WT/REG360/M/1  
 
25 May 2016  
(16-2835)  Page: 1/3  
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Eightieth Session   
 
FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EFTA STATES  
AND BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA  
(GOODS) 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 6 APRIL 2016 
Chairman: Ambassador Daniel Blockert (Sweden) 
1.1.  The 80th Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter 'CRTA' or the 
'Committee') was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/RTA/5/Rev.1 dated 24 March 2016. 
1.2.  Under Agenda Item E.I of the session, the CRTA considered the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) 
between the EFTA States and Bosnia and Herzegov ina, 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 had 
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 that 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.  He said that the Agreement had entered in to force on 1 January 2015 and had been notified 
to the WTO by the Parties on 6 January 2015 under 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/REG360/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 aspect (document WT/REG360/1 dated 21 January 
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/REG360/2 dated 21 March 2016. He proposed to organize 
the consideration of the Agreement by first asking  the Parties and then other Members to give any 
general comments. They would then turn to the specifics of the Agreement. 
1.6.  The representative of Switzerland, speaking on behalf of the EFTA States, said that the EFTA 
States and Bosnia and Herzegovina enjoyed good  and effective bilateral economic and trade 
relations. It was not surprising, therefore, that the FTA negotiations had been concluded remarkably quickly. In fact, the formal negotiat ing process had been concluded after only three 
rounds in 2011. The EFTA States saw the Agreement as a useful tool for strengthening the 
economic links between the Parties. It provided a stable and predictable framework for business 
operators and complemented EFTA's existing networks of FTAs in Europe. 
1.7.  Since 2005, bilateral merchandise trade between the EFTA States and Bosnia and 
Herzegovina had been growing at an annual rate of over 12%. Although the EFTA States had 
traditionally run a trade surplus with Bosnia and Herzegovina, this surplus had shifted in favour of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2012. In fact, im ports from Bosnia and Herzegovina had been WT/REG360/M/1 
 
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  growing rapidly, amounting to over US$100 million in 2015. This represented a ten-fold increase 
since 2005. On the export side, trade was valued  at US$60 million in 2015. The main export items 
from the EFTA side consisted of pharmaceutical products and machinery. The principal imports into the EFTA States included furniture, footwear, apparel, and aluminium and iron products. 
1.8.  The FTA focused on the liberalization of trade in goods and was aimed at achieving 
substantive liberalisation across all products, taking account of the particular sensitivities of the Parties to the Agreement. Trade in basic agricultural products was covered in bilateral agricultural 
agreements between the individual EFTA States and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which formed an 
integral part of the Agreement.  
1.9.  As with other EFTA agreements in the region , rules of origin were governed by the Regional 
Convention on Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Preferential Rules of Origin. This would allow for 
cumulation of materials originating in the EFTA States, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the other 
"Pan-Euro-Med" contracting parties once the respective agreements were in place between the parties concerned. 
1.10.  In addition to provisions relating to trad e in goods, the Agreement also contained provisions 
governing the protection of intellectual property rights, as well as basic provisions in the areas of trade in services, investment, government procurem ent, and sustainable development. In some of 
these areas, the Parties had envisaged review clauses, which foresaw the possibility to develop the 
Agreement further. 
1.11.  The EFTA States considered the Agreement as an important economic instrument that 
promoted and deepened economic cooperation in the European context. Trade between the EFTA 
States and Bosnia and Herzegovina held much potential which could benefit industries on both 
sides of the Agreement. In this vein, the EFTA  States and Bosnia and Herzegovina had held a 
jointly organised trade promotion seminar to pr omote the Agreement to producers and exporters 
in Sarajevo and Banja Luka in February 2015. The trade promotion seminar had been a success, 
with more than 200 participants attending the event. 
1.12.  In closing, he thanked the WTO Secretariat and EFTA's partners from Bosnia and 
Herzegovina for their excellent collaboration in preparing for the review. He thanked the WTO 
Members who had sent written questions ahead of the meeting and to which replies had been provided. The EFTA States looked forward to a cons tructive exchange of views on all aspects of the 
Agreement.  
1.13.  The representative of Bosnia and Herzegov ina said that negotiations between the Parties 
had officially started on 28 March 2011 and had been concluded in May 2013. The Agreement had 
been signed in Norway on 24 June 2013 and afte r the completion of national procedure, the 
Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina had ratifi ed the Agreement on 16 September 2014. The FTA 
had entered into force on 1 January 2015. 
1.14.  The conclusion of the Agreement for Bosn ia and Herzegovina was confirmation of a common 
commitment of the two sides, through mutually agreed liberalization and easier access to the 
market for goods and services, to create conditions for further development, as well as to promote trade and economic cooperation for mutual benefit. 
1.15.  From the trade aspect, the Agreement aimed to support the efforts of Bosnia and 
Herzegovina to complete its transition into a functioning market economy, as well as to promote 
harmonious economic relations between the Parties and to gradually develop a free trade area, in compliance with, and implemented in a manner consistent with the relevant WTO provisions, in 
particular Article XXIV of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994) and 
Article V of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).  
1.16.  The FTA committed Bosnia and Herzegovina to progressively open its market to  industrial 
products including fish and other marine products  originating from the EFTA States within a three-
year period, except for a few sens itive fish and other marine products, while the EFTA States had 
abolished their tariffs for Bosnia and Herzegovina's goods from the Agreement's date of entry into force.   WT/REG360/M/1 
 
