WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG171/1 
27 July 2004 
 
 (04-3232) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements Original:   English 
  
 
FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN ARMENIA AND UKRAINE 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 17 June 2004,  is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of Armenia. 
 
_______________ 
 
AGREEMENT 
BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA 
AND THE GOVERNMENT OF UKRAINE ON FREE TRADE  
  The Government of Republic of Armenia  and the Government of Ukraine , hereafter referred to 
as the Contracting Parties,    Striving  to develop trade and economic coopera tion between Republic of Armenia and 
Ukraine based upon equality and mutual benefits,  
  Based  upon the sovereign right of each state to  conduct its independent foreign economic 
policy,   
 Aiming  at fostering economic activities, provid ing full employment, increasing productivity 
and rational use of resources,    Striving  to promote harmonious development and gr owth of world trade, elimination of 
barriers in its development,   
 Reaffirming  the intention of the Republic of Arme nia and Ukraine to become Contracting 
Parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Tr ade (GATT) sharing goals and principles of GATT 
and taking into account the results of agreemen ts and understandings reached under Uruguay round of 
multilateral trade negotiations,   
 HAVE AGREED  as follows: 
 
Article 1 
 
1. Contracting Parties shall not apply customs duties, taxes and charges having equivalent 
impact on exportation and importation of goods orig inating from the customs territory of one of 
Contracting Parties and destined for the customs te rritory of the other Contracting Party. Exceptions 
to this trade regime on the basis of the agr eed nomenclature shall be formalized by separate 
documents, which shall be an integr al part of this Agreement, if Contracting Parties consider this 
necessary.  
2. For the purposes of this Agreement, and for its effective term, goods originating from the 
territories of Contracting Parties shall be deemed to  be the goods determined according to the Rules of WT/REG171/1 
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 Establishing the Country of Origin for Goods of September 24, 1993, approved by the Resolution of 
the Council of the Heads of Governments of the Independent States.  
Article 2 
 
 Each Contracting Party shall not:  
 
- directly or indirectly impose any inte rnal taxes or charges on commodities co 
Agreement, in excess of corresponding tax es and charges imposed on similar of 
domestic production or of third country origin;  
 
- apply rules to warehousing, reloading, st orage, and transportation of goods that 
originating from the territory of the other C ontracting Party, as well as to payments and 
payment transfers, other than those applie d in similar situations regarding goods of 
domestic production or of third country origin.  
 
Article 3 
 
 Contracting Parties in their mutual trade shall refrain from discriminatory measures, introduction of quantitative restrictions or simila r measures for exportation and/or importation of 
goods within the framework of this Agreement.   
 Parties may introduce unilaterally quantitative or other special restrictions only within 
reasonable limits, and for a strictly defined time period.    These restrictions shall be of exceptional na ture and may only be applied in cases provided 
for by the GATT agreements.  
 
 A Contracting Party which applies quantitative r estrictions under this Ar ticle shall provide the 
other Contracting Party, if possible, in advan ce with full information on the main reasons for 
introduction, forms and expected terms of applica tion of the abovementioned restrictions, whereupon 
the consultations shall be set.   
Article 4 
 
 Contracting Parties shall on a regular basi s exchange information on laws and other 
regulations related to economic activity, including tr ade, investment, taxation, banking and insurance 
and other financial services, on transport and customs issues, including customs statistics.  
 
 Contracting Parties shall inform each other without delay on any changes in the national 
legislation, which may influence im plementation of this Agreement.  
  Authorized bodies of the Contracting Parties shall coordinate the way to exchange such 
information.  
 
Article 5 
 
 Contracting Parties shall consider incompa tible with the purposes of this Agreement any 
unfair business practices and shall not allow in par ticular, but not exclusively the following methods 
thereof:  
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 - agreements between enterprises, decisions ma de by the associations of enterprises, and 
general methods of business practices aime d at hindering or limiting competition or 
disrupting the competitive environment in the territories of the Contracting Parties;  
 - actions by means of which one or a few enterprises use their dominant position, 
limiting competition within the entire territory of the Contracting Parties or a 
significant part thereof.  
 
