WT/REG326/2  
16 June 2016  
(16-3305)  Page: 1/4  
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements  Original: English/Spanish  
 
  FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND SERBIA (GOODS) 
QUESTIONS AND REPLIES 
 The following communication, dated 15 June 2016, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegations of the Russian Federation and Serbia. 
 
_______________ 
 
 
 This document reproduces the questions addressed to the Parties and the responses 
submitted. 
 
Questions from the delegation of Chile 
 Global safeguards 
 
1.1.  Paragraph 3.31: "Once a decision is  taken by a Party to start investigation 
procedures, it shall inform the other Party an d provide information required by the laws 
of the Party that initiated the investigatio n. If the Parties fail to reach a mutually 
acceptable solution within 30 days from th e beginning of consultations in the Working 
Group, the Party initiating the investigat ion will have the right to apply measures 
required to eliminate the damage caused by increased imports from the other Party. It 
must inform the other Party of its decision. The volume and period of application of the 
measure should be limited, according to Ar ticle 16 of the Agreement, to remedy the 
damage. The Parties are to give preference to measures which would cause least damage to the achievement of the objectives  of the Agreement. In exceptional cases, 
when a delay in the adoption of measures migh t lead to damage that is hard to remedy, 
the Party initiating the investigation may impose interim measures prior to 
consultations with the other Party in the Working Group. This must be on condition that 
the consultations in the Working Group take place immediately after the application of 
the interim measures." 
a. The text states that "the Party initiati ng the investigation will have the right 
to apply measures required to elimin ate the damage caused by increased 
imports from the other Party". Chile would like to know whether such measures are provisional or definitive. 
  Article 15 of the Agreement which specifically deals with the application of safeguard 
measures provides for an opportunity of a Party to apply safeguard measures in case of imports of 
goods into the territory of that Party in such quantities and under such conditions as to cause or threaten to cause substantial injury to the nati onal producers of like or directly competitive 
product in the importing country. According to Ar ticle 15 of the Agreement, safeguard measures 
are to be applied in accordance with national legislation of the Parties and with the procedure established in Article 16 of the Agreement. According to Article 16 of the Agreement, in 
exceptional cases where delay in application of the measures envisaged in Article 15 of the 
Agreement would cause damage which it would be difficult to repair, a Party that initiated a procedure of application of the measures may apply provisional measures. Hence, in accordance with the Agreement, both provisional and definitive measures can be applied depending on the 
circumstances.  WT/REG326/2 
- 2 - 
  b. Since the measure is calculated to achi eve a level "without damage", and the 
damage used for this purpose is that ca used by imports from the other Party, 
please clarify whether the me asure is applied globally. 
  There are no provisions on bilateral safegu ard measures, in the Agreement, therefore all 
safeguard measures are to be applied globally. It  should be noted that the provisions of the 
genuine text of the Agreement which deal with the application of safeguard measures do not 
include any wording that would indicate the source of imports. Article 16 of the Agreement 
provides for a mechanism of consultations between the Parties before the application of the 
measures in order to find mutually acceptable solution. If the Parties fail to find such solution within 30 days from the beginning of the consultations, the Party initiating the investigation has the right to apply measures required to eliminate material (serious) injury or threat of material 
(serious) injury, having informed the other Party thereof. The Agreement does not provide for 
application of "measures required to eliminate the damage caused by increased imports from the other Party" as it is stated in the Report of the WTO Secretarial (WT/REG326/1, para 3.31).  
c. If the measure is applied solely to the other Party, please explain how Russia 
and Serbia ensure that this does not run counter to Article 2.2 of the Agreement on Safeguards, which establis hes that measures shall be applied 
to a product irrespective of its source. 
 As it was previously stated, nowhere among the provisions of the Agreement which deal 
with the application of safeguard measures is an in dication of the source of imports. Besides, the 
Agreement does not provide for application of  bilateral safeguard measures. Therefore no 
safeguard measures can be applied solely to a product of the other Party. 
Question from the dele gation of Singapore 
1.2.  The Eurasian Economic Union (compr ising Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, 
and Kyrgyzstan) entered into force on 1 Janua ry 2015. We are interested in learning 
more about how this development will affect  the implementation of the Russia-Serbia 
FTA. Will the scope of the FTA be expanded  to include the 4 other Member States? 
 Following the establishment of the Customs Union (CU) between Russia, Kazakhstan and 
Belarus CU members had decided to unify trade regime in goods with Serbia. For that purpose in 2011 CU members concluded bilateral free trade agreements with the Republic of Serbia.  
 Due to the transformation of CU into Eurasian Economic Union and adherence of new 
members (Armenia and Kyrgyzstan) in May 2016 for the purpose of unification of the trade regime 
the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council at the leve l of the Heads of the States under Article 102 
of the Treaty on Eurasian Economic Union passed a decision to launch free trade negotiations 
between Eurasian Economic Union and its members from one side and the Republic of Serbia from the other side. 
 
