Wikipedia

Commonwealth of Independent States Treaty on Free Trade Area

Not to be confused with Commonwealth of Independent States Agreement on the Establishment of a Free Trade Area.
Further information: Eurasian economic integration and Common Economic Space of the Commonwealth of Independent States

Treaty on Free Trade Area[4][5][6][7] is an international treaty on a free trade regime in goods signed by eight post-Soviet states on 18 October 2011, at a meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Council of Heads of Government in St. Petersburg and entered into force on 20 September 2012.[8] It creates Free Trade Area among Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. This treaty and other agreements within the Commonwealth of Independent States do not regulate relations with third countries, the terms of the CIS FTA allow member states to enter into the FTA agreements with other countries, as well as to join/create custom unions.[9]

Treaty on Free Trade Area
(Russian: Договор о зоне свободной торговли)
LanguagesRussian language only (Article 25), dispute-settlement only in the Russian language (Article 44 of Annex 4)[1]
TypeFree-trade area
Member states
Establishment
• Free trade agreement signed
18 October 2011
• Free Trade Area established
20 September 2012
The Treaty on Free Trade Area dated 18 October 2011. The information from the depository of the international agreement published on the Unified Register of Legal Acts and Other Documents of the Commonwealth of Independent States (under the executive committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States) as of 2024.[2]
The Rules of origin dated 20 November 2009. The information from the depository of the international agreement published on the Unified Register of Legal Acts and Other Documents of the Commonwealth of Independent States (under the executive committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States) as of 2024.[3]

The treaty is de jure open for accession even for those countries that are not participants of the CIS (Article 24).[10] For each country, upon entry into force, the rules of origin adopted on 20 November 2009 will apply to mutual trade (Article 4), while the 1994 free trade agreement and the 1999 protocol will cease to be in effect among ratifiers (Annex 5).[11] In accordance with the rules of origin, the goods must be provided with a preferential certificate CT-1 or a declaration of origin (if no irregularity is suspected) in order to be admitted to markets without tariffs.[12][13]

Uzbekistan has not signed and is not a party to this treaty. In 2013, the protocol on the application of the CIS FTA between Uzbekistan and eight states was signed.[14] It entered into force in 2014.[15] Article 2 of the Protocol gives Uzbekistan the right not to apply the rules of origin of goods of 2009, instead of which Uzbekistan applies the rules of origin of goods adopted on 24 September 1993.[16][17] Uzbekistan has announced the future application of the new rules of origin,[18] but as of 2024 it has not yet acceded.[19] The members of the Eurasian Economic Union use a grandfather clause (Article 102 of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union) in order to apply the CIS FTA Treaty and the other agreements (both 1993 and 2009 rules of origin[20]) with third countries concluded before 1 January 2015 but they do not have the national competence to independently conclude new free trade in goods agreements after 2015.[21]

History

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Further information: Commonwealth of Independent States Agreement on the Establishment of a Free Trade Area
 
Regional Trade Agreements Database of the World Trade Organization.[22]

The Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Zone Agreement, proposed since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, was signed on 18 October 2011 by Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Moldova and Armenia.[citation needed] The agreement replaces existing bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements among the countries. Initially, the treaty was only ratified by Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine,[23][24] however by the end of 2012, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Moldova had also completed ratification.[25][26] In December 2013, Uzbekistan signed and then ratified the treaty,[27][28] while the remaining two signatories, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, later both ratified the treaty in January 2014 and December 2015 respectively.[29][30] Azerbaijan is the only full CIS member state not to participate in the free trade area.

European Union–Ukraine trade agreement controversy

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From 1 January 2016, Ukraine and the European Union started provisionally applying a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. Member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU or EAEU) held consultations on 22 December 2015 to discuss the implications of the agreement concerning the possible duty-free transit of EU goods into the EEU via Ukraine. The states agreed to implement a provisional scheme later in 2016 that would impose customs checks on goods entering the EEU from Ukraine; and long term, to establish a common information system to control all imports into the EEU's customs area.[31] Nonetheless, Russia promulgated a decree in mid-December 2015 suspending its CIS Free Trade Agreement with respect to Ukraine from 1 January 2016.[32] In late December, the Ukrainian Government responded by passing trade restrictions on Russia, with effect from 2 January 2016.[33] Agreements between Ukraine and other EEU states within the free trade area remain in effect.

On 1 November 2022, Verkhovna Rada MP Roksolana Pidlasa made a draft bill to denounce the proposed to Treaty on the Free Trade Area (CIS) dated 18 October 2011. After meeting with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, she said, "It is time to decolonize our trade. We have bilateral free trade agreements with all CIS member countries, the GUAM Free Trade Agreement, and we also apply the Pan-Euro-Med regional convention with Georgia and Moldova. There are many tools that work for Ukrainian manufacturers. There is no need to participate in a treaty where Russia imposes its rules and uses the right of force."[34] Pidlasa reminded and noted that "in addition to Russia, whose trade is embargoed, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan are also parties to the agreement, and Uzbekistan applies the agreement on separately defined terms."[35]

Signature and ratification

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 GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic DevelopmentGeorgia (country)AzerbaijanUkraineMoldovaTajikistanTurkmenistanCollective Security Treaty OrganizationEurasian Economic UnionUzbekistanKyrgyzstanKazakhstanArmeniaUnion StateBelarusRussiaCommonwealth of Independent StatesCommonwealth of Independent States Free Trade AreaBaltic AssemblyLithuaniaLatviaEstoniaCommunity for Democracy and Rights of NationsAbkhaziaTransnistriaSouth Ossetia
A clickable Euler diagram showing the relationships among various supranational organisations in the territory of the former Soviet Unionv • d • e

