Association agreement with Moldova

KEY POINTS

The agreement runs to 465 articles with additional annexes and protocols. It covers the following areas.

General principles (Title I), notably:

• democratic rights, human rights and fundamental freedoms;
• a free market economy, sustainable development and effective multilateralism;
• the rule of law, good governance, cooperation and good neighbourly relations.

Political dialogue, domestic reform and foreign and security policy cooperation (Title II), notably:

• the development of stable and effective political institutions;
• a gradual alignment of foreign and security policies;
• a commitment to conflict prevention, regional stability, the fight against terrorism and measures against weapons of mass destruction.

Freedom, security and justice (Title III), notably:

• respect for the rule of law, an independent judiciary and legal cooperation;
• cooperation on migration and border management;
• the fight against organised crime, corruption, terrorism, money laundering and illegal drugs.

Economic and other sectoral cooperation (Title IV), notably:

• public administration reform and corporate governance;
• economic dialogue, public finances, budget and taxation;
• employment, social, industry and enterprise policies;
• sectors ranging from fisheries, transport and energy to financial services, public health and climate action.

Trade and trade-related matters (Title V), notably:

• national treatment and market access for goods, including:
  • setting up a deep and comprehensive free trade area between the parties and removing customs duties on goods originating from the other party, with certain exceptions (set out in the annexes),
  • gradual alignment with EU legislation in the areas of technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary matters, customs and trade facilitation, services and public procurement,
  • alignment with EU and international practice in the areas of intellectual property rights, competition and energy, and with international standards in the areas of the environment and labour (trade and sustainable development).

With regard to intellectual property rights, the agreement signed in 2012 between the EU and Moldova on the protection of geographical indications was integrated into the association agreement. One of the priorities of the association agreement is to ensure that Moldovan legislation in this field is effectively enforced and that officials of the relevant administrations and members of the judiciary receive adequate training. In the context of the Association Council (see below), the EU and Moldova meet regularly to discuss issues and best practices in this area.

Financial assistance and anti-fraud and control measures (Title VI), notably:

• finance for Moldova from the EU, the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other financial institutions;
• multiannual frameworks and annual action programmes for priority spending areas;
• exchange of information and operational cooperation;
• measures to prevent and fight fraud, corruption and other illegal activities.

Institutional, general and final provisions (Title VII), notably:

• the creation of:
  • an Association Council at the ministerial level to supervise and monitor the agreement’s implementation,
  • an Association Committee of senior officials to assist the Council of the European Union,
  • a Parliamentary Association Committee of members of the European Parliament and Moldovan members of parliament to meet and exchange views,
  • a civil society platform to meet and exchange views;
• a commitment by Moldova to gradually align its legislation with EU and international law;
• the treaty is of unlimited duration and expires 6 months after one party notifies its decision to withdraw.

Technical annexes describe in detail how the various commitments the agreement contains are to be implemented. Some, such as those covering geographical indications, trade and sanitary/phytosanitary aspects, have been slightly amended since 2016.

Temporary trade liberalisation measures

• Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine since February 2022 has had a serious impact on Moldova’s ability to trade with the rest of the world, due to its reliance on transit via Ukrainian territory and on Ukrainian infrastructure.
• In this difficult context, the EU supports Moldova by increasing the degree of market liberalisation provided for by the association agreement, in particular for certain agricultural products.
• Regulation (EU) 2023/1524 introduces temporary trade liberalisation measures by fully liberalising the import of all products from Moldova, replacing a previous legal act, Regulation (EU) 2022/1279, which applied for a period of 1 year up to 23 July 2023.
• The new measures, which apply until 24 July 2024, remove the tariff rate quotas for seven agricultural products for which exports from Moldova into the EU are not yet fully liberalised under the association agreement: plums, table grapes, apples, tomatoes, garlic, cherries and grape juice. The 2023 regulation also removes the entry price system for certain agricultural products and thereby fully liberalises the import of all these products to the EU.
• The European Commission closely monitors the impact of Regulation (EU) 2023/1524 and is given the power to adopt implementing acts to temporarily suspend the trade-liberalisation measures where EU producers of ‘like’ or ‘directly competing’ products are adversely affected by the imports. The Committee on Safeguards, set up under Regulation (EU) 2015/478 on common rules for imports to the EU (see summary), will assist the Commission in this regard.