WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG226/M/1 
20 May 2008 
 
 (08-2316) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Forty-ninth Session  
 
 
 
CONSIDERATION OF THE INTERIM AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EUROPEAN 
COMMUNITIES AND ALBANIA, GOODS  
 
Note on the Meeting of 21 April 2008  
 
Chairman:  Mr. D. Brauns (Germany) 
  
1. The meeting was convened in document  WTO/AIR/3164, dated 12 March 2008. 
2. Under Agenda Item C.IV of its 49
th Session, the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
(CRTA or the Committee) took up considerati on of the Interim Agreement on Trade and 
Trade-related matters between the European Commun ities (EC) and Albania (hereinafter referred to 
as 'the Agreement'), goods. 
3. The Chairman  said that the Agreement had entered into force on 1 December 2006 and had 
been notified by the Parties to the WTO on 7 Ma rch 2007 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/REG226/N/1).   The text of the Agreement was available, 
together with its related schedules, annexes and protocols, on the official website of the EC. 
4. The factual presentation on the goods aspects (document WT/REG226/1,  dated 25 January 
2008) 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 recently distributed in document WT/REG226/ 2, dated 28 March 2008.  He added that it had 
been drawn to his attention that some tables in th e factual presentation relating to Albania's tariff 
liberalization needed to be updated given that some  tariff lines for industrial products which were 
subject to liberalization in 2011 were inadvertentl y missing.  A revision would be issued following 
this meeting.  He proposed to organize the consid eration of the Agreement by asking first the Parties 
and then other Members to give any general co mments.  The Committee would then turn to the 
specifics of the Agreement using the factual pr esentation, document WT/REG226/1, to guide the 
debate.  He proposed to go thro ugh the factual presentation by secti on and then through the questions 
and replies document. 
5. The representative of the European Communities (EC)  first congratulated the Chairman for 
his new task, wished him good luck and hoped the good start would continue.  He also thanked the 
outgoing Chairman who had done an excellent job.  He reaffirmed that the EC remained fully 
committed to the multilateral trading system, yet also acknowledged the advantages that could be 
derived from a regional trade policy complementing the multilateral approach.  The Agreement with 
Albania was a clear example of such complementarit y.  It was his opinion that the Agreement was 
WTO compatible;  it was comprehensive in scope and deep in terms of levels of commitments and integration;  and it built upon the EC's WTO commitments. WT/REG226/M/1 
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  6. He continued by making some general remark s about the political and economic framework 
on which the EC's decision to negotiate this Ag reement with Albania was based.  The Agreement 
formed part of the overall policy objective to deepen the EC's trade relations with the Western Balkan 
countries.  It had been signed on 12 June 2006 a nd had entered into force on 1 December 2006.  It 
implemented the trade related provisions of the St abilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with 
Albania, which was pending ratification.  He underlin ed that the SAAs were the prime instrument of 
the European Union's (EU) overall policy toward s the Western Balkan countries.  Under the 
Stabilisation and Association process, all Western Balkan countries, including Albania, had a common perspective as EU member states.  The Agreement on trade in goods which he was 
presenting today had to be seen in the wider, and more ambitious, overall policy framework of the EU 
towards Albania.  He also reca lled that since 2000 the countries of Western Balkans had benefited 
from a specific scheme of autonomous trade preferences for their exports to the EC.  This policy was 
part of the EC's efforts to foster economic de velopment, eradicate poverty and – through economic 
growth – secure political stability and long term sustainability. 
7. The Agreement established a free-trade area over a transitional period of a maximum of 
ten years from the date of entry into force.  The centrepiece of the Agreement was the ambitious plan 
to dismantle tariffs.  Upon entry into force, the EC had eliminated duties on Albanian goods on 98.7% 
of its tariff lines, representing 100% of the value of  imports from Albania.  Albania was to liberalize 
92.7% of tariff lines for imports from the EC by 2010.  Furthermore, the EC and Albania had abolished all quantitative restrictions and measures ha ving equivalent effect.  Equally, customs duties 
on exports and measures having equivalent effect ha d been eliminated.  There were only very few 
exceptions, related to beef, wine, certain fruit and vegetables and certain fishery products, to which 
preferential concessions would apply on imports into the EC.  In turn, Albania was to eliminate remaining customs duties on imports of industrial pr oducts by 1 January 2011 and therefore, 100% of 
trade in industrial products would be duty-free from th en on.  As regards import tariffs on agricultural 
and fisheries products, Albania had already eliminat ed tariffs on a very la rge number of products upon 
entry into force or the following year.  For the remaining products, tariffs would be phased out in 
accordance with the Agreement. 
8. In addition, the Agreement included provisions concerning competition matters, investment 
and related payments, a high leve l of protection of intellectual property rights and strengthened 
cooperation in customs matters.  Once the SAA entere d into force, it would also include additional 
disciplines concerning, notably, government proc urement, legislative approximation in many areas 
including standardization, as well as provisions rega rding services and establishment.  Overall, the EC 
was glad that this Agreement was contributing si gnificantly to the growth and enhancement of the 
strong trade and economic relationship with Albania.   The representative of the EC thanked the WTO 
Secretariat for having prepared the factual presenta tion of the Agreement, as well as for their support 
throughout this process.  He stressed that both Par ties had worked very closely and stepped up efforts 
in order to meet all established deadlines and ther efore contribute to the good functioning of the 
