WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/REG226/5 
19 October 2011 
 (11-5192) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements Original:   English 
  
 
ECONOMIC INTEGRATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE  
EUROPEAN UNION AND ALBANIA  
(GOODS AND SERVICES) 
 
Questions and Replies 
   The following communication, dated 17 October 2011, is being circulated at the request of the delegations of the European Union and Albania.  
 This document reproduces the follow-up questi ons addressed to the Parties following the 
62nd Session of the CRTA and the responses submitted. 
 
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Questions from the Delegation of the United States 
 
1. Paragraph 12 of the Factual Presentation notes that the Agreement is to be 
progressively and fully implemented over a transition al period of a maximum of ten years.  It 
then notes, separately, that certain Title V provi sions applicable to Albania are subject to a 
"transition period."  Other parts of the Factua l Presentation (paragraphs 22 and 32) note that 
measures necessary to implement certain provisions of  Title V, such as those on liberalization of 
trade in services (Article 57.1) and temporary movement of natural persons (Article 57.2) are to be taken "within five years from the entry into force of the Agreement." 
(a) Could the Parties clarify the timeline for implementation of the services aspects 
of the Agreement?  Are the provisions of Title V to be fully implemented within five years, or within ten years of the Agreement's entry into force? 
 According to the provisions of Article 6 of  the SAA the transitional period for the full 
implementation of the Agreement is ten years divide d into two successive stages, whereas as regards 
the provisions of Title V this period varies de pending on the nature of the provisions.  
  Thus, the timeline for the implementation of the abovementioned Title is as follows: 
(i) provisions to be implemented upon the date of entr y into force of the Agreement;  (ii) provisions to 
be implemented five years following the date of en try into force upon decision of the Stabilisation and 
Association Council;  (iii) the other provisions with  no specified transitional period, the ten years 
transitional period applies.   
Follow-up :  Could the Parties specify which provision s of Title V are to be implemented: 
(i) upon date of entry into force of the Agreement;  (ii) five years following the date of entry into 
force;  and (iii) ten years after entry into force.    WT/REG226/5 
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  Answer:  The provisions which have to be implem ented upon the entry into force of the Agreement 
are Article 50 paragraphs 1, 3 and 5(a), Article 59 paragraph 3(b) a nd Article 61 paragraphs 1 and 2. 
  The provisions which have to be implemented fi ve years following the date of entry into force 
upon decision of the Stabilisation and Associati on Council are Article 50 pa ragraph 4, Article 57 
paragraph 3 and Artic le 61 paragraph 2. 
  The other provisions of Title V are subject to th e ten years transitional period applies.  This is 
the case, for instance, of Article 57 paragraphs 1 and 2.  
(b) With respect to Articles 57.1 and 57.2, what does it mean that measures 
necessary to implement these provisions "are to be taken" within five years from 
entry into force?  Does that mean the Parties need to fully implement these 
provisions within five years, or that they are under no obligation to even start implementing these provisions for five years? 
 With respect to Articles 57.1 and 57.2 of the Agre ement, five years after the date of entry into 
force of this Agreement the Stabilisation and Associ ation Council shall take the measures necessary to 
implement progressively (c.f. Article 57.3) the abov ementioned provisions meaning that there is no 
obligation for the Parties to start implementing th ese provisions earlier.  However, the Agreement 
does not prohibit the Parties to start implementing these provisions earlier.   
(c) Could the Parties explain precisely ho w the timelines and procedures for 
implementation of Title V provisions are different for Albania?  What is the nature of the additional or separate "transition period" referenced in paragraph 12 of the Factual Presentation? 
 The Agreement does not provide different time lines and procedures for the implementation of 
Title V provisions for the Parties.  The Agreem ent provides different timelines on specific issues 
though.  In certain cases, the Stabilisation and A ssociation Council shall examine or determine the 
modalities for progressive implementation of provisions.   
Follow-up:  Paragraph 12 of the Factual Presenta tion notes that "Certain provisions of Title V 
applicable to Albania are subject to a transition  period which is described more fully below."  
This sentence suggests that the referenced transition  period is Party- rather and issue-specific.  
Could the Parties address the apparent inconsis tency between this statement in the Factual 
Presentation, and the response provided above? 
 
Answer:  There is no inconsistency.  The Agreem ent is more issue specific rather than country 
specific and the progress is very much conditional to  the progress made by Albania in the legislation 
harmonization process.  There are some Party -specific references as for example, inter alia 
Article 50.1 and some issue-specific references, such as in Article 58.  
2. Paragraph 29 of the Factual Presentation notes that the Agreement requires EU 
Member States that do not have bilateral agreeme nts with Albania on labour access to examine 
the possibility of concluding such agreements. 
 How have EU Member States implemented this obligation of the Agreement?  What has 
been the result of their analyses on the possibility of concluding such agreements? 
 
