 39.7 2.1 1.0
41 - 1.0 2.0
44 24.8 48.2 2.4
48 175.2 137.3 78.4
49 23.1 26.5 33.6
50 2,960.8 199.0 -
51 28.2 52.4 5.2
52 1,371.1 276.8 541.7WT/REG75/3
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Year H.S.
Chapter 1997 1998 1999
53 471.3 69.6 -
54 - - 6.3
55 167.6 1.1 47.6
56 183.5 128.5 8.8
57 - 3.5 -
58 11.2 - -
59 1.9 - 1.1
61 43.8 2.0 -
62 182.3 17.8 36.9
63 80.7 168.8 74.6
64 44.6 47.0 27.7
67 20.1 - -
68 485.7 511.7 391.7
69 8.4 46.7 1.8
70 168.1 227.5 31.7
71 10.0 29.4 -
72 297.4 668.4 86.3
73 93.2 134.4 9.5
74 56.8 22.6 -
76 5.4 49.6 7.9
79 - 5.8 -
80 7.5 - -
81 1,661.2 1,354.8 497.9
82 61.9 28.8 2.1
83 20.6 14.5 -
84 1,444.1 1,150.8 1,637.2
85 546.1 287.6 83.6
86 242.9 230.3 -
87 1,723.9 699.0 614.9
88 - 31.7 15
90 391.9 124.4 15.0
94 48.1 98.9 66.3
95 3.6 - -
96 17.7 6.1 -
Source:  National Statistics Committee.WT/REG75/3
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Exports from the Kyrgyz Republic into Uzbekistan
(Thousand US$)
Year H.S.
Chapter 1997 1998 1999
Total 101,512.2 38,542.4 46,568.7
1 144.3 49.3 11.1
2 22.0 - 38.3
3- 3 . 0 -
4 1.0 1.6 14.9
6 1.0 9.1 7.7
7 229.4 40.6 -
8 16.4 29.1 98.9
9 121.0 32.9 -
10 1,370.3 1,982.1 -
11 2,281.3 2,189.6 2,440.3
12 - 4.6 45.6
15 74.4 7.6 25.5
16 - - 2.8
17 5,735.6 1,307.4 918.3
18 3.7 1.6 4.4
19 92.4 319.9 3.8
20 - 42.0 4.5
21 - 23.1 3.7
22 73.8 17.0 11.9
23 - 4.2 -
24 - - 161.2
25 1,045.2 1,177.9 1,306.8
27 65,992.3 16,513.2 1.0
28 387.0 247.1 34.0
29 27.8 - 4.1
30 311.2 66.8 20.1
32 45.6 15.5 -
33 34.1 35.7 -
34 75.9 11.8 -
36 1.0 - -
37 188.2 50.2 -
38 - 142.8 3.1
39 192.3 51.0 41.3
40 148.7 94.5 74.9
41 80.0 3.2 20.0
42 43.5 1.0 -
44 102.7 38.9 15.0
47 43.5 41.8 7.8
48 251.4 110.4 1.8
49 21.9 5.2 17.0
50 117.9 109.9 21.1
51 975.4 153.2 19.6
52 156.4 80.8 472.9
54 99.6 - -
56 3.9 120.4 -
57 144.5 - -WT/REG75/3
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Year H.S.
Chapter 1997 1998 1999
59 5.9 150.0 26.7
61 30.4 - 9.4
62 9.8 1.0 3.0
63 53.0 4.6 27.7
64 94.1 1.0 14.1
68 2,555.4 2,325.9 994.7
69 140.5 4.9 6.2
70 2,242.3 951.4 251.3
72 187.3 354.6 162.0
73 199.3 55.7 61.5
74 3,121.8 2,688.6 380.8
76 4.2 123.8 42.2
79 - 1.8 -
80 10.1 12.8 -
81 493.8 602.8 85.1
82 96.4 28.4 -
83 150.5 12.9 63.4
84 3,337.9 1,125.5 2,858.3
85 4,237.1 735.5 370.8
86 44.7 104.4 226.2
87 3,082.2 2,411.2 2,773.1
88 10.0 - -
90 323.1 791.4 96.5
94 465.8 578.9 171.9
95 - 124.2 -
96 1.2 - -
97 - 43.9 -
Source:  National Statistics Committee.
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