. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG249/M/1 
23 March 2010 
 (10-1548) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Fifty-sixth Session  
 
 
 
CONSIDERATION OF THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT  
BETWEEN UKRAINE AND MOLDOVA,  
GOODS  
 
Note on the Meeting of 15-16 March 2010  
 
Chairman: Mr. D. Brauns (Germany) 
 
 
1. The meeting was convened in document WTO/AIR/3502/Rev.1, dated 1 March 2010. 
2. Under Agenda Item C.IV of its 56th Session, the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
(hereinafter CRTA or the Committee) considered  the Free Trade Agreement between Ukraine and 
Moldova, goods, (hereinafter the Agreement).  
3. The Chairman  noted that the Agreement had entered into force on 19 May 2005 and had been 
notified by the Parties to the WTO on 18 August 2008 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/REG249/N/1).  The text of the Agreement, together with its Annexes, was available on th e WTO Regional Trade Agreements Information System website.  
4. The Factual Presentation on the goods aspect s (document WT/REG249/1 dated 27 August 
2009) had been prepared by the Secretariat on its  own responsibility in full consultation with the 
Parties, in accordance with paragraph 7(b) of th e Transparency Mechanism (TM) for Regional Trade 
Agreements (document WT/L/671).  In addition, wr itten questions and replies on the Agreement had 
been distributed in document WT/REG249/2, dated 23 November 2009.  He proposed to organize the consideration of the Agreement by first asking the Parties and then other Members for general 
comments. The Committee would then turn to  the specifics of the Agreement using the 
Factual Presentation to guide the debate.  He  proposed that the Committee would go through the 
Factual Presentation section by section, and then look at the questions and replies document.  
5. The representative of Ukraine,
 together with the delegation from Moldova, was pleased to 
present the Agreement.  She expressed sincere gratitude  to the WTO Secretariat for the hard work in 
preparing for the Factual Presentation.  The FTA, whic h had been signed in 2003,  had come into force 
simultaneously upon Ukraine's accession to the WTO.   The Agreement had replaced the previous one 
signed in 1995 as part of the implementation pro cess of the CIS FTA.  The new Agreement covered 
agricultural and non-agricultural goods, and provided  for duty-free and quota-free bilateral trade with 
very few exceptions, like sugar products, ethyl alco hol, raw skins and some scrap and ferro-alloys.  
The relevant Protocol had been signed by the Parties in April 2009.  The Agreement was more comprehensive than the previous one and c ontained provisions on standards, sanitary and 
phyto-sanitary measures, trade remedies, compet ition, government procurement and intellectual 
property.  Thus, it provided for a more transparen t and predictable environment for the development 
of bilateral trade and economic coope ration.  She was grateful to Members who had shown interest in WT/REG249/M/1 
Page 2  
 
  the FTA and committed her delegation to provide an swers to all questions and requests for further 
clarifications where needed.  
6. The representative of the United States
 thanked Ukraine and Moldova, as well as the 
Secretariat, for the information provided on the Agreement.  She noted that the Agreement had 
eliminated more than 98% of tariffs and provided for duty-free treatment on 98% of trade between the 
Parties, and as such was highly commendable. 
7. The representative of the European Union (EU)  raised a point on paragraphs 21 and 22 of the 
Factual Presentation.  As stated in the CRTA meeting in September 2009, the EU welcomed the 
repeal in September 2009 of the tariff surcharge of  13% applied by Ukraine to motor vehicles and 
refrigerators, and hoped that no other surcharges of th at kind would be introduced in the future.  The 
representative of Ukraine  was of the opinion that the 13% surcharge was not a subject for 
consideration by the CRTA, but rather by the Balance-of-Payments Committee. 
8. The Chairman  noted that the consideration of the goods aspects of the Free Trade Agreement 
between Ukraine and Moldova 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 TM.  If any 
delegations wished to ask follow-up questions they were invited to forward submissions in writing to 
the Secretariat by 22 March 2010 and the Parties were asked to submit replies  in writing by no later 
than 5 April 2010.  In accordance with paragraph 13 of the TM all written submissions, as well as the 
minutes of the meeting would be circulated promp tly, in all WTO official languages, and would be 
made available on the WTO website.   
9. The Committee took note  of the comments made. 
__________