 This is covered by the internal policy of each Member State itself and the process is still ongoing. 
  WT/REG226/5 
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  3. Paragraph 30 of the Factual Presentation describes the provisions of Title V relating to 
key personnel and intra-corporate transferees.  It outlines definitions contained in the Agreement (for intra-corporate transferees), but does not describe any affirmative obligation requiring Parties to permit transferees;  rath er, paragraph 30 suggests that right to transfer 
employees is based on "legislation in fo rce in the host country of establishment." 
(a) Could the Parties describe the nature of the Agreement's obligations on 
intra-corporate transferees?  In particular, could the Parties clarify whether the Agreement contains any affirmative obligation to allow intra-corporate transferees? 
(b) If not, what is the purpose of including a definition of "intra-corporate 
transferee" in the Agreement? 
 The aim of allowing the entry and stay of Key Personnel is to fac ilitate the setting up and 
functioning of establishments of the other Party in  the Parties' respective territories.  The natural 
persons being defined in Artic le 55 (2) were identified as being essential to this regard. 
 
 The Key Personnel has to fulfil the require ments laid down in the Agreement and the 
immigration requirements of the respective EU Member State.    
Follow-up:  How does the Agreement, in legal te rms, advance the "aim of allowing the entry 
and stay of Key Personnel"?  Or, to restate our orig inal question, what legal obligations, if any, 
does the Agreement create with respect to  the entry and stay of Key Personnel? 
 Answer:  The Agreement subjects the entry of key pe rsonnel to the existing conditions of entry, stay 
and work in the Parties territories, which for exampl e on the EU side allows the entry of the categories 
defined in the Agreement.   
 Article 55, point 1 specifies that for the key personnel the duration of the residence and work 
permit will cover its employment period.  Point 3, establishes the obligation of the parties to permit 
the entry into and the temporary presence within their territories of their nationals respectively 
provided that these representatives are persons work ing in a senior position within a company, as 
defined in the point 2(a) of the same article and are responsible for setting up of a Community branch 
or subsidiary of an Albanian company or of an  Albanian subsidiary or branch of a Community 
company in a Member State or in Albania respectively.  
4. In comparing the EU's commitments under the GATS to those undertaking under the 
Agreement, Paragraph 37 of the Factual Presentation notes that, in the GATS, the EU maintains a horizontal "public utilities carve-ou t," whereas under the Agreement, activities that 
are "connected, even occasiona lly, with the exercise of official authority" are excluded. 
 Could the EU describe how the scope of th e exclusion from the Agreement ("activities 
connected, even occasionally, with the exercise of  official authority") compares to the scope of 
its horizontal carve-out in the GATS for "public utilities")?  
 The concept of the "activities that are conn ected, even occasionally, with the exercise of 
official authority" is taken directly from Article 51
1 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European 
Union as the exception to the right of the establi shment.  The exclusion of activities that are 
connected, even occasionally, with the exercise of governmental authority corresponds effectively to 
the GATS exclusion of "services supplied in the exercise of governmental authority". 
                                                      
1 Or Article 45 of Treaty establishing the European Community. WT/REG226/5 
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   Activities connected, even occasiona lly, with the exercise of official authority, and activities 
falling within the "public utilities carve-out" are different , in that the latter fall within the scope of the 
Agreement and would be covered by its disciplines if it was not for the public utilities carve out, while 
the former are excluded altogether fro m the scope of the Agreement.   
Follow-ups :  
(1) To confirm, does the Agreement contain a "publ ic utilities carve-out" analogous to that 
contained in the EC's GATS schedule, or are these activities subject to the Agreement's disciplines? 
(2) The Parties note that the Agreement's excepti on for "activities that are connected, even 
occasionally, with the exercise of official auth ority" "corresponds effectively" with the GATS 
exclusion of "services supplied in the exercise of governmental authority."  However the 
language of these two exceptions is quite different.   Could the Parties explain the extent to which 
they believe these two exceptions are co-terminus?   
 Why have the Parties used language differen t to that contained in the GATS for this 
exception?  Is the exception in the Agreement in tended to be broader than the exception in 
GATS Art. I.3.(b)? 
Answer:  This Agreement, as previously explained,  follows a different logic than typical FTAs and 
indeed does not contain the "public utilities carve -out".  In the EU's opinion the exception for 
"activities that are connected, even occasionally, with  the exercise of official authority", however with 
slightly different language, has the same meaning.  The wording is based on the wording used in the 
EU Treaty that states in Article 45:  "The provisions of this chapter shall not apply, so far as any given 
Member State is concerned, to activities which in that State are connected, even occasionally, with the 
exercise of official authority."   
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