Евразийское экономическое сообщество

AGREEMENT

on measures for regulating the access of goods and services from the third countries to the markets

of the member states of the Customs union

of 6 October 2000¹

The government of the Republic of Belarus, the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the government of the Kyrgyz Republic, the government of the Russian Federation and the government of the Republic of Tajikistan, hereinafter referred to as the Parties,

reaffirming their commitment to the Treaty on a Customs union and a Common economic space of February, 26, 1999,

declaring their willingness to ensure full implementation of all the agreements and arrangements among the Parties that stipulate liberalization of mutual access of goods and services of a member state of the Customs union to the territories of other member states of the customs union (hereinafter – the States),

considering that such liberalization is to be implemented with no damage to the national systems of regulating the access of goods and services from third countries to the domestic markets of the States,

admitting the necessity of preventing or minimizing the negative consequences for the economy of the member States that emerge as a result of the third countries using existing differences in the level of protectionism of the markets of goods and services,

believing that the Agreement is meant to promote favorable conditions for the convergence and eventual unification of trade and economic regimes of the States with regard to third countries,

have agreed as follows:

Article 1

1. The provisions of this Agreement shall be used in cases not provided for in agreements between the States that are in effect within the framework of the customs union.

For the purposes of this Agreement the goods and services from third countries mean goods received from the third countries and services rendered and/or offered with the participation of economic operators of the third countries on the territory of one of the customs union member States.

The Parties shall follow the rules for identification of the country of origin of goods that are in effect within the customs union.

2. Until the Parties introduce unified regulations, rules, procedures, tariffs and establish full unification of any other measures that concern the terms of access for goods and services from third countries to the territories of the States, each Party shall be entitled to apply measures aimed at preventing the evasion of measures applied by the Party with regard to access for goods and services from third countries to its territory.

3. For the purposes of this Agreement the measures shall be defined as follows: measures for restricting the access of goods and services from third countries to the markets of other countries that are applied on a non-discriminating basis with regard to the involved States, and in the order and on the terms stipulated by this Agreement.

4. For the purposes of this Agreement the content and procedure of introducing the stated measures shall be defined in such a way that:

a) the measures, pursuant to the provision hereof, shall be applied only in case of objective differences in the terms of access for goods and services from third countries to the domestic markets of the States; their content shall be directed only towards eliminating or minimizing any negative economic consequences caused by these differences;

b) introduction of the stated measures shall be preceded by consultations of the interested

Parties with the purpose of objective identification of the spheres, reasons and scale of economic consequences;

c) introduction of the stated measures shall be implemented according to the Regulations on the procedure of project coordination and decision making by the governments on the issues of the customs union, approved by the Resolution of the Council of Heads of State of the Interstate Council of the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian Federation of April 28, 1998, No.20;

d) the introduced measures shall be temporary and subject to immediate cancellation after eliminating the differences stated in Paragraph a) hereof, or after reaching mutually acceptable agreements by the Parties;

e) the State in relation to which the measures were imposed pursuant to Paragraph 2 of this Article shall be entitled to initiate consultations with the purpose of discussing the possibilities of canceling or mitigating these measures. The State that imposed the above measures shall carry out these consultations within a month after receiving such an offer.

Article 2

Preventing the evasion of measures applied by the Party shall mean the right of this Party to refuse to provide terms for access of goods and services from third countries to its market that shall be similar to those it normally provides to other member States of the customs union.

Article 3

The Parties shall systematically exchange information through the Integration Committee of the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tajikistan (further – the Integration Committee) concerning the attempts of economic operators of the third countries to bypass the applied measures concerning access to markets of the States and the measures taken pursuant to provisions of Article 1 hereof.

Article 4

Any of the Parties shall be entitled to discontinue participation in this Agreement upon submitting a written notice of its intentions to the depositary (the Integration Committee) no less than six months before withdrawal.

Article 5

The Parties shall apply this Agreement temporarily, starting from the date of signing, for any part that does not contradict national legislation; the Agreement comes into effect after the depositary received the last notice of the Parties on executing the necessary internal state procedures.

The original copy of this Agreement shall be deposited with the Integration Committee, which shall transmit a certified copy to each State that signed the Agreement.

Done at Astana on October 6, 2000, in one original in the Russian language.

For the Government of the Republic of Belarus                 V. Yermoshin

For the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan          K. Tokayev

For the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic                      A. Muraliyev

For the Government of the Russian Federation                 M. Kasyanov

For the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan             A. Akilov