Protocol

to the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, of the other part, to take account of the accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the slovak Republic to the European Union

THE KINGDOM OF BELGIUM,

THE CZECH REPUBLIC,

THE KINGDOM OF DENMARK,

THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY,

THE REPUBLIC OF ESTONIA,

THE HELLENIC REPUBLIC,

THE KINGDOM OF SPAIN,

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC,

IRELAND,

THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC,

THE REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS,

THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA,

THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA,

THE GRAND DUCHY OF LUXEMBOURG,

THE REPUBLIC OF HUNGARY,

THE REPUBLIC OF MALTA,

THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS,

THE REPUBLIC OF AUSTRIA,

THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND,

THE PORTUGUESE REPUBLIC,

THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA,

THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC,

THE REPUBLIC OF FINLAND,

THE KINGDOM OF SWEDEN,

THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND,

hereinafter referred to as the "Member States" represented by the Council of the European Union, and

THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY AND THE EUROPEAN ATOMIC ENERGY COMMUNITY,

hereinafter referred to as "the Communities" represented by the Council of the European Union and the Commission of the European Communities,

of the one part, and

THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA,

of the other part,

HAVING REGARD TO the accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic to the European Union and thereby to the Community on 1 May 2004,

WHEREAS:

(1) The Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, of the other part, (hereinafter referred to as the SAA) was signed by Exchange of Letters in Luxembourg on 9 April 2001 and entered into force on 1 April 2004.

(2) The Treaty concerning the accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic to the European Union (hereinafter referred to as Treaty of Accession) was signed in Athens on 16 April 2003.

(3) Pursuant to Article 6(2) of the Act of Accession annexed to the Treaty of Accession, the accession of the new Member States to the SAA is to be agreed by the conclusion of a protocol to the SAA.

(4) Consultations pursuant to Article 35(3) of the SAA have taken place so as to ensure that account is taken of the mutual interests of the Community and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia stated in the SAA.

(5) The amendments to the Interim Agreement on trade and trade-related matters between the European Community, of the one part, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, of the other part, hereinafter referred to as "the IA", adopted by Decision No 1/2002 of the European Community, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Cooperation Council of 30 January 2002 on the introduction of two Joint Declarations concerning the Principality of Andorra and the Republic of San Marino and on amendments to Protocol 4 on the definition of the concept of originating products and methods of administrative cooperation, have to be made likewise to the SAA.

(6) The amendments to the IA adopted by Decision No 2/2003 of the European Community, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Cooperation Council of 22 December 2003 implementing further liberalisation of the trade in agricultural and fisheries products have to be made likewise to the SAA,

HAVE AGREED UPON THE FOLLOWING PROVISIONS:

SECTION I

CONTRACTING PARTIES

Article 1

The Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia, and the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as the new Member States) shall be Parties to the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, of the other part, signed by Exchange of Letters in Luxemburg on 9 April 2001 and shall respectively adopt and take note, in the same manner as the other Member States of the Community, of the texts of the Agreement, as well as of the Joint Declarations, and the Unilateral Declarations annexed to the Final Act signed on the same date.

Article 2

To take into account recent institutional developments within the European Union, the Parties agree that following the expiry of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, existing provisions in the Agreement referring to that Community shall be deemed to refer to the European Community which has taken over all rights and obligations contracted by the European Coal and Steel Community.

ADJUSTMENTS TO THE TEXT OF THE SAA INCLUDING ITS ANNEXES AND PROTOCOLS

SECTION II

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

Article 3

Agricultural Products sensu stricto

1. Annex IV(a) to the SAA shall be replaced by the text which appears in Annex I to this Protocol.

2. Annex IV(b) to the SAA shall be replaced by the text which appears in Annex II to this Protocol.

3. Annex IV(c) to the SAA shall be replaced by the text which appears in Annex III to this Protocol.

4. The following point shall be added to Article 27(3) of the SAA as follows:

"(d) reduce progressively the customs duties applicable on imports of certain agricultural products originating in the Community, listed in Annex IV(d), in accordance with the following timetable:

- on 1 January 2004 each duty shall be reduced to 95 % of MFN,

- on 1 January 2005 each duty shall be reduced to 90 % of MFN,

- on 1 January 2006 each duty shall be reduced to 85 % of MFN,

- on 1 January 2007 each duty shall be reduced to 80 % of MFN,

- on 1 January 2008 each duty shall be reduced to 70 % of MFN,

- on 1 January 2009 each duty shall be reduced to 60 % of MFN,

- on 1 January 2010 each duty shall be reduced to 50 % of MFN,

- on 1 January 2011 the remaining duties shall be abolished."