An overview of signatures and ratifications is shown below:

State Signature Entry into Force[36] Comment
  Armenia[37] 18 October 2011 17 October 2012 EAEU member
  Belarus 18 October 2011 20 September 2012 EAEU member
  Kazakhstan 18 October 2011 8 December 2012 EAEU member
  Kyrgyzstan 18 October 2011 13 December 2013 EAEU member
  Moldova 18 October 2011 9 December 2012 EAEU observer
  Russia[note 1] 18 October 2011 20 September 2012 EAEU member
  Tajikistan 18 October 2011 19 March 2016
  Ukraine[note 2] 18 October 2011 20 September 2012 Former CIS participant
  Uzbekistan 13 December 2013 12 January 2014 EAEU observer

In 2013, the protocol on the application of the CIS FTA between Uzbekistan and the CIS FTA member states was signed as a bilateral document and without any reservations to the CIS FTA agreement.[38] It entered into force in 2014.[39]

See also

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References

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ Suspended with regard to Ukraine from 2 January 2016
  2. ^ Suspended with regard to Russia from 1 January 2016

Online sources

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  1. ^ https://cis.minsk.by/reestrv2/doc/3183#text
  2. ^ https://cis.minsk.by/reestrv2/doc/3183#documentCard [bare URL]
  3. ^ https://cis.minsk.by/reestrv2/print/documentCard?ids=6710 [bare URL]
  4. ^ https://www.mid.ru/es/foreign_policy/news/1623610/?lang=en [bare URL]
  5. ^ "Kazakhstan's Compliance with the "Most Favored Nation" Policy - International Trade & Investment - International Law - Worldwide".
  6. ^ https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/international_safety/1596432/ [bare URL]
  7. ^ "Trade Regimes - Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus".
  8. ^ https://cis.minsk.by/reestrv2/doc/3183#documentCardv [bare URL]
  9. ^ Aleksashenko, Sergei (7 March 2014). "For Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia Free Trade with Europe and Russia Is Possible". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
  10. ^ https://cis.minsk.by/reestrv2/doc/3183#text
  11. ^ https://cis.minsk.by/reestrv2/doc/3183#text [bare URL]
  12. ^ https://cis.minsk.by/reestrv2/doc/6710#text
  13. ^ "Market Access Map".
  14. ^ "Главы правительств стран СНГ подписали протокол о присоединении Узбекистана к договору о зоне свободной торговли | Экономика". Archived from the original on 8 January 2014.
  15. ^ https://cis.minsk.by/reestrv2/doc/3868 [bare URL]
  16. ^ https://cis.minsk.by/reestrv2/doc/3868#text [bare URL]
  17. ^ "Market Access Map".
  18. ^ "Узбекистан сообщил о решении присоединиться к соглашению СНГ о происхождении товаров".
  19. ^ https://cis.minsk.by/reestrv2/print/documentCard?ids=6710
  20. ^ "Правила определения происхождения товаров в рамках торговли с государствами - участниками СНГ".
  21. ^ "Статья 102. Переходные положения в отношении раздела IX \ КонсультантПлюс".
  22. ^ "WTO | Regional trade agreements".
  23. ^ Holmov, Nikolai (27 September 2014). "Russia's Duma ratifies Eurasian Economic Union". OdessaTalk. Archived from the original on 22 June 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  24. ^ CIS Free Trade Agreement comes into force; Baker & McKenzi, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 18, 2012, 18 October 2011
  25. ^ Kazakhstan ratified agreement on Free Trade zone Archived 22 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine www.kaztag.kz. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  26. ^ Armenia ratifies CIS free trade zone agreement, arka.am. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  27. ^ Usbekistan: Protokoll über Beitritt zur GUS-Freihandelszone in Kraft getreten, de.ria.ru 28 December 2013.
  28. ^ Uzbekistan joins CIS free trade zone, azernews.az. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  29. ^ Dushanbe ratifies agreement on CIS free trade area Archived 22 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Vestnik Kavkaza. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  30. ^ Tajikistan ratifies CIS Free Trade Zone Agreement, AKIpress. Retrieved 22 June 2018
  31. ^ Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan work out provisional scheme to control transit via Ukraine, Belarus News. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  32. ^ "Russia suspends FTA with Ukraine as EU agreement looms". Eurasian Business Briefing. 17 December 2015. Archived from the original on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  33. ^ Spotlight: EU-Ukraine trade deal triggers new round of economic clashes, news.xinhuanet.com. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  34. ^ "Україна денонсує договір про вільну торгівлю з СНД". www.ukrinform.ua (in Ukrainian). November 2022. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  35. ^ https://ukranews.com/ua/news/892079-ukrayina-gotuyetsya-denonsuvaty-dogovir-pro-zonu-vilnoyi-torgivli-z-snd-pidlasa [bare URL]
  36. ^ "Идет перенаправление".
  37. ^ "Eurasian Economic Union: The rocky road to integration - Think Tank". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  38. ^ "Главы правительств стран СНГ подписали протокол о присоединении Узбекистана к договору о зоне свободной торговли | Экономика". Archived from the original on 8 January 2014.
  39. ^ https://cis.minsk.by/reestrv2/doc/3868 [bare URL]
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