WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/REG292/M/1 
11 October 2012 
 (12-5524) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Sixty-sixth Session  
 
 
 
CONSIDERATION OF THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN  
THE EFTA STATES AND ALBANIA, GOODS  
 
Note on the Meeting of 18-19 September 2012 
 
Chairman:  Mr. F. Riegert (France) 
 
 1. The 66th Session of the Committee on Regional Trad e Agreements (hereinafter 'CRTA' or the 
'Committee') was convened in Airgra m WTO/AIR/3987 dated 7 August 2012. 
2. Under Agenda Item B.V of this session, th e CRTA considered the Free Trade Agreement 
(FTA) between the EFTA States and Albania (h ereinafter "the Agreement"), goods.  
3. The Chairman said that the Agreement had entered into force on 1 November 2010 for 
Albania, Liechtenstein and Switzerland;  Alba nia, and Norway on 1 August 2011;  and between 
Albania and Iceland on 1 October 2011.  It had been notified to the WTO by the Parties in February 
2011, July 2011 and September 2011 under Artic le XXIV:7(a) of the GATT 1994 and the 
Understanding on the Interpretati on of Article XXIV of GATT 1994 as an Agreement establishing a 
free trade area (document WT/REG292/N/1-3).  The te xt of the Agreement was available, together 
with its Annexes, on the Parties' official websites. The Factual Presentation on the goods aspects (document WT/REG292/1 dated 26 June 2012) had been prepared by the Secretariat on its own 
responsibility in full consultation with the Parti es, in accordance with paragraph 7(b) of the 
Transparency Mechanism for Re gional Trade Agreements (document WT/L/671).  In addition, 
written questions and replies on this Agreement had been distributed in document WT/REG292/2 
dated 4 September 2012.  He proposed to organize th e consideration of the Agreement by first asking 
the Parties and then other Members to give any general comments and then use the Factual 
Presentation, document WT/REG292/ 1, to guide the debate.  
4. The representative of Norway, speaking on behalf  of the EFTA States thanked the Secretariat 
for preparing the Factual Presentation and their s upport to the Parties during the TM process.  The 
Factual Presentation provided a comprehensive and in formative overview of the Agreement.  She also 
extended her thanks to the representatives of Albania for a smooth and close collaboration in 
preparing for this review.  The Agreement had been  negotiated and signed in the context of growing 
economic and trade relations between the EFTA States and Albania.  Merchandise trade flows 
between the EFTA States and Albania had risen to  nearly US$50 million in 2011 from US$11 million 
in 2001.  Merchandise trade in 2011 had risen  by 24% allowing the EFTA States to surpass the 
previous peak reached before the global financial cr isis in 2008 by approximately US$10 million.  In 
2011, exports from the EFTA States amounted to US$42 million, comprising pharmaceutical 
products, machinery, and optical/medical instrument s.  Imports from Albania into the EFTA States 
had risen significantly since 2006, growing by 51% in 2010 and 35% in 2011, mostly footwear, apparel articles, oil seeds, electrical machinery and tobacco.  WT/REG292/M/1 
Page 2  
 
  5. The focus of the Agreement wa s liberalization of trade in goods.  The EFTA States had 
abolished all customs duties on Albanian industria l goods, including fish and marine products, from 
entry into force of the Agreement.  Bilatera l agreements on agricultural products between the 
individual EFTA States and Albania were an integr al part of the instruments establishing the free 
trade area.  Rules of origin were governed by the Regional Convention on Pan-Euro-Mediterranean 
Preferential Rules of Origin.  This allowed for cumu lation of materials originating in the EFTA States, 
Albania and other Pan-Euro-Med member countries once the respective agreements were in place 
between the Parties.  The Agreement also contai ned provisions on the protection of intellectual 
property rights, on services and investment, and on gove rnment procurement.  As noted in replies to 
questions the liberalization undertaken in the Agreem ent was the result of negotiations that struck a 
balance reflecting the specific interests and sensitiviti es of the Parties.  In the area of agriculture, the 
EFTA States had sought to provide preferential access into their markets for agricultural products of 
particular interest to Albania, such as olive oil.   The economic relations a nd commercial links between 
the EFTA States and Albania were increasingly important and had been strengthened by the Agreement.  It was an important economic instrume nt that provided favourable and stable framework 
conditions for bilateral trade.  Sh e thanked Members, on behalf of the EFTA States, for their interest 
and questions.  
6. The representative of the United States thanked the Parties and the Secretariat for information 
provided on the Agreement and Albania's answer 3( c) in the replies to questions.  She noted from 
paragraphs 24-32 of the Factual Presentation and its Tables (I)-(IV) at the end of the document that 
under the Agreement Switzerland had e liminated tariffs on 84.4% of all tariff lines, covering 95% of 
previous imports from Albania, whilst it had eliminated duties on only 36.68% of agricultural 
products tariff lines.  Norway had eliminated duties on 89.2% of all tariff lines covering almost 100% of historical imports from Albania but only 44.13% of agricultural tariff lines.  Iceland eliminated tariffs on 93.4% of all tariff lines covering 98.35%  of previous imports from Albania under the 
Agreement but only 70% of agricultural tariff lines .  Albania had eliminated duties on 93.4% of 
industrial tariff lines covering 99.9% of previous im ports from Switzerland but duties were eliminated 
on only 68.72% of agricultural product lines.  It ha d eliminated duties on 93.3% of industrial tariff 
lines covering 97.6% of previous imports from Norway  but on only 68.9% of agricultural products.  
Similarly Albania had eliminated duties on 93.3% of  all industrial tariff lines, covering 94.7% of 
imports from Iceland, but on only 68.9% of agricu ltural product tariff lines.  As stated in the 
consideration of previous EFTA ag reements, her delegation was of th e view that although the term 
"substantially all trade" had not been defined, this  did not alter the fact that Members were under an 
obligation to cover substantially all trade if they  wanted to comply with GATT Article XXIV.  As 
with other EFTA Agreements, her delegation noted the disproportionate treatment of industrial and 
agricultural sectors.  It was striking that while  Albania eliminated duties on less than 70% of 
agricultural products, Switzerland and Iceland, both developed countries, did even less.   
7. The representative of Albania stated that Albania' s trade regime was quite open, in view of its 
membership of the CEFTA Agreem ent with Turkey.  As agricultu re was quite a sensitive sector, 
additional tariff liberalization had taken place on th e industrial sector, even though around 70% of 
agricultural tariff lines were covered by the Agreement.   Trade had been substantially liberalized with 
99.9% of imports from Switzerland covered, 97.7% of imports from Norway and 94.7% of imports 
from Iceland.  She further noted that Article 5 of  the Agreement required the Parties to consider 
additional liberalization on the agricultural sector, taking into account the particular sensitivity of 
products and the development of agricultural policies.   
8. The Chairman stated that the Committee's cons ideration of the Goods Aspects of the Free 
Trade Agreement between the EFTA States and Al bania had allowed the Committee to clarify a 
number of questions.  The Committee had now concl uded oral discussion of this RTA in accordance 
with paragraph 11 of the Transparency Mechanis m.  If any delegations wished to ask follow up 
questions they were invited to forward submissions  in writing to the Secretariat by 25 September 2012  WT/REG292/M/1 
 Page 3 
 
 
  and Parties were asked to submit replies in writing by no later than 9 October 2012.  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 would be made available 
on the WTO website.  
9. The Committee took note of the comments made. 
__________