WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG209/4 
26 November 2007 
 
 (07-5200) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements Original:   English/ 
 French 
 
 
 
FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN TURKEY AND MOROCCO, GOODS 
 
Questions and Replies  
 
 
 The following communication, dated 22 November 2007, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegations of Turkey and Morocco.   This document reproduces the questions addressed to the Parties and the responses submitted. 
 
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Questions from the Delegation of Japan
 
 
1. With respect to Paragraph 43 of the Fact ual Presentations (WT/REG209/3), have the 
parties utilized the notification and consultation procedures laid down in Article 22 of the Agreement with regard to measures listed in that Article?  If so, could the parties inform us of 
the details of these procedures? 
To date, the parties have not utilized the notif ication and consultation procedures laid down in 
Article 22 of the Turkey-Morocco Free Trade Agreement.  Questions from the Delegation of Chinese Taipei
 
 
2. With respect to the tariff elimination sche dules for Turkey and Morocco, customs duties 
and charges on import of Turkish industrial go ods are eliminated on the date the Agreement 
goes into effect, while Morocco w ill take ten years to phase out. 
(a) What is the reasoning behind this asymmetrical liberalization? 
Taking into consideration the existence of an  asymmetry between the respective economies, an 
evolutionist and progressive approach was adopted in the Free Trade Agreement between Turkey and 
Morocco.  In this context, ten years transition pe riod is envisaged due to the sensitivity of Moroccan 
industry.  Thus, Moroccan enterprises would gain the necessary time to improve their competitiveness 
compared to Turkish enterprises and consequen tly, the above-mentioned economies could be 
harmonized. 
 In the context of this asymmetrical libera lization, the timetables are defined below: 
 Protocol I of the Agreement sets out the preference s given for industrial products.  Customs duties and 
charges having equivalent effect on imports applicab le in Turkey to products originating in Morocco 
shall be abolished upon the entry into fo rce of the Agreement. (1 January 2006). 
 WT/REG209/4 
Page 2  
 
  On the other hand, parallel to the Cooperation Agreement between Morocco  and the EU, customs 
duties and charges having equivalent effect on a gr oup of sensitive industrial pr oducts (List I and II of 
Protocol I) originating from Turkey will be di smantled gradually under a period of ten years. 
 
(i) As regards items included in the List I of Protocol I, Morocco will diminish 
customs duties and charges having equivalent effect  by 10 per cent with the 
entry into force of the FTA, and make successive reductions by 10 per cent 
each year. 
(ii) Import duties  and charges having equivalent effect  regarding products 
indicated in the List II will be reduced by 3 per cent upon the entry into force of the FTA, and the remaining duties will be phased out as follows;  3 per 
cent reduction for the first three years, 15 per cent reduction for the following 
five years, and the abolishing of the remaining 13 per cent by the end of the 
9th year. 
(iii) List III of Protocol I entails items, which are not subject to concession.  Some 
used articles such as worn clothing, used road tractors, used motor vehicles, 
used refrigerators, washing machines and cookers, etc are within this List.  
The provisions related to the products me ntioned in List III shall be examined 
in the Joint Committee. 
(iv) All other industrial products origin ating from Turkey will enter into 
Moroccan market free of duty as of the entry into force of the Agreement. 
(b) Four sections, among 21 total sections, of  agricultural products are excluded 
from the tariff elimination schedules for both parties.  Thus, there are only very 
limited concessions on market access of agric ultural products in this Agreement.  
What is the volume and value of two way trade in agricultural products between 
the parties?  What's the percentage of  agricultural products in the bilateral 
trade between the two parties? 
Table showing the quantity and value of two way tr ade in agricultural products between Turkey and 
Morocco and the percentage of agricultural products in the bilateral trade between the two parties, is 
attached. (Annex 1)  
(c) How do the parties anticipate that the agricultural trade will be liberalized in the 
future? 
The parties anticipate that the agricu ltural trade will be liberalized in  the future in the framework of 
Paragraph 3 of Article 9 of the Free Trade Agre ement between the Republic of Turkey and the 
Kingdom of Morocco.  
3. There are three kinds of cumulations in the rules of origin in this Agreement 
i.e., bilateral cumulations between Morocco and Turkey, diagonal cumulations under the Pan-
Euro-Mediterranean system, and full cumulati ons between Turkey, Tunisia, Algeria and 
Morocco. 
(a) With respect to the diagonal cumulations described in paragraph 32 of the 
Factual Presentation, what percentage of th e rules of origin under the Pan-Euro-
Mediterranean system is identical to this Agreement?  WT/REG209/4 
 Page 3 
 
 
  In the context Pan-Euro-Med system, diagonal cumulation operates between partner countries 
provided that there are free trade agreements in pl ace containing identical rules of origin.  In other 
words, cumulation can only be applied if the countries of the final manufacture and of final destination have concluded free tr ade agreements, containing identical rules of origin, with all the 
countries participating in the acquisition of originating status. 
 
