As part of the measures to be undertaken to mitigate disruptions in transport and trade of goods caused by precautionary measures for containing the COVID-19 outbreak, CEFTA Parties earlier instructed the Secretariat to undertake necessary actions to facilitate transport and trade of goods within the CEFTA region.
After yesterday’s CEFTA Coordination Body on-line meeting, the CEFTA Secretariat announced that the green lane concept implementation will start on 13 April 2020 at the designated crossing points, and will gradually expand as the other designated crossing points fulfil required conditions.
The meeting gathered representatives of customs administrations, ministries in charge of trade of the CEFTA Parties, the CEFTA Secretariat, the Permanent Secretariat of the Transport Community and the Western Balkans 6 Chamber Investment Forum (WB6 CIF).
The green lanes will be open to all goods, while the traffic flow shall be guaranteed through 24/7 operations at the designated crossing points where custom and other required proceedings shall be performed in the most efficient way.
In order to prioritize the flow of the most essential goods, the CEFTA Secretariat prepared a list that has been endorsed by the CEFTA Parties on Friday the 10th of April. The CEFTA list contains the most essential food and feed products, and medical supplies as defined in the World Customs Organisation. Depending on the needs of the Parties the list of the essential goods may be reassessed and modified.
The System of Electronic Exchange of Data (SEED), which supports the electronic exchange of pre-arrival information between customs administrations within CEFTA has been upgraded, and will be used to accelerate the process of clearance of essential goods of first necessity. The SEED system will electronically send information about the arrival of consignments of essential goods in advance to all agencies involved in the clearance of goods, so that the agencies can prepare and that those consignments can be given priority passage.
CEFTA list of essential goods
Intra-CEFTA border crossing points (green lanes crossing points bolded)
Sanitary measures implemented at the crossing points in CEFTA – 9 April
