WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG197/2 
3 May 2005 
 
 (05-1808) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements Original:   English 
  
 
FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN CROATIA AND 
THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA 
 
  The following communication, dated 23 March 2005, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of Croatia. 
  
_______________ 
  
AGREEMENT ON AMENDMENTS TO THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE 
REPUBLIC OF CROATIA AND THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
* 
 
The Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Macedonia (hereinafter “the Contracting Parties), 
Considering that the conditions have been met for amendments to the Free Trade Agreement 
between the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Macedonia, signed in Skopje, on May 9th, 1997 
(hereinafter “ Agreement”), in accord ance with the provisions of Article 36 paragraph 2 of this Agreement, 
Have agreed  as follows:   
Article 1 
The Preamble of this Agreement shall be ame nded by adding the new sentence after the last 
sentence, which senten ce reads as follows:   
“Desiring to conduct the mutual trade in acco rdance to the Stabilisation and Association 
Agreement between the Republic Cr oatia and the European Community and their member states, as 
well as the Stabilisation and Association Agreem ent between the Republic of Macedonia and the 
European Community.” 
Article 2 
Article 1 paragraph 1 of this Agreement shall be amended and reads as follows:   
“The Contracting Parties shall progressively establish a free trade area during a transitional 
period ending on 31st December 2004 in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement, and with 
Article XXIV of the General Agre ement on Tariffs and Trade 1994.” 
Article 3 
Article 2 paragraph 2 of this Agreement shall be amended and reads as follows:   
                                                      
* The text of the Agreement is ci rculated is document WT/REG197/1 .  The associated Annexes have 
been submitted to the Secretariat for consultation by interested Members (office 1174). WT/REG197/2 
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 “The term “industrial products” for the purpose of this Agreement means th e products falling within 
Chapters 25 to 97 of the Harmonized Commodity Descr iption and Coding System, with the exception of the 
products listed in Annex I which shall constitute an integral part of this Amendments to the Agreement.” 
Article 4 
Article 3 paragraph 2 of this Agreement shall be amended and reads as follows:   
“The Republic of Croatia shall abolish all cu stoms duties on imports of products originating 
in the Republic of Macedonia.” 
Article 3 paragraph 3 of this Agreement shall be amended and reads as follows:   
“The Republic of Macedonia shall abolish all customs duties on imports of products 
originating in the Republic of Croatia.” 
Article 5 
Article 7 paragraph 2 of this Agreement shall be amended and reads as follows:   
“All quantitative restrictions on imports of products originating in Contracting Parties as well as 
measures having equivalent effect shall be abolished on the date of the en try into force of this Agreement, 
excluding the products listed in Annex II, being an integral part of this  Amendments to the Agreement.” 
Article 6 
In Article 7 of this Agreement after paragraph 2 a new paragraph shall be added, which reads 
as follows:   
“All quantitative restrictions and measures havi ng equivalent effect on products listed in 
Annex II, which is an integral part of this Amendm ents to the Agreement, sh all be abolished on 31st 
December 2003. ” 
Article 7 
In Article 9 of this Agreement the new paragr aph shall be added, which reads as follows:   
“Rights and obligations of the Contracting Parties regarding the norms and technical 
regulations as well as correspondi ng measures shall be governed in accordance with provisions of the 
WTO Agreement on Technical Obstacles in Trade. ” 
Article 8 
Paragraph 2 of the Article 10 of this Agreem ent shall be amended and reads as follows:   
“For the purpose of this Agreement the term “ag ricultural and food prod ucts” means the products 
falling within Chapter 1 to 24 of  the Harmonized Commodity Descripti on and Coding System, including 
the products listed in Annex I, which is an integral part of this Amendments to the Agreement.” 
Article 9 
In Article 15 of this Agreement after paragr aph 1 the new paragraph shall be added which 
reads as follows:    WT/REG197/2 
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 “Protocol 2 from paragraph 1 of this Article is  done in two originals, each in Croatian, 
Macedonian and English languages, all three texts be ing equally authentic.  In case of divergence in 
interpretation the English text shall prevail. ” 
Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article  15 of this Agreement  b ecome paragraphs 3 and 4. 
Article 10 
Article 30 paragraph 4b of th is Agreement shall be amended and reads as follows:   
“Regarding Article 29 of the Agreement th e Contracting Party concerned may take 
appropriate measures upon the held c onsultations or expiry of the th ree months’ period from the date 
of the first written notice to the other Contracting Party.” 
Article 11 
Paragraph 1 of Article 33 of this Agreemen t shall be amended and reads as follows:   
“A Joint Committee is hereby established, com posed of representatives of the Contracting 
Parties.” 
Article 12 
Paragraph 3 of Article 34 of this Agreemen t shall be amended and reads as follows:   
“If a representative of a Contracting Party in the Joint Committee has accepted a decision 
subject to the fulfillment of internal legal requireme nts, the decision shall enter into force, if no later 
date is contained therein, on the day of the receipt of the written notification, about the fulfillment of 
such requirements.” 
Article 13 
In Article 39 of this Agreement after paragr aph 2 the new paragraph shall be added, which 
reads as follows:   
“In the event of any Contracting Party to this  Agreement becoming a member of the European 
Union, that Contracting Party will withdraw from this Agreement at the latest the day before 
membership takes effect without any comp ensation to the other Contracting Party.” 
Article 14 
Memorandum of understanding, which is an inte gral part of the Agreement, is hereby 
terminated. 
Article 15 
Protocol 1 from Article 11, paragraph 1 of the Agreement shall be amended, and the 
provisions of the amended Protocol shall be an inte gral part of the Amendments to the Agreement. 
Article 16 
Protocol 2 from paragraph 1 of the Article 11 of this Agreement shall be amended and 
provisions of the amended Protocol shall be an inte gral part of the Amendments of the Agreement. WT/REG197/2 
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 Protocol 2, being an integral part of this  Amendments to the Ag reement is done in two 
originals in Croatian, Macedonian and English languag es, all three texts being equally authentic.  In 
case of divergence in interpretation the English text shall prevail. 
Article 17 
As integral part of the Amendments to  the Agreement shall be considered:   
- Protocol 1 - Exchange of concessions be tween the Republic of Croatia and the 
Republic of Macedonia 
- Protocol 2 - on definition of the term “product with origin” and methods of 
administrative co-operation 
- Annex I - list of products  pursuant to Ar ticles 3 and 8 of this Amendments to the 
Agreement 
- Annex II - list of products pursuant to Article  6 of this Amendments to the Agreement 
Article 18 
The Contracting Parties have agreed to implem ent the provisions of this Amendments to the 
Agreement temporary as of 1st July 2002.   
Article 19 
This Amendments to the Agreement shall enter in to force on the day of the receipt of the last 
written notification by which the Contracting Parties inform each other through  diplomatic channels 
that the internal legal requirements for the entry into  force of this Amendments to the Agreement have 
been fulfilled.   
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned plenipoten tiaries, being duly authorised thereto, 
have signed this Amendments to the Agreement.   
DONE at Zagreb, this 11 June 2002 in two or iginals, each in the Croatian and Macedonian 
languages, all two texts being equally authentic. 
 
FOR THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA FOR THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA 
 
 
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