5. The text which appears in Annex IV to this Protocol shall be added to the SAA as Annex IV(d).

6. The following paragraph shall be added to Article 27 of the SAA:

"5. For those products where during the reduction process referred to in this Article the preferential tariff duty reaches a residual value of 1 % or less for ad valorem duties and of EUR 0,01 per kg (or the appropriate specific unit) or less for specific duties, the customs duties shall be eliminated at that point."

Article 4

Fisheries products

1. Article 28(2) of the SAA shall be replaced by the following:

"2. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia shall abolish all charges having an equivalent effect to a customs duty and abolish the customs duties applicable on imports of fish and fisheries products originating in the Community with the exception of products listed in Annex V(b) to the SAA, which shall lay down the tariff reductions for the products listed therein."

2. The expression "Year 3" in the heading of the last column of the tables in Annexes V(a) and (b) to the SAA shall be replaced by "Year 3 and beyond".

Article 5

Processed agricultural products

1. Article 1(1) of Protocol 3 to the SAA shall be replaced by the following:

"1. The Community and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia shall apply to processed agricultural products the duties listed in Annex I, Annex II and Annex III respectively in accordance with the conditions mentioned therein, whether limited by quota or not."

2. The table in Annex II to Protocol 3 to the SAA shall be replaced by the table which appears in Annex V to this Protocol.

3. The text which appears in Annex VI to this Protocol shall be added to Protocol 3 to the SAA as Annex III.

4. The following Article shall be added to Article 3 of Protocol 3 to the SAA:

"Article 4

For those products where during the reduction process referred to in this Protocol the preferential tariff duty reaches a residual value of 1 % or less for ad valorem duties and of EUR 0,01 per kg (or the appropriate specific unit) or less for specific duties, the customs duties shall be eliminated at that point."

Article 6

Wine Agreement

The table in paragraph 1 of Annex I (Agreement between the European Community and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on reciprocal preferential trade concessions for certain wines, referred to in Article 27(4) of the SAA) to the Additional Protocol adjusting the trade aspects of the SAA to take account of the outcome of the negotiations between the parties on reciprocal preferential concessions for certain wines, the reciprocal recognition, protection and control of wine names and the reciprocal recognition, protection and control of designations for spirits and aromatised drinks, shall be replaced by the table which appears in Annex VII to this Protocol.

SECTION III

RULES OF ORIGIN

Article 7

Protocol 4 to the SAA concerning the definition of the concept of "originating products" and methods of administrative cooperation shall be amended as follows:

1. in the "Table of contents", in Title II, the second indent shall be replaced by the following:

"- Article 3 Bilateral cumulation in the Community;"

2. in the "Table of contents", in Title II, the third indent shall be replaced by the following:

"- Article 4 Bilateral cumulation in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"

3. in Article 3, the title shall be replaced by the following:

"Bilateral cumulation in the Community";

4. the last sentence in Article 3 shall be replaced by the following:

"It shall not be necessary that such materials have undergone sufficient working or processing, provided they have undergone working or processing going beyond the operations referred to in Article 7."

5. the last sentence in Article 4 shall be replaced by the following:

"It shall not be necessary that such materials have undergone sufficient working or processing, provided they have undergone working or processing going beyond the operations referred to in Article 7."

6. in Article 5, paragraph 2(a)(b)(c)(d)(e), Article 17(4), and Article 31(1), the terms "EC Member State" and "EC Member States" shall be replaced by the following:

"Member State of the Community" and "Member States of the Community";

7. Article 15(1) shall be replaced with by following:

"1. Non-originating materials used in the manufacture of products originating in the Community or in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia for which a proof of origin is issued or made out in accordance with the provisions of Title V shall not be subject in the Community or the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to drawback of, or exemption from, customs duties of whatever kind."

