December 22 (SeeNews) - The European Union (EU) has extended the validity of the duty-free regime for the import of fruits and vegetables from the countries of the Western Balkans until the end of 2025, it said.
Fruits and vegetables originating in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia shall be admitted for import into the EU without quantitative restrictions and with exemption from customs duties until December 31, 2025, the EU said in a notice in the December 21 edition of its Official Journal.
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In an amendment of the regulation introducing exceptional trade measures for countries and territories participating in or linked to the EU Stabilisation and Association Process, the bloc also allowed the Western Balkan countries to export an additional 30,000 hectoliters of wine per year, above the quotas approved by the EU for the Western Balkan economies individually.
"The more favorable trade regime, for the extension of which the joint chamber of commerce of the region advocated in communication with the institutions in Brussels, is especially important for small and medium enterprises - producers and exporters of fruits and vegetables from fresh apples and plums to sweet corn. The savings of several tens of millions of euros in custom duties give them an advantage over the competition," the president of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Marko Cadez, said in a statement on Monday.
According to the previous amendment to the regulation, the duty-free regime for imports of fruits and vegetables from the Western Balkans was to expire at the end of 2020.