Serbia abolishes customs dues on goods from the EU

About a year ago the EU negotiated a so-called stabilisation and association agreement (SAA) with Serbia which enters into force step by step. The agreement has not entered into force yet because of political opposition of the Netherlands, which demand that Serbia extradites more war criminals to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Together with the SAA the EU stipulated an economic interim agreement with Serbia which has been applied by Belgrade unilaterally since 1February.

The provisional trade agreement aims at liberalising the goods traffic with the EU. Since the beginning of February some 48 per cent of the industrial products of the EU are no longer subjected to customs dues. Till the end of January duties of an average 1,85 per cent were charged. Furthermore some 53 per cent of textile products have been exempted from customs duties. 

In addition to this the Serbian customs law defines three groups of products: sensitive – very sensitive and highly sensitive goods, for which the payment of customs duties is annually reduced. The complete customs exemption will follow within three to six years, depending on the group the goods belong to. The first group (sensitive) comprises, among others, goods of the wood-, metal-, electric- and chemical industries. Customs duties on these products shall be completely abolished till 2011, while those on highly sensitive goods will be completely abolished in six years.

Serbian customs authorities point out that importing goods from the EU is not sufficient for claiming preferential customs treatment. The EU-origin of the goods must be proved. According to the foreign trade department (AWO) of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber this can be done by means of a EUR1-certificate issued after 30 January 2009.

Zitat:
Serbia’s strategic aim is to join the EU while preserving sovereignty and territorial integrity at the same time.
Boris Tadic, President of Serbia.