WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG156/5 
13 March 2006 
 (06-1110) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements Original:   English 
  
 
FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN TURKEY AND CROATIA 
 
Questions and Replies
 
 
 The following communication, dated 1 March 2006, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of Turkey. 
  This document reproduces the questions addressed  to the Parties and the responses submitted. 
The questions and replies set out below are or ganized in accordance with document WT/REG156/3. 
 
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I. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE AGREEMENT 
2. Type of Agreement 
 
1. Have there been any developments in th e area of services and investment under  
Chapter III? 
 No considerable progress in this area is foreseen in the short and medium run. 
 
3. Scope 
 
2. Under the FTA, what percentage of tariff lines in Turkey’s tariff schedule are duty free 
and quota free under the FTA? What percentage of tariff lines in Croatia’s tariff schedule are 
duty free and quota free under the FTA? 
 In the Agreement, duty free and quota free tariff lines (6 digit level) covers 85.7 % of all the 
tariff lines in Turkey’s tariff schedule. For Croatia, th is rate is 86 % of all the tariff lines in Croatia’s 
tariff schedule.  
  Besides, together with the tariff lines of agricu ltural products subjected to reduced rate of duty 
under tariff quotas or unlimited quantities, the total c oncession coverage rate of the Agreement rises 
to 86.7 % of all the tariff lines of Turkey a nd 86.7 % of all the tariff lines of Croatia.  
 
 At this point, it is worth to notify that on trade-base assessment, the FTA covers 86.2% of 
total Turkish exports to Croatia and 98.8 % of tota l Croat exports to Turkey. Moreover, regarding the 
agricultural goods, the Parties agre ed to assess the possibilities to expand further the coverage of 
agricultural products in the Joint Committee meetings.  
  
3. It appears from Protocols I and II to the FTA that many Chapters are excluded from 
the agreements. Could the Parties please list those Chapters that are excluded from the 
agreement?  WT/REG156/5 
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   Protocol I to the Agreement governs the aboliti on of custom duties of the industrial products 
falling within the Chapters 25 to 97 with the ex ception of the products listed in Annex I of the 
Agreement. Therefore, other than Annex I, all the industrial products referr ed in chapters 25-97 are 
covered by this Protocol. Products  listed in Annex I are considered to be agricultural and processed 
agricultural products, thus are not included in the Prot ocol I. Annex I of the Agreement is attached to 
this document.  
  On the other hand, Protocol II, governs the exchange of agricultural concessions between the 
Parties for the products falling within the chapters  1-24. The agreed concessions have been defined 
separately for each Party and listed as Tables A and B within this Protocol. The Chapters, which do 
not appear in the concession tables of the Protocol II, are not subject to concessions. However, Article 
11 (2) of the Agreement provides that the Par ties shall examine in the Joint Committee the 
possibilities of granting to each other further concessions in trade in agricultural products. 
 
4. Trade Data 
 
4. On page 10 of WT/REG156/3, in the chart identifying the value of imports by HS 
chapter, there are no imports listed for Chapters 1-7.  
(a) Why are there no data for those Chapters? 
(b) Could the Parties provide data for trade in those Chapters? 
 
a) In the Communication dated 6 September 2004, Chapters 1-7 do not appear on the chart since there 
was no import registered in Turkey in those Chapters during the years between 2000-2003.  
 b)   Imports of Turkey from Croatia 
(Thousand US$) 
 
 
HS 
Chapter 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 
01 0 0 0 0 0 0 
02 0 0 0 0 0 0 
03 0 0 0 0 0 45 
04 0 0 0 0 0 197 
05 0 0 0 0 0 0 
06 0 0 0 0 0 0 
07 0 0 0 0 0 0 
 
