EU renews measures of temporary liberalization of trade with Moldova

Brussels, 21 July /MOLDPRES/ - The European Council on 20 July adopted a regulation which renews and extends the temporary suspension of all tariffs which have remained in force and the system of input prices which are still applicable for seven agricultural products for one year more, till 24 July 2024, MOLDPRES informs, citing Agerpres.    

"The renewal and extension of the measures is aimed at ensuring the continuity of the current commercial flows from Moldova to EU, which will back Moldova’s economy. This is particularly important, given Russia’s continuous military aggression and the present impact on Moldova and taking into account that Moldova was given the status of country candidate for EU in June 2022, ‘’ Spanish Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism Hector Gomez Hernandez has said.  

The measures continue to cover all those seven agricultural products for which the exports from Moldova to EU are not fully liberalized within the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), as they make the object of contingents exempted from customs duties: plums, table grapes, apples, tomatoes, garlic, sweet cherries and grape juice.     

The difference as regards the coverage, as compared with the last year, consists in the full liberalization of the imports in EU, as the current legislation suspends all tariff contingents which are still in force.   

The regulation includes also stricter obligations of reporting for the Commission and provides for the involvement of the Committee on Safeguard Measures (instead of the Customs Code Committee) in the enforcement of the safeguard mechanism. An accelerated safeguard mechanism is suggested, which should be more efficient, if the imports produce negative effects on the EU market.      

Just as in 2022, EU is scheduled to record a loss of incomes from customs duties worth about 300,000 euros annually, so that the impact on EU’s own resources will be quite limited.  

The current trade liberalization measures, in force till 24 July 2023, increased by more than two times the quantity of products which can be imported without customs duties from Moldova to EU (and namely the tariff contingents). They had a positive effect on Moldova’s commerce with EU, helping the country reorient its exports through EU. On the whole, the exports from Moldova to EU grew from 1.8 billion euros in 2021 up to 2.6 billion euros in 2022.