Accordingly, Protocol III to Turkey-Morocco FTA is fully compatible with the model origin protocol 
of Pan-Euro-Med system.  However, there are a dditional provisions in the origin protocols with 
Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria (not concluded ye t) allowing full cumulation among these countries 
and full cumulation is excluded from the Pan-Euro-Med trade. 
 
(b) With respect to full cumulations, what's the reasoning for including Algeria and 
Tunisia as the countries involved in the acquisition of originating status on full cumulations?  Is it possible that more countries will be involved in the full cumulation list in the future? 
Full cumulation operates only between Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria provided that the 
FTA network containing identical rules of origin be tween the concerned parties is completed.  There 
is no FTA between Turkey and Algeria yet.  Full cumulation is a facilitation of normal rules, which allows performing sufficient working and 
processing not in the customs territory of a sing le country but in the area formed by customs 
territories of abovementioned group of countries.  However, full cumulation falls outside the context 
of Pan-Euro-Med cumulation of origin.  So products obtaining originating status on the basis of full cumulation are excluded from Pan-Euro-Med trade.  On  the other hand, there is no plan to extend the 
full cumulation possibilities other than mentioned countries.  
(c) Which ones are they? 
There is no plan to extend the full cumulation possibilities other than mentioned countries. 
  
  WT/REG209/4 
Page 4 ANNEX-1 
 
Turkey 
 
TRADE IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS BETWEEN TURKEY AND MOROCCO  
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 (Jan.-Aug.) 
  Quantity in 
Kg Value In $ Quantity in 
Kg Value In $ Quantity in 
Kg Value In $ Quantity in 
Kg Value In $ Quantity in 
Kg Value In $ Quantity in 
Kg Value In $ Quantity in 
Kg Value In $ 
EXPORT 118,875,276 21.476.275 42,107,087 11.536.315 7,339,312 12.798.608 8,243,462 15.446.332 29,704,104 15.679.399 7,793,491 14.673.661 3,534,222 7.846.135 
IMPORT 2,577,082 1.496.314 183,677 195.698 189,565 176.160 12,271,372 1.611.357 10,441,578 6.049.127 19,283,888 12.063.712 14,871,297 7.418.870 
VOLUME 121,452,358 22,972,589 42,290,764 11,732,013 7,528,877 12,974,768 20,514,834 17,057,689 40,145,682 21,728,526 27,077,379 26 ,737,373 18,405,519 15,265,005 
TOTAL 
TRADE 344,522,514 136,342,569 396,292,886 206,645,542 419,524,581 257,769,142 715,717,051 435,836,776 793,054,893 514,055,895 1,383,599,04 7 725,279,538 865,847,269 607,246,546 
Share Of 
Agricultural 
Products In 
Total Trade 35% 17% 11% 6% 2% 5% 3% 4% 5% 4% 2% 4% 2% 3% 
  
   WT/REG209/4
 Page 5 
Morocco 
Table No. 1 
Trade in agricultural products between Morocco and Turkey 
Volume in thousands of tonnes 
Value in millions of DH 
 Volume Value 
 2003 2004 2005 May 2003-05 2003 2004 2005 May 2003-05 
Trade in agricultural products with Turkey 9 17 27 18 107 99 121 109 
 Agricultural imports 8 8 24 13 102 89 109 100 
 Agricultural exports 1 10 4 5 6 11 12 9 
 
 
 
Table No. 1 
Share of trade in agricultural products in bilateral trade 
in % 
 Volume Value 
 2003 2004 2005 May 2003-05 2003 2004 2005 May 2003-05 
Agricultural imports/overall imports 3 2 5 3 5 3 3 3 
Agricultural exports/overall exports 1 4 1 2 1 2 2 2 
 
Source : Ministry of Agriculture and Ma rine Fisheries /DPAE/DCPA (For eign Exchange Board database). 
 
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