 
II. TRADE PROVISIONS 
5. Safeguards 
 
5. Regarding Art.19 –“Emergency Action on Impo rts of Particular Products”—how do the 
Parties define “disturbances on the market ” and “serious disturbances”? How do these 
standards with the “serious injury” standa rd of the Agreement on Safeguards?  
 The Agreement does not specifically give definition of these terms. However, by a 
comprehensive interpretation, Article 19 is in c onformity with the WTO Agreement on Safeguards.  WT/REG156/5 
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  These apparently ‘different’ terms are not essentia lly offering different conditions from the ones 
stipulated under Article 4 of that WTO Agreement.    By stating “serious injury to domestic produ cers or disturbances on the market of like or 
directly competitive products”, Article 19 (a) pr ovides protection against negative effects of the 
increased quantities of imports at producers or product level. In principle, this provision directly 
corresponds to the serious injury definition stated in Article 2 (1) of the WTO Safeguards Agreement. 
The additional usage of expression “disturbances on the market” does not mean to cause prejudice to 
WTO rules but was put with the intention to re -emphasise the disturbing effects of the increased 
quantities of imports on the market. Since this appr oach is also embodied in the “serious injury” 
concept of WTO, it cannot be considered as a de viation from or in conflict with WTO Agreement. 
Despite different wording, the provision is compatible  with the essence of what is meant by “serious 
injury”.    Article 19 (b) sets the condition for safeguard  application as the increased quantities of 
imports cause or threatens to cause “serious distur bances in any sector of the economy of difficulties 
which would bring about serious deterioration in the economic situation of a region”. By taking the 
issue at the level of a sector or at general economi c situation of a region, it refers to a broader 
circumstance of disturbance(s) in the economy caused by the increased import of a product.    This broadened aspect for observation of distur bances is in general sense compatible with the 
WTO Agreement on Safeguards. Because, such kind of comprehensive approach can also be deduced 
from the WTO Agreement by referring to the Article 4 (1)(a) which reads as: “‘serious injury’ shall be 
understood to mean a significant overall impairment  in the position of a domestic industry”.  
  Likewise, Article 4 (2)(a) of WTO Agreement also clearly refers it by stating “in the 
investigation to determine whether increased imports  have caused or are threatening to cause serious 
injury to a domestic industry under the terms of  this Agreement, the competent authorities shall 
evaluate all relevant factors”. It is obvious that the expression “to cause serious injury to a domestic industry under this Agreement” corresponds to the ex pression of “serious disturbance in any sector of 
the economy” in Article 19 (b) of the FTA.  
 Article 22 of the FTA, which prescribes the cond itions for the application of the safeguard 
measures, encourages the Parties to solve conflic ts through direct consu ltation before initiating a 
safeguard measure. Yet, the Parties have neither appl ied such measure nor had such conflict so far.  
Turkey and Croatia operate under safeguard legisla tion, which is fully compatible with the WTO 
rules. No separate track has been established in  the Turkish national legislation to implement the 
specific FTA provisions on safeguard.  
 
6. Are Arts. 13 (Specific Safeguards), 17 (Structural Adjustment) and 19 (Emergency 
Action on Imports of Particular Products) mutu ally exclusive? For exam ple , can a structural 
measure be put in place following consultati ons under Art.13 or Art.19? What is meant by 
“serious disturbance … to their domestic regulatory mechanisms” in Art.13? What are the 
differences between Art. 13 and 19? 
 Article 13 on “Specific Safeguards” deals with the safeguard measures put for the agricultural 
products, which are granted concession under this Agreement. Given the particular sensitivity of those 
products, the Agreement particularly sets respective provisions under a separate article. Therefore, 
safeguard measure laid down under this Article can only be invoked with respect to the agricultural 
products, which are subject to concessions.  
  WT/REG156/5 
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   ‘Domestic regulatory mechanisms’ mentione d in the Article refers to the domestic 
agricultural policies set by the Parties to regulate the domestic agricultural market. Accordingly, the 
Article allows Parties to apply safeguard measures  when the imports of the products disturb such 
domestic regulatory mechanisms applied for those pr oducts in the domestic market. The Article states 
that in case a disturbance is claimed to have happe ned “both Parties shall enter into consultations 
immediately to find an appropriate solution.” So, whether the import of a product causes disturbance 
or not would be decided after the consultations made within the Joint Committee.         
  Article 17 establishes the terms and procedur es for exceptional measures to be applied for 
structural adjustment purposes. As it is articulated in paragraph 2 of the Article, “[t]hese measures 
may only concern  infant industries, or certain sectors undergoing restructuring or facing serious 
difficulties, particularly where these difficulties produce important social problems.” Since these sectors are considered to be sensitive, they are pr otected under a separate article allocated to such 
sectors instead of general safeguard  measures under Article 19.    
 
