CEFTA

In December 2019, the CEFTA Joint Committee adopted the CEFTA Additional Protocol No.6 on Trade in Services (AP6), which entered into force on 11 January 2021. It extends the scope of CEFTA’s trade liberalisation to trade in services.

The AP6 contains commitments in a number of key areas, such as:

• Market Access (Article 4);
  
• Movement of Natural Persons (Article 8 and Annex I on “Temporary Entry and Stay of Natural Persons for Business Purposes”);
  
• Transparency (Article 9);
  
• Recognition of Professional Qualifications within CEFTA (Article 11);
  
• Monopolies and Exclusive Service Suppliers (Article 12);
  
• Business Practices (Article 13);
  
• Payments and Transfers; (Article 14);
  
• Telecommunications (Annex II on “Regulatory Principles Regarding Telecommunications); and
  
• Cooperation on Electronic Commerce (Article 18).
  

Substantively, the main contributions of the AP6 consist in the establishment of an obligation for the CEFTA Parties to remove existing restrictions on trade in services and to guarantee that they are not introduced again (Article 4 of the AP6). This refers to restrictions affecting market access, which can take the form of, inter alia, maximum or minimum thresholds, quotas or economic tests (for instance, by limiting the number of service suppliers or the capital participation in domestic companies of foreign actors) or those that discriminate based on the local or non-local character of a company (for example, by requiring different fees and charges or establishing criteria of local residence). Related obligations are listed in Annex 3 to the AP6 providing the “Consolidated Schedule of Specific Commitments on Trade in Services of CEFTA Parties”, which also lists all relevant exemptions.

Under the AP6, CEFTA Parties committed to allow companies from CEFTA Parties to send workers to other markets for limited periods of time (for instance, trainees for a maximum period of one year, as per Annex I). Nevertheless, the AP6 recognises CEFTA Parties’ right to impose conditions on service providers from other CEFTA Parties, such as licensing, specific qualifications, or adherence to standards. However, these conditions must be based on “objective and transparent criteria” and must not be “more burdensome than necessary”.