Additional Protocol 5 of the FTACE goes beyond THE OBLIGATIONs of AES and provides for progress in the mutual recognition of trade documents and procedures and the continued alignment of the ALECE region with EU trade procedures. It is therefore expected that, once implemented, it will significantly reduce administrative barriers to trade in the CEFTA. Some ongoing projects[2] aim to reduce non-tariff barriers and facilitate trade with the CTAE in a sector-specific approach. They focus on selected supply chains such as beverages (beer and wine); spare parts[3]; Vegetables and metals (steel). Studies have shown that in these sectors, the private sector is closely linked to delays in the registration and release of goods, as well as transparency, lack of consultation and time to adapt to new laws and regulations. A 2004 OECD study analysed non-tariff barriers in the CTAA region and found that the main non-tariff barriers it faced from exporting to the EU were technical barriers to trade. On the other hand, with regard to exports within the CTAA region, these are the main obstacles to administrative barriers to trade, namely customs procedures. As a result, administrative barriers to trade appear to have the greatest negative effects on intra-regional trade. Recent studies by my colleagues and I have confirmed these results. The Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) includes Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Moldova, Serbia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Kosovo. In 2006, this agreement was radically modified to modernise it and was extended to six new parts of south-eastern Europe. Several studies show that the nature of trade barriers that hinder intra-regional trade is different from the barriers to trade with the European Union, which is the main trading partner of the CTAA.
In light of the obligations under this protocol, the parties to the CTAE conducted a self-assessment of the current status of implementation of certain trade facilitation measures between 2015 and 2016. The result of this self-assessment was that the parties fully complied with 60% of the provisions of the AMD agreements; They account for 18% and account for some of them. Most of the parties to the CTAA are very advanced in the implementation of most trade facilitation measures, with the exception of Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, the majority of the parties to the CTAT do not use individual windows. The ALECE region has embarked on the ambitious task of removing administrative barriers to trade.