Brussels, 22/12/2004 (Agence Europe) - As part of the Association and Stabilisation Agreement between the EU and Serbia Montenegro, a new bilateral free trade agreement for textile products was signed on 21 December, whereby the EU will scrap textile quotas for Serbia in exchange for Serbia removing customs barriers to textile imports from the EU. Both sides have pledged to not raise any non-tariff barriers to the textile trade in either direction. Inn 2003, Serbia exported EUR 137 million of textile products to the EU, with EU textile product exports to Serbia totalling EUR 207 million.
The new free trade agreement will come into force in the near future. It involves Serbia gradually removing tariffs on imports of textiles from the EU over three years, leading to tariffs being fully phased out by 1 January 2008. The EU will suspend import quotas for 11 textile products, on a reciprocal basis. Both sides agreed to refrain from raising other obstacles to free trade in textiles and clothing and pledged to closely cooperate to ensure the authenticity of textile exports purporting to be covered by the agreement. The agreement includes a suspension clause in the event of failure to respect these pledges.