WT/REG285/M/2  
 
31 October 2014  
(14-6330)  Page: 1/3  
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Seventy-fourth Session    
 
ECONOMIC INTEGRATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND SERBIA 
(SERVICES) 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 23 SEPTEMBER 2014 
Chairman: Ambassador Francisco Pirez Gordillo (Uruguay) 
1.1.  The 74th Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter 'CRTA' or the 
'Committee') was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/4338 dated 11 August 2014. 
1.2.  Under Agenda Item C.I of the Session, the CRTA considered the Economic Integration 
Agreement between the European Union and Serbia, (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 that 
RTAs notified since 14 December 2006, including fu ture notifications, should be taken up before 
the others. Members had made it clear that th e consideration of such agreements by the 
Committee had no implications for the views or positions of any Member with respect to the consistency of that RTA with the 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 Chairman said that the Agreement had entered into force on 1 September 2013. It had 
been notified to the WTO by the European Union on 20 December 2013 under GATS Article V:7(a) 
as an Agreement providing for the liberalization of trade in services within the meaning of Article V of the GATS (document S/C/N/716). The text of th e Agreement was available, together with its 
Annexes, on the Parties' official websites.  The Factual Presentation on the services aspects 
(document WT/REG285/3 dated 27 June 2014) and written questions and replies (documents WT/REG285/4 and WT/REG285/4/Add.1 dated 14 August and 10 September 2014, 
respectively) had been issued. He proposed to organize the consideration of the Agreement by first 
asking the Parties and then other Members to give any general comments and then turn to the specifics of the Agreement, using the Factual Presentation, document WT/REG285/3, to guide the debate.  
1.5.  The representative of the European Un ion welcomed the CRTA’s consideration of the 
EU-Serbia Stabilisation and Association Agreemen t (SAA) and was particularly grateful to the 
Secretariat for the preparation of the Factual Presentation. He also thanked Serbia for its fruitful 
cooperation in the exercise and Thailand and Peru for their questions and the interest shown in the 
consideration of the Agreement. Before introduc ing the Agreement's commitments and disciplines, 
he wished to make some general remarks, recalling the broader economic and political context 
within which to situate the Agreement under discussi on. From an economic point of view, the level 
of Serbia's trade integration with the EU was quite high. The EU remained Serbia’s main trading partner, accounting for 63% of its total exports and 62% of its imports in 2013. Shares of both Serbia’s exports to the EU and imports from the EU  had increased in recent years. The share of net 
FDI inflows from the EU in total net FDI inflows stood at 64% in 2012. Serbia had been identified 
as a potential candidate for EU membership during the Thessaloniki European Council summit back in 2003. In 2008, a European partnership for Serbia had been adopted, setting out priorities for 
the country's membership application. It was within this framework that, on 16 June 2008, the WT/REG285/M/2 
 
