WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG102/R/B/2 
G/L/732 28 February 2005 
 
(05-0816) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements Original:   English 
  
 
ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE  
EUROPEAN COMMUNITY AND MALTA 
 
Biennial Report on the Operation of the Agreement (2001 – 2003)
 
 
Communication from the Parties 
 
 The following communication, dated 21 February 2005, is being circulated at the request of 
the Delegation of the European Communities.  
 
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I. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE AGREEMENT 
1. Membership and dates of signature, ratification and entry into force. 
 The Association Agreement w ith the Republic of Malta was signed in December 1970 and 
entered into force in April 1971 (Official Jour nal L61, 14/03/1971). As of 1 May 2004, it was 
superseded by the accession of the Republic of Ma lta to the EU. The Association Agreement is, 
therefore, no longer in force.   2. Type of agreement 
 The Association Agreement with Malta estab lished a free trade area between the parties 
through a progressive liberalisation of trade in goods.  
3. Scope 
 While the scope of the Association Agreemen t remained largely unaltered under the reporting 
period, some additional improvements in the agre ement were achieved in the area of textiles, 
processed agricultural products and fisheries.   
4. Trade data 
 Bilateral trade totalled € 3.21 billion in 2003 and averaged € 3.41 billion over the period 
2001-2003. The EU-15 imports from Malta were € 851 million in 2003 whereas the imports into 
Malta from the EU-15 amounted to € 2.36 billion. Of  total bilateral trade, industrial goods represented 
93 percent in 2003 and also averaged 93 percent ov er 2001-2003. The share of  trade in agricultural 
and processed agricultural products was 7 percent in 2003. Further statistical information is provided 
in the annex.  WT/REG102/R/B/2 
G/L/732 Page 2 
 
 
 II. TRADE PROVISIONS 
1. Import restrictions 
 Bilateral trade was further liberalized duri ng the reporting period through some improvements 
in the following three areas: For textiles products, th e tariff ceilings applicable to Community imports 
originating in Malta were suppr essed in March 2000 (protocol to the Association Agreement). For 
processed agricultural products, the EU granted add itional liberalisation in the form of autonomous 
measures (Regulation 1890/2003 of 27.10.2003 [OJ L 278 /1 of 29.10.2003]). For fish products, the 
parties concluded an agreement in 2001 to decrease th eir tariffs by one third per year upon entry into 
force of the agreement (2002) while the EU fixed a temporary tariff quota for various categories of 
fish (sea bream, sea bass). As a result, trade in fishery products was fully liberalised on 1 January 
2004.  
3. Rules of origin 
 In the framework of its accession to the EU, Malt a participated in the Pan-European system of 
cumulation for rules of origin. 
 
4. Standards 
 The Malta Standards Authority is the recognised  standardisation body in Malta. An agreement 
with the British Standards Institute (BSI) for th e adoption of all European standards as national 
standards (MSA ENs) was finalised in February 2001. 
  
  WT/REG102/R/B/2
 G/L/732
 Page 3 
EU15-Malta: Imp/Exp 2003 - comparison with extra-EU15  (million Euro) 
                  
