CEFTA

CEFTA aims at reducing technical barriers to trade. Although not all CEFTA Parties are WTO Members, Article 13 of the CEFTA 2006 provides that “the rights and obligations of the Parties relating to the application of technical barriers to trade, shall be governed by the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, except as otherwise provided for in this Article”.

Chapter IV of the CEFTA 2006 on ‘Technical Barriers to Trade’ specifically addresses technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment procedures. The commitments under the CEFTA 2006 aim at facilitating trade by promoting cooperation, mutual recognition, and the use of international standards. Notably, the commitments contained in the CEFTA 2006 focus on:

• Recognition: Encouraging CEFTA Parties to recognise each other’s conformity assessment results, reducing the need for multiplied testing and certification (Article 13(4) of the CEFTA 2006);
• Transparency: Promoting transparency in regulatory processes through information exchange and the notification of any “measure constituting an unnecessary technical barrier to trade” (Article 13(5) of the CEFTA 2006); and
• International standards: Encouraging the use of international standards to harmonise technical requirements and facilitate trade, particularly by harmonising them “with those in the European Community unless their use would be an ineffective or inappropriate means for the fulfilment of the legitimate objective pursued by the Parties” (Article 13(3) and 13(4) of the CEFTA 2006).