8. Article 15(2) shall be replaced by the following:

"2. The prohibition in paragraph 1 shall apply to any arrangement for refund, remission or non-payment, partial or complete, of customs duties or charges having an equivalent effect, applicable in the Community or in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to materials used in the manufacture, where such refund, remission or non-payment applies, expressly or in effect, when products obtained from the said materials are exported and not when they are retained for home use there."

9. the last subparagraph in Article 15(6) shall be replaced by the following paragraph:

"7. The provisions of this Article shall apply from 1 January 2003. The provisions of paragraph 6 shall apply until 31 December 2005 and may be reviewed by common accord."

10. Article 18(4) shall be replaced by the following:

"4. Movement certificates EUR.1 issued retrospectively must be endorsed with one of the following phrases:

"EXPEDIDO A POSTERIORI",

"VYSTAVENO DODATEČNĚ",

"UDSTEDT EFTERFØLGENDE",

"NACHTRÄGLICH AUSGESTELLT",

"VÄLJA ANTUD TAGASIULATUVALT",

"ΕΚΔΟΘΕΝ ΕΚ ΤΩΝ ΥΣΤΕΡΩΝ",

"ISSUED RETROSPECTIVELY",

"DÉLIVRÉ A POSTERIORI",

"RILASCIATO A POSTERIORI",

"IZSNIEGTS RETROSPEKTĪVI",

"RTROSPEKTYVUSIS IŠDAVIMAS",

"KIADVA VISSZAMENŐLEGES HATÁLLYAL",

"MAĦRUĠ RETROSPETTIVAMENT",

"AFGEGEVEN A POSTERIORI",

"WYSTAWIONE RETROSPEKTYWNIE",

"EMITIDO A POSTERIORI",

"IZDANO NAKNADNO",

"VYDANÉ DODATOČNE",

"ANNETTU JÄLKIKÄTEEN",

"UTFÄRDAT I EFTERHAND",

"ДОПОЛНИТЕЛНО ИЗДАДЕНО"."

11. Article 19(2) shall be replaced by the following:

"2. The duplicate issued in this way must be endorsed with one of the following words:

"DUPLICADO",

"DUPLIKÁT",

"DUPLIKAT",

"DUPLIKAT",

"DUPLIKAAT",

"ΑΝΤΙΓΡΑΦΟ",

"DUPLICATE",

"DUPLICATA",

"DUPLICATO",

"DUBLIKĀTS",

"DUBLIKATAS",

"MÁSODLAT",

"DUPLIKAT",

"DUPLICAAT",

"DUPLIKAT",

"SEGUNDA VIA",

"DVOJNIK",

"DUPLIKÁT",

"KAKSOISKAPPALE",

"DUPLIKAT",

"ДУПЛИКАТ"."

12. Article 30(1) shall be replaced by the following:

"1. For the application of the provisions of Article 21(1)(b) and Article 26(3) in cases where products are invoiced in a currency other than euro, amounts in the national currencies of the Member States or of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia equivalent to the amounts expressed in euro shall be fixed annually by each of the countries concerned."

13. in Article 30(3) and Article 31(1) the terms "European Commission" shall be replaced by "Commission of the European Communities".

Article 8

1. Annex I to Protocol 4 to the SAA shall be replaced by the text which appears in Annex VIII to this Protocol.

2. Annex II to Protocol 4 to the SAA shall be replaced by the text which appears in Annex IX to this Protocol.

3. Annex IV to Protocol 4 to the SAA shall be replaced by the text which appears in Annex X to this Protocol.

Article 9

After Protocol 4 to the SAA the following Joint Declarations shall be added:

"JOINT DECLARATION CONCERNING THE PRINCIPALITY OF ANDORRA

1. Products originating in the Principality of Andorra falling within Chapters 25 to 97 of the Harmonised System shall be accepted by the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as originating in the Community within the meaning of this Agreement.

2. Protocol 4 shall apply mutatis mutandis for the purpose of defining the originating status of the abovementioned products.

