European Commission Directorate-General for Trade

Western Balkans

The Western Balkans are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo1 .

All the Western Balkans have been offered Stabilisation and Association Agreements (SAAs) and have a clear EU perspective. The EU's strategy includes massive financial assistance, making it by far the largest donor to the region.

In 2000, the EU granted autonomous trade preferences to all the Western Balkans. These preferences, which were renewed in 2005 and subsequently in 2011 until 2015, allow nearly all exports to enter the EU without customs duties or limits on quantities. Only wine, baby beef and certain fisheries products enter the EU under preferential tariff quotas.

This preferential regime has contributed to an increase in the Western Balkans' exports to the EU. In 2010, the EU was the region's largest trading partner for both imports (61,3%) and exports (64,5%).

The EU strongly supports the Western Balkans' membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Albania (2000), Croatia (2000), the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (2003) and Montenegro (2011) are already members. The WTO accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia are on going.

Stabilisation and association

The EU's relations with the Balkans are governed by the Stabilisation and Association process. There are four Stabilisation and Association Agreements (SAAs) in force: with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (2004), Croatia (2005), Albania (2009) and Montenegro (2010). The trade part of the SAAs came into force through an Interim Agreement Bosnia and Herzegovina (2007) and Serbia (2010). The agreements aim to progressively establish a free-trade area between the EU and the Western Balkans. Where trade is concerned, they focus on liberalizing trade in goods, aligning rules on EU practice and protecting intellectual property.

For more information, see also: Commission Communication on "Western Balkans : Enhancing the European perspective", (March 2008) and Staff Working Paper 2009 (February 2009) and Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2011-2012  (October 2011).

Central European Free Trade Agreement2

The regional dimension is very important in the Stabilisation and Association process.

The Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA)  is a single Free Trade Agreement (FTA) linking all the Western Balkans and Moldova. It replaces a previous network of more than 30 bilateral FTAs, thereby setting uniform trade rules across the whole South Eastern Europe. CEFTA entered into force for all Parties in November 2007. Although not a party to CEFTA, the EU supports the process, which it sees as complementing the Stabilisation and Association process.

Diagonal Cumulation

In order to further develop regional trade and to offer new opportunities for economic operators, a system of diagonal cumulation of origin has been set up between the European Union, the Western Balkans participating to the Stabilisation and Association Process and Turkey. It allows a participating partner to use materials originating in other partner(s) of the zone under advantageous conditions in the manufacture of final goods which are exported to the European Union, the Western Balkans or Turkey.

See the latest Commission notice:

• Commission notice concerning the date of application of the protocols on rules of origin providing for diagonal cumulation of origin between the European Union, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey

1. Under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244/99 ¶
2. Parties of CEFTA: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, UNMIK on behalf of Kosovo, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. ¶

Supporting information

For more information, try a Document search on the Balkans region