Transparency Mechanism.  He also thanked Swit zerland and Japan for their questions and hoped the 
detailed answers provided sufficient clarification. 
9. The representative of Albania
 congratulated the Chairman on his election as Chairman of the 
Committee and expressed his best wishes for his su ccessful work.  His delegation considered that 
establishment of the TM on RTAs was an important instrument to provide transparency.  It was his 
belief that RTAs played an important role for th e promotion of trade liberalization and promoted 
economic development as well while aiming at harmonizing regional processes with multilateral ones.  Albania was fully committed to applying all its WTO obligations.  In the framework of the TM, 
Albania had committed itself to cooperating closely w ith the WTO Secretariat in preparing the factual 
presentation for this Agreement.  WT/REG226/M/1 
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  10. He shared with the Committee a few observati ons on the Agreement.  Albania appreciated 
that the Agreement had given an important input to the development of ec onomic relations among the 
Parties, especially in the field of the development of the Albanian economy a nd had helped to enhance 
Albanian products' competitiveness in a market wh ich was becoming more and more globalized.  
Based on these mutual interests, the Agreement re presented an opportunity for the development of 
economic stability for Albania, the implementation of its  reforms, integration of its national system in 
the regional trade network and the strengthening of  economic cooperation.  Since the beginning of the 
1990s, the EC had been Albania's main trading pa rtner, and represented 65% of Albanian trade 
volume, with 83% of exports and 60% of imports.  Based on these facts, Albania had assessed that the 
Agreement with the EC had helped towards consolidating and stre ngthening trade and had 
consolidated links between the two countries.  A pplying a liberal tariff regime in accordance with the 
obligations of Albanian membership in the WTO, as well as the establishment of a preferential trade 
system with its main partners such as the EC , CEFTA countries, Turkey and others, had all 
contributed to the decrease of the average weighted  tariff, which in 2007 had represented 3.1%.  The 
Agreement was contributing to the growth of na tional production by creating the opportunity for 
increasing Albanian exports and improving its trade balance.  It was also helping to eliminate 
unemployment.  The implementation of such a comp lex Agreement would be helpful in strengthening 
its public administration capacities in order to face al l the challenges of globalization, especially at the 
level of the trade policies sector.  In concluding , he hoped that the Committee would have a fruitful 
discussion on this Agreement, and said that his de legation was available at all times to provide any 
answers to questions that coul d be asked during the discussion. 
11. Since there were no general comments from Members to the Agreement, the Chairman  
proposed to discuss the specifics of the Agreement starting with the questions and replies document 
that had been distributed under document WT/REG226/2. 
12. The representative of the United States  had two questions which stemmed from Japan's 
question no. 3.  First, Albania had stated in its written response to Japan's qu estion that Table II.3 of 
the factual presentation was not correct, and that all duties on industrial products would be eliminated 
by both the EC and Albania at the end of the implem entation period.  She wondered if this meant that 
Table II.1 for Albania was also incorrect.  Second,  she wondered how many tariff lines exactly would 
remain dutiable at the end of the implementation pe riod and in what sectors.  The representative of the 
European Communities , on behalf of the Parties, replied that Table II.1 was correct.  The 
representative of Albania  added that by 1 January 2011 duties,  on all industrial products would be 
free.  As regards the second question on other produc ts which would be dutiable after the end of the 
implementation period, she indicated these were in the agricultural sector, namely live animals and 
animals products;  vegetable products;  animal or vegetable fats and oils;  and some prepared foods. 
13. The representative of the United States  thanked the Parties for their answers.  In order to 
obtain a more complete answer, she asked how ma ny tariff lines would be subject to duty after 
1 January 2011.  The representative of Albania  confirmed that those were:  284 for live animals and 
animal products;  57 for vegetable products;  3 for animal or vegetable fats  and oils;  and 299 for 
prepared food etc.  Therefore, 643 tariff lines in total  would remain dutiable after 1 January 2011. 
14. The representative of Brazil  raised one question on accession in relation to paragraphs 79 and 
80 on page 20 of the factual presentation.  It was his understanding that Albania would be entitled to 
conclude a convention on regional co operation with any candidate country for access to the EU.  He 
asked if Albania would be entitled to pursue this  only with candidates to accession to the EU and 
particularly only with Turkey.  The re presentative of the European Communities  replied that 
paragraph 79 referred to the nego tiations of Albania with Bulgar ia and Romania.  Paragraph 80 
concerned Turkey and Croatia.  The representative of Albania  added that it had a free trade agreement 
with Turkey and with other regional entities like C EFTA for instance.  It also was considering free 
trade agreements with other countries.  However, this would be in close consultation with the EC. WT/REG226/M/1 
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  15. The Chairman
 noted the consideration of the goods asp ects of the Agreement between the EC 
and Albania had allowed Members to clarify a number of questions and oral discussion of the 
Agreement could be concluded in accordance with pa ragraph 11 of the Transparency Mechanism.  If 
any delegations wished to ask follow-up questions they were invited to forward submissions in 
writing to the Secretariat by 28 April and Parties were asked to submit replies in writing by no later 
than 12 May 2008.  In accordance with paragrap h 13 of the Transparency Mechanism all written 
submissions, as well as minutes of this meeting woul d be circulated promptly, in all WTO official 
languages, and would be made available on the WTO website. 
16. The Committee took note  of the comments made. 
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