JOINT DECLARATION CONCERNING THE REPUBLIC OF SAN MARINO

1. Products originating in the Republic of San Marino shall be accepted by the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as originating in the Community within the meaning of this Agreement.

2. Protocol 4 shall apply mutatis mutandis for the purpose of defining the originating status of the abovementioned products."

TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS

SECTION IV

Article 10

WTO

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia undertakes that it shall not make any claim, request or referral nor modify or withdraw any concession pursuant to GATT 1994 Articles XXIV.6 and XXVIII in relation to this enlargement of the Community.

Article 11

Proof of origin and administrative cooperation

1. Proofs of origin properly issued by either the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia or a new Member State in the framework of preferential agreements or autonomous arrangements applied between them shall be accepted in the respective countries, provided that:

(a) the acquisition of such origin confers preferential tariff treatment on the basis of the preferential tariff measures contained in the SAA;

(b) the proof of origin and the transport documents were issued no later than the day before the date of accession;

(c) the proof of origin is submitted to the customs authorities within the period of four months from the date of accession.

Where goods were declared for importation in either the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia or a new Member State, prior to the date of accession, under preferential agreements or autonomous arrangements applied between the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and that new Member State at that time, proof of origin issued retrospectively under those agreements or arrangements may also be accepted provided that it is submitted to the customs authorities within the period of four months from the date of accession.

2. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the new Member States are authorised to retain the authorisations with which the status of "approved exporters" has been granted in the framework of preferential agreements or autonomous arrangements applied between them, provided that:

(a) such a provision is also provided for in the agreement concluded prior to the date of accession between the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the Community; and

(b) the approved exporters apply the rules of origin in force under that agreement.

These authorisations shall be replaced, no later than one year after the date of accession, by new authorisations issued under the conditions of the SAA.

3. Requests for subsequent verification of proof of origin issued under the preferential agreements or autonomous arrangements referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 above shall be accepted by the competent customs authorities of either the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia or the Member States for a period of three years after the issue of the proof of origin concerned and may be made by those authorities for a period of three years after acceptance of the proof of origin submitted to those authorities in support of an import declaration.

Article 12

Goods in transit

1. The provisions of the SAA may be applied to goods exported from either the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to one of the new Member States or from one of the new Member States to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, which comply with the provisions of Protocol 4 to the SAA and that on the date of accession are either en route or in temporary storage, in a customs warehouse or in a free zone in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia or in that new Member State.

2. Preferential treatment may be granted in such cases, subject to the submission to the customs authorities of the importing country, within four months from the date of accession, of a proof of origin issued retrospectively by the customs authorities of the exporting country.

Article 13

Quotas in 2004

For the year 2004, the volumes of the new tariff quotas and the increases of the volumes of existing tariff quotas shall be calculated as a pro rata of the basic volumes, taking into account the part of the period elapsed before 1 May 2004.

GENERAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS

SECTION V

Article 14

This Protocol and the Annexes thereto shall form an integral part of the SAA.

Article 15

1. This Protocol shall be approved by the Community, by the Council of the European Union on behalf of the Member States, and by the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in accordance with their own procedures.

2. The Parties shall notify each other of the accomplishment of the corresponding procedures referred to in the preceding paragraph. The instruments of approval shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union.

Article 16

1. This Protocol shall enter into force on the same day as the Treaty of Accession provided that all the instruments of approval of this Protocol have been deposited before that date.

2. If not all the instruments of approval of this Protocol have been deposited before that date, this Protocol shall enter into force on the first day of the first month following the date of the deposit of the last instrument of approval.

3. If not all the instruments of approval of this Protocol have been deposited before 1 May 2004, this Protocol shall apply provisionally with effect from 1 May 2004.

Article 17

This Protocol is drawn up in duplicate in each of the official languages of the Parties, each of these texts being equally authentic.

Article 18

The text of the SAA, including the Annexes and Protocols forming an integral part thereof, and the Final Act together with the declarations annexed thereto shall be drawn up in Czech, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Slovak and Slovene languages, and these texts shall be authentic in the same way as the original texts. The Stabilisation and Association Council shall approve these texts.

--------------------------------------------------