WT/REG326/M/1  
 
12 July 2016  
(16-3729)  Page: 1/3  
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Eighty-first Session   
 
 FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND SERBIA  
(GOODS) 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 27 JUNE 2016 
Chairman: Ambassador Daniel BLOCKERT (Sweden) 
1.1.  The 81st Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter 'CRTA' or the 
'Committee') was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/RTA/6/Rev.1 dated 16 June 2016. 
1.2.  Under Agenda Item D.I of the session, the CRTA considered the Free Trade Agreement 
between the Russian Federation and Serbia, goods, (hereinafter "the Agreement"). 
1.3.  The Chairman recalled that during the CR TA meeting of 4 March 2009, Members had agreed 
to consider RTAs involving non-Members under the Transparency Mechanism's procedures and 
agreed that those RTAs notified since 14 December 2006, including future notifications, should be 
taken up before the others. Members had made it clear that consideration of such agreements by 
the Committee did not have any implication for the views or positions of any Member with respect to the consistency of the RTA with WTO rules and would be without prejudice to the rights and 
obligations of Members under the WTO Agreements, as clearly stated in paragraphs 1 and 5 of the 
Transparency Mechanism Decision. Members had also agreed that the consideration of such agreements in the CRTA would be organized under a separate agenda item. 
1.4.  The Agreement had entered into force on 3 June 2006 and had been notified to the WTO by 
the Russian Federation on 21 December 2012 und er Article XXIV:7(a) of the GATT 1994 and the 
Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXI V of GATT 1994 as an Agreement establishing a 
free trade area (document WT/REG326/N/1). The te xt of the Agreement was available, together 
with its Annexes, on the Pa rties' official websites. 
1.5.  The Factual Presentation on the goods aspects (document WT/REG326/1 dated 18 April 
2016) had been prepared by the Secretariat on its own responsibility in full consultation with the 
Parties, in accordance with paragraph 7(b) of  the Transparency Mechanism for Regional Trade 
Agreements (document WT/L/671). In addition, written questions and replies on the Agreement 
had been distributed in document WT/REG326/2, dated 16 June 2016. He proposed to organize the consideration of the Agreement by first asking  the Parties and then other members to give any 
general comments before turning to the specifics of the Agreement. 
1.6.  The representative of the Russian Federa tion thanked the Secretariat for preparing the 
Factual Presentation of this Agreement and to th ose Members which had expressed interest in the 
Agreement and had asked written questions, which had been answered within the established 
deadlines. He also underlined the close cooperation with Belgrade during the preparation of the written answers. He hoped the meeting would be helpful for WTO Members to better understand 
the Agreement. 
1.7.  The legal basis for a free trade regime between Russia and Serbia had been established in 
2000 with the conclusion of the Agreement betw een the Federal Government of the Federal 
Republic of Yugoslavia and the Government of th e Russian Federation on free trade between these 
two countries. Although at that time neither was a WTO Member, the Agreement stipulated that 
the two countries were aiming at creating necess ary conditions for the free circulation of goods 
and capital in accordance with the WTO rules. WT/REG326/M/1 
 
