Newsletter: April 2001
BOSNIA: Textile Trade Takes Concessions From EU
Effective March 1, all textile exports from Bosnia Herzegovina to the European Union are quota free. This is as per an agreement earlier initialed by the EU's professional administration, approved February 27 by the EU's Council of Ministers. The quota system is otherwise supposed to end in 2004 for all countries.
Bosnia Herzegovina exported textiles and clothing worth 92m Euros to the EU in 1999, which was one quarter of its total exports to the EU. In the same year, EU exports to Bosnia and Herzegovina were 88m Euros, which is 9.1% of EU exports to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The agreement will also provide significant benefits to the European textiles and clothing industry. Under its terms, Bosnia and Herzegovina will not increase customs duties currently applied to textiles and clothing imports from the EU. Bosnia and Herzegovina will harmonise technical regulations and standards with those of the EU, in particular with regard to certification and labeling requirements. Both parties have committed themselves not to introduce or maintain non-tariff barriers on textile and clothing imports.
To prevent circumvention of textiles trade and to guarantee the origin of products from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the 11 most sensitive textile products for the EU (cotton yarn, woven cotton and synthetic fabric, pullovers, blouses, shirts, trousers, terry toweling, woven overcoats, suits) will be submitted to a double-checking systems (licensing).