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  EU and Serbia had signed the Stabilisation and As sociation Agreement that had entered into force 
on 1 September 2013.  
1.6.  The Stabilisation and Association agreements had traditionally served as the framework for 
negotiations between the EU and the countries of the Western Balkans. Beyond improving the 
general conditions for trading, these agreements were also designed to prepare the countries 
concerned to accede to the EU and participate in its internal market, identifying common political and economic objectives and encouraging region al co-operation. The SAA with Serbia succeeded 
the Interim Agreement on Trade and Trade Related Matters which had entered into force on 
1 February 2010, implementing provisions on trad e in goods as well as other provisions, notably 
competition rules and intellectual property rights.  
1.7.  The discussion in the meeting would focus on ly on the services aspects of the Agreement as 
the provisions already implemented by the In terim Agreement had been considered by the 
Committee at its 61st Session on 28 June 2011. The main elements of the services aspects of the Agreement were as follows: it was composed of a Preamble and ten parts as well as Annexes and 
Protocols on Land Transport and Dispute Settlemen t. Title V concerned the provisions governing 
trade in Services and was composed of five chapters (Chapter I Movement of Workers; Chapter II Establishment; Chapter III Supply of Services; Chapter IV Current Payments and Movement of 
Capital; and Chapter V General Provisions). Overall, it provided for substantial sectoral coverage, 
since all sectors were included, with the only exce ptions of air transport services, inland waterways 
transport services, and maritime cabotage services. Commitments on these sectors were also possible, should the Stabilisation and Association Council so decide. The Agreement covered all 
modes of supply, i.e. cross-border, establishment and temporary movement of persons, with no a 
priori exclusions. Additionally, th e Agreement provided for the elimination of existing 
discriminatory measures based on nationality an d required that the Parties grant national 
treatment for the establishment and operation of their companies and nationals from entry into 
force. 
1.8.  The Agreement provided also for the libera lisation of the supply of services between the 
Parties and the temporary movement of services suppliers. The EU had had good cooperation with 
Serbia in the implementation of the obligations  under the Agreement including in the area of 
establishment, supply of services and movement of workers. Of course, a number of further reform measures and important legislative changes were still required by Serbia, but this was 
within the transitional period foreseen for the re alisation of the Agreement. The EU would continue 
to accompany these efforts through technical and financial assistance. He seized the opportunity to point out that Serbia's accession to the WTO would represent an important advancement in 
Serbia's further integration into the international economy, and would certainly be conducive to 
fostering further economic and trade related reforms. The EU was strongly supportive of the accession process, which was at an advanced st age, and firmly believed that other WTO Members 
would also benefit from a closer trade relationship with Serbia that the country's early accession 
would enhance. 
1.9.  The representative of Serbia thanked the EU representative for his analytical presentation of 
the services part of the FTA with which her delegation fully agreed. The negotiations between 
the EU and Serbia on the conclusion of th e SAA had commenced on 10 October 2005 and had 
been concluded on 10 September 2007. The Ag reement had been signed on 29 April 2008 in 
Luxembourg. The Interim Trade Agreement had come into effect for both sides on 
1 February 2010 and the SAA had entered into forc e on 1 September 2013. In the meantime, the 
EU had replied positively to Serbia’s request for membership in the EU and on 28 June 2013 took the decision to start negotiations on accession wi th Serbia. The first intergovernmental conference, 
held in Brussels on 21 January 2014, marked the official start of these negotiations. Serbia had 
concluded a number of FTAs; however, the SAA was the first all-inclusive agreement signed by Serbia with the EU and its Member States. The Ag reement regulated almost all aspects of mutual 
relations between the EU and Serbia, first of all, mutual economic and trade relations, which, prior 
to the signing of the Agreement, had been based on unilateral statements of good will on both 
sides. The Agreement was, also institutionally, th e basis for further processes of association with 
the EU, ultimately leading to full membership.  
1.10.  This was the first time that trade in services  had been included in Serbia's relations with its 
trading partners, and was of great importance for Serbia bearing in mind the significant role that services sectors had within its economy. After the transition process started in Serbia from WT/REG285/M/2 
 
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  2000 and until now, the structure of GDP had been changing in favour of services; for example, 
the share of agriculture had decreased from 13. 6% in 2003, to 12.6% in 2006 and 7.90% in 2013, 
while the share of industry varied from 26.2% in 2003 to 24.3% in 2006, and recovered to 31.8% 
in 2013. The share of services had increased from 60.2% in 2003 to 63.1% in 2006, fluctuating in 
following years and reaching 60.3% in 2013. Services sectors with the most dynamic imports and 
exports in Serbia's services trade were transpor t, travel and communications which had registered 
a continuous increase of both exports and imports with the EU and the world.  
1.11.  The EU was Serbia's first ranked trading pa rtner with a share in total Serbian trade reaching 
61.4% and with coverage of imports by exports of  72.2% in 2013. These data covered total trade 
between the partners. It was too early to assess the effects of the SAA on trade in services only, bearing in mind that the free trade area in se rvices had not yet been achieved. However, the 
significance of the SAA had to be understood in terms of creating the environment for future 
membership of Serbia in the EU. Full trade libe ralization effects could only be seen after the 
necessary harmonization of Serbian domestic legislation with the EU acquis  was done. Serbia faced 
complex and time consuming work to achieve this goal. The first steps were currently taking place 
through the explanatory and bilateral screenings of the relevant chapters in the European Commission after which huge domestic work should take place to transpose and 
implement respective legislation. She added that  membership in the WTO was very important for 
Serbia as an instrument for modernizing and improving the competitiveness of its services sectors and the overall setting for conducting trade. Finally, she thanked the Secretariat for the preparation of the Factual Presentation and th e delegations of Thailand and Peru who had 
submitted questions and comments. Her delegation remained at the disposal of Members if 
additional comments and answers were needed. 
1.12.  The representative of Thailand expressed her delegation's appreciation for the 
comprehensive written responses to its questions. 1.13.  The Chairman said that the considerat ion of the Services Aspects of the Economic 
Integration Agreement between the European Union and Serbia had allowed the Committee to 
clarify a number of questions and the oral discussion  of this RTA could be concluded 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 Secretariat by 30 September 2014 and Parties were asked to submit replies in writing by no later than 
14 October 2014. In accordance with paragraph 13 of the Transparency Mechanism all written 
submissions, as well as minutes of this meeting would be circulated promptly, in all WTO official 
languages, and would be made available on the WTO website.  
1.14.  The Committee took note of the comments made. 
 
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