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  1.8.  The purposes of the Agreement included  promoting and stimulating mutual trade and 
economic relations aimed at accelerating the economic development of both countries, improving working and living conditions, increasing employment, and achieving financial stability.  
1.9.  The Agreement provided for co-operation an d information exchange between the Parties on a 
number of issues. This included consultations in the Working Group (for trade remedies) and 
exchange of information on matters in the case of balance of payments difficulties. 
1.10.  The free trade agreement between Russia an d Yugoslavia had been applied in respect of 
Serbia, as a legal successor of Yugoslavia, on a provisional basis. He looked forward to a 
constructive exchange of views on all aspects of the Agreement  
1.11.  The representative of Serbia thanked he r colleagues from the Russian delegation for the 
fruitful cooperation and the Secretariat for the preparation of the Factual Presentation on the Free 
Trade Agreement between the Russian Federation and Serbia. 
1.12.  Serbia had the strongest support for a ru les-based multilateral trading system under the 
World Trade Organization, to which it wa s aspiring to accede very soon.   
1.13.  The Free Trade Agreement between the Russian  Federation and Serbia had been signed on 
28 August 2000 with the aim of deepening and enhancing mutual economic and trade co-operation. It had been provisionally applied by both Parties from the day of signing. The 
Agreement aimed at the establishment of a fr ee trade area in goods between the Russian 
Federation and the Federal Republic of Yugoslav i a  t h e n  a n d  S e r b i a  n o w ,  w i t h  a l m o s t  9 9 %  o f  
mutual trade taking place duty free. The statistics on their trade supported the positive effect of 
the Agreement on trade. Serbia's exports to the Russian Federation in 2000 were valued at 
US$85.7 million while in 2005 exports had risen nearly tenfold to US$724 million and imports from 
US$307 million to US$1,748 million. The positive expo rt trend for Serbia had continued following 
the downturn in 2009 due to the global economic  crisis with exports reaching more than 
US$1billion in 2013 and 2014. In 2015 exports fell but had recovered in 2016. Serbia's trade 
balance had been negative during this period ranging from US$500 million to US$1 billion and as high as US$2.9 billion due mainly to large im ports of energy from the Russian Federation. 
1.14.  There had been two additional rounds of li beralization in trade in the form of additional 
protocols to the Agreement which had listed the exemptions to free trade in the Agreement. The list of products subject to exemptions had become smaller over time with a very limited number of items being on the list currently. As a result al most 99% of trade between the Parties was duty 
free. 
1.15.  Finally, she thanked the WTO secretariat for its valuable input and support in preparing the 
factual presentation and to Members for their interest and questions. She also thanked the Russian 
delegation. 
1.16.  The representative of the United States th anked the Parties for their hard work in preparing 
for the consideration of the Agreement and the Se cretariat for preparing the Factual Presentation. 
He also thanked the Parties for their responses to qu estions in writing. He had an additional follow 
up question which would also be submitted in writing. He sought further clarification from the Russian Federation on Article 4 of the Agreement.  In question 1.6 the United States had asked 
whether the Agreement contained any legally bind ing commitments to eliminate tariffs. In the 
response the Russian Federation had stated that the Parties had the right to launch such 
negotiations but that products listed in the Pr otocol of 22 June 2011 were not subject to 
negotiations for preferential treatment. The Russian Federation had not however confirmed 
whether or not the Agreement contained a legally binding commitment to eliminate tariffs on those 
products not included in the Protocol of 22 June 2011. The Russian Federation also did not respond to the questions concerning the timing of the tariff elimination commitments if any existed in the 
Agreement. The question therefore was whether the Russian Federation could please confirm 
whether or not the Agreement contained a legally binding commitment to eliminate tariffs on products not excluded from tariff liberalizati on under the Protocol of 22 June 2011 and describe 
the tariff elimination schedule for such products.  WT/REG326/M/1 
 
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  1.17.  The representative of Japan thanked the Parties for their presentations and the Secretariat 
for preparing the Factual Presentation. Japan had two questions for the Russian Federation. The 
Russian Federation was a member of the EAEU and the EAEU had a common external tariff for 
external trade. Japan understood that trade within the EAEU was free and in principle customs 
duties were not imposed on internal trade. Un der the Agreement between the Russian Federation 
and Serbia, Serbian exporters could export their products to the Russian Federation at lower rates of tariff than those in the WTO tariff schedule of the Russian Federation. Japan wished to know 
whether the Russian Federation permitted imports from Serbia to be exported to other EAEU 
members without any border measures to check whether the goods originated in Serbia. Second, what was the relevant tariff applied for such exports, duty free under the EAEU tariff or subject to the WTO tariff schedule for each EAEU member. 
1.18.  The representative of the Russian Federation thanked the Members for their questions which 
he would prefer receiving in writing in order to ge t an official reply. With regard to the question 
from the United States he noted that the Agreem ent was applied on a provisional basis and all the 
products that were not subject to exemptions were free from tariffs. Such free trade covered 99% 
of total trade between the Parties. With regard to the question from Japan he noted that Serbia had different trade regimes with the parties of the EAEU. Currently it had bilateral free trade 
agreements with the Russian Federation, Belarus and Kazakhstan but not with Armenia and the 
Kyrgyz Republic. Written responses to the questions raised would be provided. 
1.19.  The Chairman said that the consideration of the Goods Aspects of the Free Trade Agreement 
between the Russian Federation and Serbia had allowed the Committee to clarify a number of 
questions and it could conclude oral discussion of the RTA in accordance with paragraph 11 of the 
Transparency Mechanism. If any delegations wished  to ask follow-up questions, they were invited 
to forward submissions in writing to the Secretar iat by 4 July 2016 and the Parties were asked to 
submit replies in writing by no later than 18 July 2016. In accordance with paragraph 13 of the 
Transparency Mechanism all written submissions as well as minutes of the meeting would be circulated promptly in all WTO official languages and made available on the WTO website. 
1.20.  The Committee took note of the comments made. 
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