The 1st meeting of the EC-Bosnia and Herzegovina Interim Committee was held on 7 October 2008 in Sarajevo. This body was established under the Interim Agreement which entered into force on 1 July 2008 and which allows for comprehensive trade liberalisation between the European Union and Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is an important step forward in the Stabilisation and Association Process of the country.

At its first constitutive meeting the Interim Committee approved its internal rules of procedure and set up a number of sub-committees to assist it in monitoring the implementation of the Agreement.

The meeting offered an opportunity for the Parties to have a fruitful discussion on current and future priorities, including on free movement of goods, customs and taxation, competition, intellectual and industrial property and transit traffic. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s WTO accession negotiations and CEFTA implementation were also discussed.

While most of the industrial, agricultural and fishery products from Bosnia and Herzegovina have been given duty and quota free access to the European internal market, Bosnia and Herzegovina is granted the right to progressively reduce such duties over five years on goods of EU-origin.

The Commission welcomed the adoption of an Action Plan for the implementation of the Agreement by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and encouraged the country to enhance preparations for full implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement. In this framework, it also encouraged BiH to ensure full compliance with the European Convention for Human Rights, full cooperation with the ICTY and early preparations for a census in 2011.

The delegation of Bosnia and Herzegovina updated the Commission on steps undertaken so far to fulfil its commitments. The Government committed itself to enhance the monitoring of the implementation of relevant obligations of the Interim Agreement with a particular focus on the practical administrative arrangements by the various authorities concerned such as the customs services.

The delegation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the meeting was led by the Director of the Directorate for European Integration, Mr Osman Topčagić. The European Commission delegation was led by Mr Pierre Mirel, Director in the Commission’s Directorate General for Enlargement.

European Commission/Directorate for European Integration