BiH to benefit again from EU autonomous trade measures from 1 February 2017

Starting from 1 February 2017, producers from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) benefit again from trade benefits on certain agricultural products, including fruits and vegetables (“autonomous trade measures”). This means that BiH producers will be able to export those products to the EU without any EU specific duties, making them more competitive on the EU market.

This is due to the provisional application, from the same date, of the Protocol on the adaptation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) between the EU and BiH to take into account the accession of Croatia to the European Union, signed on 15 December 2016 in Brussels.

Background

The EU grants exceptional and unlimited duty-free access to the EU market for almost all agricultural and processed food products originating in Western Balkan countries.  Between 2000 and 2015, BiH and the other Western Balkan countries have benefited from these “autonomous trade measures” (ATM). These measures allow BiH exporters to also be exempt from EU specific duties on imports of fresh fruits and vegetables related to the so called entry price system and will bring about substantial economic gains to the country’s agricultural sector, as economic operators are granted privileged access to the EU market. The entry price system aims at stabilizing the EU market by preventing the price level in non-EU countries from having repercussions on prices within the EU.

These exceptional trade measures lifting the entry price system have been prolonged until 31 December 2020 by Regulation (EU) 2015/2423 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2015. The same regulation also suspended the application of ATM with regard to BiH from 1 January 2016, due to the lack of agreement between the EU and BiH on the adaptation of the SAA.

An agreement on the adaptation of the SAA was signed by the two parties on 15 December 2016 and is provisionally applied as from 1 February 2017, pending ratification by the EU and BiH. Henceforth, as stipulated in the Regulation 2015/2423, BiH will thus once again benefit from ATM as from 1 February 2017.

For further information please see:  http://archive.europa.ba/?p=46708  and  http://archive.europa.ba/?p=46704

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