The Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is currently considering a law concerning agricultural products.

This law – if enacted/adopted – would lead to higher tariffs for agricultural products imported from some of BiH’s neighbours, in particular Croatia and Serbia. It is BiH’s own citizens who will end up paying higher prices in the shops due to the lack of market competition.

The European Commission considers that this would be a clear breach of BiH’s obligations under the CEFTA Agreement, which would be regrettable.

It also puts into question BiH’s commitments to the Stabilisation and Association Process, which underlines the importance of good regional cooperation and specifically mentions the good implementation of CEFTA as an important element.

The European Commission calls upon BiH to reconsider this planned measure. It reminds BiH as a party of the CEFTA Agreement of their obligation to solve contentious issues with other parties by using the mechanisms available within the CEFTA framework.