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  1.17.  Trade in basic agricultural products was covered by bilateral arrangements, through the 
agricultural agreements concluded between each individual EFTA State and Bosnia and 
Herzegovina, containing mutual concessions for those products and representing an integral part of the Agreement.  Consequently, from 1 January 2018, when the agreed tariff dismantling period 
expired, Bosnia and Herzegovina would have fully liberalized 8,718 tariff lines for imports from 
Iceland, 8,724 lines from Norway and 8,829 lines from Switzerland. 
1.18.  The EFTA States were important trading partners, with whom Bosnia and Herzegovina had 
traditionally achieved a trade surplus. Despite the fa ct that after the first year of implementation of 
the Agreement the share of the EFTA States in Bo snia and Herzegovina's total trade was still very 
limited, around 1.77% of its exports and 0.67% of  imports, Bosnia and Herzegovina expected the 
Agreement to have a positive impact in the near future. 
1.19.  She was confident that the FTA with the EFTA States would continue to create a favorable 
framework for boosting trade and investment between  the Parties, contributing to further and 
deeper integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina into  both regional and global goods and services 
markets, and thus to full integration into th e multilateral trading system, embodied in the 
framework of WTO. She thanked the WTO Secretariat and EFTA colleagues in Geneva for the excellent cooperation in the preparation of the Factual Presentation.  
1.20.  The representative of the United States ex pressed disappointed with the low level of tariff 
elimination in agricultural goods which had become  an unfortunate hallmark of EFTA's agreements. 
1.21.  The representative of Thailand thanked the Parties for the answers to its questions and 
reserved its right to come back if it had further questions. 
1.22.  The Chairman said that consideration of  the Goods Aspects of the Free Trade Agreement 
between the EFTA States and Bosnia and Herzeg ovina, had allowed Members to clarify a number 
of questions and the Committee had now concluded oral discussion of this RTA in accordance with 
paragraph 11 of the Transparency Mechanism. If any delegations wished to ask follow-up 
questions they were invited to forward submission s in writing to the Secretariat by 13 April 2016 
and Parties were asked to submit replies in writ ing by no later than 27 April 2016. In accordance 
with paragraph 13 of the Transparency Mechanism all written submissions, as well as minutes of 
this meeting will be circulated promptly, in all WT O official languages, and will be made available 
on the WTO website. 
1.23.  The Committee took note of the comments made. 
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