The delegations of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and Iran have concluded the work on the text of the temporary agreement leading to the creation of a free trade zone. The subsequent round of talks will be held from June 13 to 14 in Tehran, Iran.

Pursuant to the temporary agreement, the sides will observe the basic principles of the WTO, ensuring the most favored nation regime and the national regime in regard to all the goods within the framework of the trade between the EAEU and Iran.

The agreed draft agreements prescribes that all the levies connected with the import of goods should not exceed the cost of the services provided for customs clearance.

These levies cannot be an indirect protection for national products or means for imposing additional taxes on the import or export. This requirement is one of the most important ones in the WТO law, ensuring the predictability of the trade regime between the countries.

The EAEU and Iran will soon continue the talks on liberalizing the mutual access to the market of goods, while the tariff obligations still need to be agreed on.

It is supposed that within the framework of the temporary agreement, the import duties will be lowered to the maximum amount of goods, up to 200 commodity positions from both sides. If the EAEU countries and Iran consider the preferential trade effective, switch to the full-format free trade zone may be possible in the future. The temporary agreement will be signed for three years.

According to Member of the Board, Minister for Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), Veronika Nikishina, the fact that Iran, which is a NATO member state, has taken up the obligation to observe the trade regime on the level of the demands of that Organization, is unprecedented.

“It is especially valuable that in the event of a successful conclusion of the negotiation process and entry into force of the temporary agreement, Iran will apply the obligations for that regime in respect of the entire bilateral trade and not only of the goods, for which preferential tariffs will be agreed. All the countries of the Union already work according to the WTO rules, that is why that was a unilateral concession from the side of the Iranian colleagues, this demonstrating their interest in the liberalization of our trade regime,” Nikishina noted.