European Commission Asking For Customs Duty Exemption On Imports From Croatia Into Bosnia

A request from the European Commission (EC) for an exemption of customs duties on imports from Croatia and other EU states into Bosnia and Herzegovina has not gone down well with  officials there.

Before Croatia joined the European Union on 1 July it enjoyed a customs-free arrangement on imports under the CEFTA agreement, and now the EC wants that to continue.

“The European Union’s proposal to have Croatia keep customs-free CEFTA regime with Bosnia and Herzegovina after 1 July is not fair and it is contrary to the interests of our economy,” Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Foreign Trade Minister Mirko Sarovic told a news conference in Sarajevo yesterday, adding that the request would harm Bosnia and was unacceptable.

Sarovic says that they are prepared to make some concessions on products such as sugar, wine and fish, but definitely not for 230 articles which the EU are demanding.