Questions from the delegation of the United States 
 General Question 
 1.3.  The Free Trade Agreement (Agreement) under review is between the Russian Federation (Russia) and Serbia. Sinc e the signature and provisional entry into 
force of the Agreement, however, Russia has become a member of the 
Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). The United  States is interest ed in knowing how 
Russia's membership in the EAEU impact s the rights and obligations under the 
Agreement. Do all the rights and obligations assumed by Russia under the Agreement 
automatically accrue to the EAEU? Does Serbia  now have a free trade agreement with all 
five member States of the EAEU? WT/REG326/2 
- 3 - 
  Following the establishment of the Customs Union (CU) between Russia, Kazakhstan and 
Belarus CU members had decided to unify trade regime in goods with Serbia. For that purpose in 2011 CU members concluded bilateral free trade agreements with the Republic of Serbia. 
Due to the transformation of CU into Eurasian Economic Union and adherence of new 
members (Armenia and Kyrgyzstan) in May 2016 for the purpose of unification of the trade regime 
the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council at the leve l of the Heads of the States under Article 102 
of the Treaty on Eurasian Economic Union passed a decision to launch free trade negotiations 
between Eurasian Economic Union and its members from one side and the Republic of Serbia from 
the other side.  
Characteristic elements of the Agreement 
Background Information 
 
1.4.  Section 2.1 & footnote 1: According to  the Secretariat's Report, the Agreement is 
being provisionally applied and the Parties "ind icate that the date of full implementation 
is not applicable". Could the Parties please explain what the legal significance is of 
"provisional" application, and why "full impl ementation is not applicable"? Are there 
plans for full implementation? Please also indi cate if all parts of the agreement have 
been implemented (even if only provisiona lly), and if not, which parts have been 
implemented and which have not? If any parts of the agreement have not yet been 
provisionally implemented, please indicate  whether there are plans to provisionally 
implement them at any time before fu ll implementation of the agreement. 
The application of the FTA provisionally does not affect bilateral trade since it is applied in the 
same manner as if there would be the full implementation. All parts of the FTA are fully applied where it is possible as for Russia as a member of EAEU the rights to revise the import tariff are 
limited.  
Provisions on trade in goods 
Import duties and charges, an d quantitative restrictions 
General provisions 
 
1.5.  How are products from Serbia treated in non-Russian member States of the EAEU? 
If the EAEU has eliminated border controls, on ce a product enters the EAEU, it should, in 
theory, be able to travel freely to other EAEU member States. Are goods of Serbian 
origin that have entered duty-free into Russ ia allowed to proceed to Armenia, Belarus, 
Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic with out further customs interference? How are 
Serbian-origin goods treated that are transsh ipping Russia bound for Armenia, Belarus, 
Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic? How ar e Serbian-origin goods treated that enter 
Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz  Republic without going through Russian 
territory? 
Under existing bilateral FTAs between some EAEU members (Belarus, Kazakhstan and 
Russian) and Serbia the goods originating in Serb ia are granted the same preferences and such 
goods are eligible for traveling freely to mentioned EAEU members. Regarding Armenia and Kyrgyzstan the same preferential treatment is expe cted to be granted as soon as EAEU harmonize 
trade regime between EAEU and its member states from one side and the Republic of Serbia from 
other side.  
1.6.  Section 3.1: The Secretariat's Report no tes that Article 4 of the Agreement provides 
that the Parties "shall endeavor" to phase ou t import duties on bilateral trade within 
five years. 
a. What happens if either Party does not phase out its tariffs after five years? WT/REG326/2 
- 4 - 
  b. Does the agreement contain legally bi nding commitments to eliminate all 
tariffs? If so, what is the time period ? If not, does the agreement contain 
legally binding commitments to eliminat e tariffs on any products? If so, for 
which products have the parties made  tariff-elimination commitments, and 
what is the tariff-elimination schedule for each covered product? For any such 
commitments, please identify the re levant text in the agreement. 
Under Article 4 the Parties have the right to launch such negotiations. The list of goods 
which are not granted the preferential treatment was amended by the Protocol of June 22, 2011. 
Taking into account that in 2011 the same trade regime for the importations of goods originating in Serbia was set forth through bilateral FTA with Belarus and Kazakhstan any further elimination of EAEU import tariff would require the introduction of the same amendments in all three FTAs 
simultaneously.  
Rules of Origin 
1.7.  Paragraph 3.14: The Secretaria t's Report notes that the Agreement 
allows cumulation of material originatin g in Russia, Serbia, Belarus or Kazakhstan. 
Has the Agreement been modified to allow cumulation of materials from Armenia and 
the Kyrgyz Republic following those countries' accession to the EAEU? 
There are no provisions which stipulate the cumulation of materials originating in Armenia and 
Kyrgyz Republic. However, the cumulation is expect ed to be provided for once the unification of 
trade regime between EAEU and its member states from one side and the Republic of Serbia from 
other side is complete.  
Regulatory Provisions of the Agreement 
Standards 
Sanitary and phytosanitary measures  
 
1.8.  Sections 3.24 & 3.25: This section of the Secretariat's Report refers to "State 
regulations in the area of veterinary, quaran tine and plant protection…" In the case of 
Russia, are the "State regulations" those of the Russian Federation or the EAEU? 
Under Article 6 of the Agreement "State regulations" means the Russian legislation. Herewith, 
it should be taken into account that in accordance with Article 15.4 of the Constitution of the 
Russian Federation international treaties of the Russian Federation form an integral part of the Russian legal system. So, the Russian legislation relating to SPS measures incorporates legal acts 
of EAEU and is in effect to the extent that it does not contradict the EAEU one.  
Technical barriers to trade 
1.9.  Section 3.27: The Secretariat's Report refers to plans by the Parties to "conclude 
agreements on mutual recogn ition of testing, conformity certificates or other 
documents" relating to technical barriers to trade. Would such agreements be concluded 
between Serbia and Russia or between Serbia and the EAEU? How would such efforts comport with Serbia's efforts to achieve conformity with the EU regime governing 
technical regulations and conformity assessment? 
The Russian Federation has no agreements on mutual recognition of testing, conformity 
certificates or other documents with Serbia. Russia's rights to conclude such agreements are limited by its obligations under the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union.  
__________