Negotiations on voting procedure in CEFTA in November 2017

The negotiations between Serbia and other CEFTA members on changing the voting procedure in the organization, enabling a much quicker solving of certain disputes, should formally start this November, the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications said for Tanjug.

The change would help avoid cases such as the latest one, when Croatia implemented regulations increasing the fee for fruit and vegetable control, which were not in line with the CEFTA provisions, an event that shook up and united the region.

Considering that the general rule is that all decision in the CEFTA are reached by consensus, Serbia will propose for the decision-making procedure to be changed to a “consensus minus one” model, in order to exclude the party in a dispute from the decision-making process, thereby avoiding the blocking and enabling unobstructed decision-making.

– The formal decision on the beginning of the negotiations about an additional protocol on improving the dispute-solving system should be reached in November 2017 during the CEFTA week, which closes Serbia's one-year presidency – the ministry says.

Experts from the ministry say that non-customs barriers occasionally appear in the trade between the CEFTA members, and that, as they point out, it is therefore crucial for there to be a mechanism allowing for a quicker reaction to the end of minimizing the damage which might arise as a consequence of the implementation of a certain measure by a member.

– It's important to point out the fact that the existing complicated border procedures in combination with excessive red tape, are the key factors for the region's lagging behind its real potentials in export, hampering its own economic development – the ministry explains.

These factors, they say, lead to the fact that logistics expenses (transport and customs clearance expenses, expenses of being kept at the border, further analyses and other items), amount to 16% in the region, which is, as they point out, double that of the expenses in the EU and the USA.

– Only one day of delay reduces the exporting value of the goods by 1%, and, when it comes to agricultural products, which are very important to the entire region, the percentage is far greater, amounting to 7% – they note and say that a more efficient and quick mechanism for solving disputes would certainly contribute to having certain CEFTA countries become “disciplined”, that is, to refrain from implementing certain measure, often regular, seasonal, which, as they point out, has been the usual practice so far.

At this June's Trieste Western Balkans Summit, the ministry reminds, the Multi-annual Action Plan for a Regional Economic Area in the Western Balkans Six, which focuses, they point out, on intensifying the regional economic cooperation and creating a regional economic area based on rules and principles of the WTO, CEFTA and the EU.

All this, they explain, should gradually lead to a free flow of goods, services, investments and educated workforce.

Cefta Secretariat Brussels

Ministarstvo turizma i omladine Republike Srbije

CEFTA

negotiations about voting in CEFTA

voting in CEFTA

change of voting procedure in CEFTA

Ministry of Trade Tourism and Telecommunications

export to CEFTA

import from CEFTA

solving disputes in CEFTA

economic cooperation in the region

Multiannual Action Plan for a Regional Economic Area in the Western Balkans Six

regional economic cooperation