WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/REG292/2 
4 September 2012 
 (12-4763) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements Original:   English 
  
 
FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EFTA STATES AND ALBANIA 
(GOODS) 
 
Questions and Replies 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 31 August 2012,  is being circulated at the request of the 
delegations of the EFTA States and Albania.  
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 This document reproduces the questions addressed to the Parties and the responses submitted.  
Questions from the Delegation of Canada 
 
1. Paragraph 75, page 24:  Canada notes that  Article 26.3 of the Agreement refers to 
future negotiations of government procurement commitments should a Party enter into a 
separate international Agreement that provides g reater transparency or market access than the 
provision of the GPA.  Could the Parties des cribe how this requirement would be enforced?  
Would a Party be automatically required to extend the same coverage (i.e., sectors or entities) to 
the other Party if the latter can confirm that th e coverage will be reciprocal? Does a Party have 
any recourse should the other Party refuse to enter into negotiations with a view to extend 
advantageous coverage on a reciprocal basis or refuse to grant any new coverage for 
transparency or market access? 
 We note an error in paragraph 75 of the Fact ual Presentation.  Article 26.3 does not make a 
specific reference to the GPA but states rather th at, following entry into force of the Agreement, 
should a party grant to a non-party additional benef its with regard to the access to its procurement 
markets, it shall agree to enter into negotiations wi th a view to extending these benefits to another 
Party on a reciprocal basis.  Any request referri ng to the commitment under the negotiation clause of 
Article 26.3 is examined by the Joint Committee.  The aim of the negotiation clause is to establish a 
window of opportunity to achieve a symmetric leve l of commitments.  There is no commitment with 
regard to MFN.  The final outcome of negotiations  launched under Article 26. 3 depends on the will of 
the Parties concerned to extend market access on a reciprocal basis which usually, but not necessarily, 
means 'same coverage'.  Any diffe rences among the Parties are to be  addressed through consultations, 
in principle in the Joint Committee.  
2. Paragraph 75, page 24: Canada notes th at Albania is an observer to the WTO 
Agreement on Government Procur ement (GPA) and applied for accession to the Agreement in 
October 2001.  When does Albania expect to  make further progress on its accession? 
 Albania applied for accession to the Govern ment Procurement Agreement in October 2011. 
During this period many changes in respect to ins titutional and legislative framework were needed 
and therefore Albania made the necessary chang es to accommodate the market development and 
respond to the economic needs. Albanian legisl ation on government procurement provides for WT/REG292/2 
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  non-discriminatory, transparent and simple provi sions. Albania has systematically notified any 
changes to its government procurement legislation with a view to comply with WTO transparency 
requirements.   As known, on 15 December 2011, WTO Members concluded negotiation to revise GPA and 
clarified many aspects of the agreement.  Albania is acquainted with the de velopments and trade and 
public procurement experts are working to prepar e a detailed analysis while assessing market needs 
and benefit from the accession to WTO GPA.  As soon as the analysis is completed Albania will 
inform the WTO members on the results a nd potential next steps in this respect. 
 Questions from the Delegation of the United States 
 
Goods  3. According to Paragraphs 24-32 and Tables AI.1-AI.4 of the Factual Presentation:  
 Switzerland eliminates duties on 84.4% of all tariff lines covering 95% of imports from 
Albania under the Agreement, but eliminates tari ffs on only 36.68% of agricultural product 
tariff lines. 
 Norway eliminates duties on 89.2% of all ta riff lines covering virtually 100% of imports 
from Albania under the Agreement, but eliminates tariffs on only 44.13% of agricultural 
product tariff lines. 
 Iceland eliminates duties on 93.4% of all tari ff lines covering 98.3% of imports from 
Albania under the Agreement, but eliminates tariff s on only 70% of agricultural product tariff 
lines. 
 Albania eliminates duties on 93.4% of all ta riff lines covering 99.9% of imports from 
Switzerland under the Agreement, but eliminates duties on only 68.72% of agricultural 
products lines.  Albania also eliminates duties on 93.3% of all tariff lines covering 97.6% of 
imports from Norway, but eliminates duties on on ly 68.9% of agricultural products lines; and 
eliminates duties on 93.3% of all tariff lines cove ring 94.7% of imports from Iceland under the 
Agreement, but eliminates tariffs on only 68.9% of agricultural product tariff lines. 
(a) For what reasons did Switzerland and Norway each undertake liberalization of 
their trade with Albania in less than 50% of agricultural product tariff lines? 
(b) For what reasons did Iceland undertake liberalization of its trade with Albania 
in less than 75% of its agricultural product tariff lines? 
(c) For what reasons did Albania undertake liberalization of its trade with the 
EFTA member economies in less than 75% of its agricultural product tariff lines? 
(d) For what reasons did Switzerland undertake to liberalize a lower percentage of 
total trade than Albania did?  
(e) For what reasons did Switzerland and Norway each undertake to liberalize 
trade in a lower percentage of tariff lines than Albania did? 
  WT/REG292/2 
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   Response to (a) (b) (d) (e):  Trade liberali zation established through the Agreement is the 
result of the negotiations between the Parties, with  due consideration given to the requirements of 
GATT Article XXIV.  Any tariff treatment, and nota bly exclusions from tariff elimination, thus 
reflect what the Parties consider to be an appr opriate balance between their specific interests and 
respective sensitivities. 
 
 Response to (c):  The Albanian trade regime is  quite open and liberal.  Due to the free trade 
agreements with EU, CEFTA and Turkey our market was quite open at the time this Agreement was 
negotiated.  However, as agriculture is quite sens itive for Albania's economy, considering:  (i) the 
sensitivity of the agriculture sector in the country's  development;  (ii) the high concentration of the 
population in rural areas;  and (iii) the internal agri culture policies and advancement of the agriculture 
sector, we liberalized industrial products more than agriculture products.  Although this liberalization 
covers around 70% of agriculture tariff lines the trad e is substantially liberalized (i.e. 99.9% of 
imports from Switzerland, 97.6% of imports from Norw ay and 94.7% of imports from Iceland).  This 
level of liberalization reflects the Albanian  interests and sensitivity in specific products. 
 
 However, compliant with Article 5 of the b ilateral agreements, Parties have agreed to 
consider further liberalizati on in agriculture products taking account of the pattern of trade, the 
particular sensitivities of specific products, and the development of respective agricultural 
policies.  
 
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