 Regarding Article 19, though named as “E mergency Action on Import of Particular 
Products”, this article deals with the general safeguard measures, wh ich are generally in conformity 
with the Agreement on Safeguards of GATT 1994. It a pplies to all products exposed to the conditions 
defined in the Article.    Given the above explanations, in principle, these Articles shall primarily be invoked for the 
products within their own sphere and conditions clearly articulated  in the respective provisions.  
    
  WT/REG156/5 
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  ANNEX I 
 
(List of products referred to in Article 3) 
 
HEADING BRIEF PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 
2905.43 Mannitol 
2905.44 D-glucitol (sorbitol) 
29.10.3302 Mixtures of odoriferous substances and mixtures 
3501 -Casein: 
10.10.3501 --For the manufacture of regenerated textile fibres 
3501.10.50 --For industrial uses, other than the manufacture of foodstuffs or fodder 
--Other 3501.10.90 
-Other 
3501.90.90 --Other 
Albumins (including concentrates of two or more whey proteins, containing by weight more 
than 80% whey proteins, calculated on the dry matter), albuminates and other albumin derivatives: 
-Egg albumin: 3502 
--Dried: 
10.11.3502 ---Unfit, or to be rendered unfit, for human consumption 
3502.11.90 ---Other 
 --Other: 
3502.19.10 ---Unfit, or to be rendered unfit, for human consumption 
3502.19.90 ---Other 
 -Milk albumin, including concentrates of two or more whey proteins: 
3502.20.10 --Unfit, or to be rendered unfit, for human consumption 
 --Other: 
3502.20.91 ---Dried (for example, in sheets, scales, flakes, powder) 
--Other 
-Other 3502.20.99 
--Albumins, other than egg albumin and milk albumin (lactalbumin) 
3502.90.20 ---Unfit, or to be rendered unfit, for human consumption 
3502.90.70 ---Other 
3502.90.90 --Albuminates and other albumin derivatives 
3505.10 Dextrins and other modified starches 
10.10.3505 Dextrins 
3505.10.90 Other 
3505.20 Glues 
3809 Finishing agents, dye carriers to accelerate the dyeing or fixing of  dyestuffs and other 
products and preparations (for example, dressings and mordants);  of a kind used in the textile, paper, leather or like industries, not elsewhere specified or included 
3809.10 -With a basis of amylaceous substances WT/REG156/5 
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  HEADING BRIEF PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 
 -Other 
3809.91.00 --Of a kind used in the textile or like industries (excluding 3809.91.00.90.11.19) 
3809.92.00 --Of a kind used in the paper or like industries (excluding 3809.92.00.90.00) 
3809.93.00 --Of a kind used in the leather or like industries (excluding 3809.93.00.90.00) 
3824.60 Sorbitol, other than that of subheading 2905.44 
4501 Natural cork, raw or simply prepared;  wast e cork:  crushed, granul ated or ground cork: 
4501.10.00 -Natural cork, raw or simply prepared 
4501.90.00 -Other 
5201.00 Cotton, not carded or combed 
5301 Flax, raw or processed but not spun;  flax tow and waste (incl. yarn waste and gartnetted 
stock 
5302 True hemp (Cannabis sativa L.), raw or processed but not spun tow and waste of true hemp 
(incl. yarn waste and gartnetted stock) 
 
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