Additional Protocol 5 Ministry of Economy of Montenegro Danijela Gacevic, Senior Advisor Podgorica, 09 November 2016
WTO TFA Current status } Trade Facilitation Agreement was concluded in December 2013 at the Bali Ministerial Conference, as part of a wider Bali Package. } Members adopted on 27 November 2014 a Protocol of Amendment to insert the new Agreement into Annex 1A of the WTO Agreement. } The Trade Facilitation Agreement will enter into force once two-thirds of members have completed their domestic ratification process. } Up to now Members ratified the TFA. The last one was Iceland, which submitted instrument of acceptance on 31 October 2016 (over 86% members ratified 96 Members). } Montenegro submitted instrument of ratification on 10th May 2016. Relevant Law was published in OG of MNE No. 5/2016 from 8 April 2016. 2
Trade facilitation in substance } WTO defines Trade Facilitation as: Simplification and harmonization of the activities, practices and formalities involved in collecting, presenting, communications and processing data required for the movements of goods in international trade In substance Trade Facilitation implies: } Transparency and efficiency in international trade supply chain through: o Simplification o Standardisation o Harmonisation o Modernisation } An ongoing and multi-agency cooperation } To achieve more through collaboration between public and private sector 3
Preamble Structure of TFA Section I Substantive provisions TFA Art. Articles 1 to 5 Articles 6 to 10 Article 11 GATT Art. Article X Publication and Administration of Trade regulations Article VIII Fees and Formalities conected with Importation and exportation Article V Freedom of Transit Article 12 Section II Special and Differential Treatment Section III Institutional arrangements and final provisions 4
Additional Protocol 5 } Negotiations for AP5 to CEFTA 2006 started during 2015 in order to, among others, conduct mutual trade relations in accordance with the WTO } Up to now III rounds were held: Ø I on 27th May 2015 Ø II on 21 and 22 January 2016 Ø III on 24 and 25 May 2016 Ø Platform for negotiations was adopted in May 2015 Ø Entering into force is expected in 2018 5
Review of AP5 } General objectives (Art. 3): o To simplify inspectiones related to all clearance procedures and reduce formalities to the possible maximum extent o Exchange data between customs authorities o Mutually recognize the national Authorised Economic Operators Programmes in each CEFTA party (if aligned with the relevant EU acquius) 6
Review of AP5 o Agreement implies introducing of Risk management (Art. 5) not later than 3 years after Protocol enters into force o CEFTA parties comitted itself to exchange data by means of electronic instruments o Concetraion on high-risk consignments and expedition on the release of low-risk consignments o Notifications for enhanced Control or Inspectiones (Art. 6) made available electronically on the websites of competent authorities and on CEFTA Transparency Pack. 7
Review of AP5 } Publication of fees and charges in connection with importation and exportation (Art. 7) } Publications of all fees and charges shall be made avialable both - in the national language and English } No new or amended fees and charges shall be applied before an adquate time period has lapsed since their publication, except in urgent circumstances } Periodical review with a view to reducing their number and diversity where practicable 8
Review of AP5 } Formalities Connected with Importation, Exportation and Transit (Art. 8): q To be applied with a view to a rapid release and clearnce of goods q In a manner that aims at reducing the time and costs of compliance for traderds and operators q The least trade restrictive measure chosen q Not maintained if no longer required } Memoranda on understanding to secure mutual acceptance of paper or electronic copies of documents between competent authorities (national level) 9
Review of AP5 } Common Border Procedures and Uniform Documentation Requirements (Art. 9) } Data shall be changed on national and international level by customs-to customs data exhange infrastructure (Art. 13) in order to begin processing prior to the arrival of goods with a view to expediting the release of goods upon arrival } Recognition of legislation and procedures related to inspections if aligned with the EU acquius (Art.24.3) 10
Thank you for your attention! www.mek.gov.me e-mail: danijela.gacevic@mek.gov.me Telefon: + 382 20 482 118 Fax: + 382 20 234 576 11