. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG171/M/1 
25 September 2009 
 (09-4490) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Fifty-fourth Session  
 
 
 
CONSIDERATION OF THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN  
ARMENIA AND UKRAINE, GOODS 
 
Note on the Meeting of 15 September 2009  
 
Chairman:  Mr D. Brauns (Germany) 
  
1. The meeting was convened in document  WTO/AIR/3410, dated 7 August 2009. 
2. Under Agenda Item B.VII of its 54
th Session, the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
(hereinafter CRTA or the Committee) took up cons ideration of the Free Trade Agreement between 
Armenia and Ukraine (hereinafter 'the Agreement'), goods.  
3. The Chairman  noted that the Agreement had entered into force on 18 November 1996 and had 
been notified by the Parties to the WTO on 17 J une 2004 under Article XXIV:7(a) of the GATT 1994 
and the Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV of GATT 1994 as an Agreement 
establishing a free-trade area (document WT/REG171/N/1) .  The text of the Agreement was available, 
together with its Annexes, on the Parties' offici al websites.  The Factual Presentation on the goods 
aspects (document WT/REG171/3, dated 1 July 2009) ha d 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 were recently dist ributed in document WT/REG171/4, dated 25 August 
2009.  He proposed to organize the consideration of the Agreement by asking first the Parties and then 
other Members to give any general comments.  The Committee would then turn to the specifics of the 
Agreement using the Factual Presentation to guide the debate.  He also proposed to go through the 
Factual Presentation by section, and then through the questions and replies document.  
4. The representative of Ukraine , speaking on behalf of the Parties,  was pleased to present an 
agreement for consideration to the CRTA for the firs t time since it's accession to the WTO.  Ukraine 
hoped to contribute to supporting a nd strengthening the transparency of the system by extending it to 
its agreements with non-WTO Members.  She thanked Members for their questions and interest in the 
Agreement and the Secretariat for having prepared  the Factual Presentation.  The characteristic 
feature of the Agreement was that it had been concluded between countri es which previously had 
been members of the Soviet system.  After the fa ll of the Soviet Union, the major objective of the 
Agreement was to preserve and sustain traditional trade ties and economic relations.  The Agreement 
had been concluded when the Parties were not ye t Members to the WTO.  Ukraine and Armenia had 
become members of the Agreement on the Creation of the Free Trade Area between the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), signed in 1994.  One of the objectives of the CIS FTA 
was the gradual elimination of customs duties, charges having equivalent effect and quantitative 
restrictions in mutual trade.  Its implementati on foresaw that bilateral RTAs would be concluded 
among CIS members, and the Agreement between Ar menia and Ukraine constituted part of these 
bilateral agreements.  The Agre ement covered trade in goods with no exemptions.  Trade flows 
between the Parties had increased gradually but substantially, almost 20 fold since 2000.  WT/REG171/M/1 
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  5. The representative of the United States
 thanked the Parties and the Secretariat for the 
information provided.  It was a "breath of fresh air"  to consider an agreemen t in which 100% of tariffs 
and trade barriers had been eliminated between the parties and was a model for the Committee.  
6. The representative of the European Communities (EC)  noted that the Factual Presentation 
indicated that Ukraine imposed a 13% surcharge on cars and fridges.  This measure had been notified 
to the WTO in March 2009 and discussed in the Co mmittee on Balance of Payment (BOP), which in 
June 2009 had concluded that the surcharge was not  in line with Article XII of GATT 1994 and the 
Understanding, and therefore WTO-inconsistent.  The BOP Committee had determined that the 
measure should be eliminated by 7 September 2009 and the measure had been removed following the 
Committee's instruction.  She welcomed the action ta ken by Ukraine and hoped that similar measures 
would not be used in future.  The representative of Ukraine  confirmed that the surcharge was 
terminated on 7 September 2009 and was notif ied to the BOP Committee accordingly.  
7. The Chairman  noted that the consideration of the goods aspects of the Free Trade Agreement 
between Armenia and Ukraine had allowed the Comm ittee to clarify a number of questions and oral 
discussion of the Agreement could be concluded in accordance with paragraph 11 of the Transparency 
Mechanism.  If any delegations wished to ask follo w-up questions, they were invited to submit them 
in writing to the Secretariat by 22 September 2009  and the Parties were asked to submit replies  in 
writing by no later than 6 October 2009.  In acco rdance 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 woul d be made available on the WTO website 
8. The Committee took note  of the comments made. 
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