 EU15 trade 2003 with Malta  EU15 trade 2003 with Extra-EU15   Malta 
 imports exports balance  imports exports balance  market shares Malta / Total 
 M 
Euro % 
Total M 
Euro % 
Total M Euro  M Euro % 
Total M Euro % 
Total M Euro  imports exports Exp-Imp 
ratio 
HS Section      1011 Extra-EUR   05 November 2004 
Total  851 100.0% 2,358 100.0% 1,507   899,676 100.0% 853,002 100.0% -46,674   0.1% 0.3% 2.77 
of which:                  
01 Animals & animal products     4 0.5% 41 2.2% 37   16,046 1.8% 10,483 1.2% -5,563   0.0% 0.4% 10.29 
02 Vegetable products     2 0.2% 31 5.0% 29   25,276 2.8% 11,388 1.3% -13,888   0.0% 0.3% 15.59 
03 Animal or vegetable fats     0 0.0% 7 0.2%  7   2,427 0.3% 1,988 0.2% -439   0.0% 0.4% -- 
04 Prepared foodstuffs     5 0.6% 134 2.2% 129   23,696 2.6% 26,396 3.1% 2,700   0.0% 0.5% 26.79 
05 Mineral products     30 3.5% 371 1.8% 341   141,932 15.8% 28,125 3.3% -113,807   0.0% 1.3% 12.36 
06 Chemical products     13 1.5% 153 16.8% 140   67,153 7.5% 124,587 14.6% 57,434   0.0% 0.1% 11.79 
07 Plastics & rubber     60 7.1% 85 5.3% 25   26,750 3.0% 37,629 4.4% 10,878   0.2% 0.2% 1.42 
08 Hides & skins     6 0.7% 15 0.1% 9   9,342 1.0% 8,767 1.0% -576   0.1% 0.2% 2.47 
09 Wood & wood products     0 0.0% 12 2.3% 12   13,694 1.5% 7,358 0.9% -6,336   0.0% 0.2% -- 
10 Wood pulp products     51 6.0% 82 3.7% 31   14,666 1.6% 24,961 2.9% 10,296   0.3% 0.3% 1.60 
11 Textiles & textile articles     142 16.7% 93 2.5% - 49   65,714 7.3% 37,079 4.3% -28,635   0.2%  0.2% 0.65 
12 Footwear, headgear     19 2.2% 12 0.2% -7   11,539 1.3% 6,154 0.7% -5,386   0.2% 0.2% 0.66 
13 Articles of stone, plaster, cement, asbe stos     3 0.4% 38 1.7% 35   7,946 0.9% 14,671 1.7% 6,725   0.0% 0.3% 12.55 
14 Pearls, (semi-)precious stones, metals     1 0.1% 20 0.3% 19   29,693 3.3% 21,893 2.6% -7,800   0.0% 0.1% 19.93 
15 Base metals & articles thereof     20 2.4% 93 7. 0% 73   51,792 5.8% 54,252 6.4% 2,461   0.0% 0.2% 4.67 
16 Machinery & mechanical applicances     277 32.5% 861 35.2% 584   237,072 26.4% 266,465 31.2% 29,393   0.1% 0.3% 3.11 
17 Transportation equipment     102 12.0% 197 5.4% 95   79,715 8.9% 102,270 12.0% 22,555   0.1% 0.2% 1.94 
18 Instruments - measuring, musical     45 5.3% 41 4. 3% -4   37,342 4.2% 41,430 4.9% 4,087   0.1% 0.1% 0.91 
19 Arms & ammunition     0 0.0% 1 0.1% 1   503 0.1% 891 0.1% 388   0.0% 0.1% -- 
20 Miscellaneous     65 7.6% 52 1.0% -13   29,532 3.3% 17,650 2.1% -11,882   0.2% 0.3% 0.80 
21 Works of art     0 0.0% 1 0.0% 1   2,100 0.2% 3,767 0.4% 1,667   0.0% 0.0% -- 
Other     6 0.7% 16 0.0% 10   5,744 0.6% 4,799 0.6% -945   0.1% 0.3% -- 
Source : Eurostat COMEXT - 5 November 2004 (Statistical regime 1)          TRADE/F/1  José Álvarez  
  
 WT/REG102/R/B/2 
G/L/732 
Page 4  
EU15-Malta Imports/Ex ports, 2001-2003        (million Euro) 
              05 November 2004 
 EU15 trade 2001 - 2003 with Malta (million Euro)  
 imports  exports  balance  total trade Malta 
 2001 2002 2003  2001 2002 2003  2001 2002 2003  2001 2002 2003 
HS Section                     ####        
Total  1,101 1,062 851   2,348 2,523 2,358   1,247 1,461 1,507   3,449 3,585 3,209 
of which:                  
01 Animals & animal products     4 3 4   40 40 41   36 37 37   44 43 45 
02 Vegetable products     2 3 2   35 34 31   33 31 29   37 37 33 
03 Animal or vegetable fats     0 0 0   6 6 7   6 6 7   6 6 7 
04 Prepared foodstuffs     2 8 5   140 128 134   138 120 129   142 136 139 
05 Mineral products     67 57 30   392 464 371   325 407 341   459 521 401 
06 Chemical products     7 11 13   127 133 153   120 122 140   134 144 166 
07 Plastics & rubber     57 59 60   80 78 85   23 19 25   137 137 145 
08 Hides & skins     7 8 6   24 20 15   17 12 9   31 28 21 
09 Wood & wood products     0 0 0   13 13 12   13 13 12   13 13 12 
10 Wood pulp products     41 56 51   61 76 82   20 20 31   102 132 133 
11 Textiles & textile articles     145 161 142   117 113 93   -28 -48 -49   262 274 235 
12 Footwear, headgear     34 28 19   15 14 12   -19 -14 -7   49 42 31 
13 Articles of stone, plaster, cement, asbestos      4 3 3   38 36 38   34 33 35   42 39 41 
14 Pearls, (semi-)precious stones, metals     3 1 1   42 19 20   39 18 19   45 20 21 
15 Base metals & articles thereof     21 21 20   84 99 93   63 78 73   105 120 113 
16 Machinery & mechanical applicances     361 346 277   797 826 861   436 480 584   1,158 1,172 1,138 
17 Transportation equipment     247 168 102   244 336 197   -3 168 95   491 504 299 
18 Instruments - measuring, musical     43 43 45   45 39 41   2 -4 -4   88 82 86 
19 Arms & ammunition     0 0 0   1 1 1   1 1 1   1 1 1 
20 Miscellaneous     48 80 65   38 43 52   -10 -37 -13   86 123 117 
21 Works of art     0 0 0   3 0 1   3 0 1   3 0 1 
Other     8 6 6   5 4 16   -3 -2 10   13 10 22 
Source : Eurostat COMEXT - 5 November 2004 (Statistical regime 1)         TRADE/F/1  José Álvarez 
 
 
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