Article 6 
  For the purposes of applying measures of ta riff and non-tariff regulation in the bilateral 
economic relationships, statistical information exchange, and for carry ing out customs procedures, the 
Contracting Parties will use the unified, nine-dig it Commodity Nomenclature of Foreign Economic 
Activities (CN FEA), based upon the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System and Combined Tariffs and Statistics Nomenclature of the EEC. For their own needs Contracting Parties 
may expend this Commodity Nomenclature beyond the nine digits if necessary.  
  Introduction of the reference Commodity Nomencla ture is carried on a mutually agreed basis 
through the existing representations in the relevant internati onal organizations.  
 
Article 7 
 
1. Contracting Parties agree that the adherence to the principle of freedom of transit is the major 
condition for achieving goals of this Agreement a nd a substantial element in the process of their 
integration into the system of interna tional division of labour and cooperation.  
Thereupon each Contracting Party shall provide unimpeded transit through its territory for 
goods originating from the customs territory of th e other Contracting Party or third countries 
and destined for the customs territory of the other Contracting Party or any third country, and shall supply exporters, importers , and carriers with all facilities and services available and 
necessary for ensuring transit on terms not wor se than those granted to national exporters, 
importers, or exporters, im porters or carriers of any other third state.  
 
2. Procedure and terms of passing of goods through the territory of countries are regulated in 
accordance with the international ru les for shipping operations.  
Article 8 
 
 This Agreement shall not impede the right of an y of the Contracting Par ties to take generally 
accepted in the international practice measures whic h it considers necessary for protecting its vital 
interests or which are undoubtedly necessary for compliance with intern ational agreements to which it 
is or intends to become a party, if these measures relate to:   
- information affecting the interests of national defence;  
 
- trade in arms, munitions and military equipment;  
 - research or production related to the defence needs;  
 - supply of materials and equipment used in nuclear industry;  
 
- protection of public morali ty and public order;  
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 - protection of industrial and intellectual property;  
 - gold, silver, and other precious metals and stones; 
 - protection of human, animal and plant life.  
 
Article 9 
 
 With the goal of pursuing coordinated polic y of export control in relation to the third 
countries Contracting Parties shall conduct regular c onsultations and take mutually agreed measures 
for creation of effective system of export control.  
 
Article 10 
 
 Provisions of this Agreement shall replace the provisions of any bilateral agreements 
concluded earlier by the Contracting Parties insofar as  the latter are incompatible or identical with the 
former.   
Article 11 
 
 Disputes between Contracting Parties related to interpretation or application of provisions of 
this Agreement shall be resolved by means of negotiations.  
  Contracting Parties shall endeavour to avoid conflicting situations in mutual trade.    Each Contracting Party shall assure in its terr itory effective means to recognise and enforce 
arbitration awards. 
 
Article 12 
 
 To achieve the goals of this Agreement a nd to elaborate recommendations for developing 
trade and economic cooperation between the two c ountries, Contracting Parties have agreed to 
establish a joint Armenian-Ukrainian commission.  
 
Article 13 
 
 This Agreement becomes effective upon exchange  of notice of completion by the Contracting 
Parties of all required intra-state procedures and sha ll remain in force within twelve months from the 
date, when one of the Contracting Parties notifies the other Contracting Party in writing of its desire to 
terminate this Agreement.    Provisions of this Agreement after its term ination shall apply to the contracts among the 
enterprises and organizations of both countries, co ncluded, but not implemented during the period 
when the Agreement is in force.  
  Done in the City of Kyiv, on October 7, 199 4 in two originals, each in Armenian, Russian, 
and Ukrainian, of which every text is equally authentic.  
 
 For the purpose of interpretation of the provisions  of this Agreement the text in Russian shall 
have prevalence.     The Agreement comes into force on December 18, 1996. 
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