If Croatia does not change the Regulation, BiH, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia will retaliate

A meeting of competent ministers from the region regarding the entry into force of the Regulation on inspection supervision and control of conformity of fruits and vegetables with market standards in the Republic of Croatia was held today in Sarajevo at the invitation of the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, Mirko Šarović. Ministers from BiH, Serbia, Macedonia, and Montenegro signed a joint letter that will be sent to the European Commission during the day, and they called on Croatia to urgently abolish the discriminatory provisions, writes the Patria agency.

They called on Croatia to align the price of inspection supervision with the actual costs of the procedure and the average prices in the countries of the region and the EU.

They called on the European Commission to get involved in resolving the problem in accordance with the provisions of the SAP, and stated that until a final solution is reached, each country will take measures and mechanisms it deems appropriate. They also requested an urgent meeting with the Croatian minister due to the consequences, as they want to avoid the worst-case scenario so as not to enter into a chain of measures and counter-measures by neighbors.

Rasim Ljajić, Minister of Foreign and Internal Trade and Telecommunications of Serbia, Dragica Sekulić, Minister of Economy of Montenegro, and Ljupčo Nikolovski, Minister of Agriculture in the Government of Macedonia, arrived in Sarajevo.

Croatia, through the Regulation, prescribed the introduction of inspection supervision and control of a larger number of types of fruits and vegetables imported from third countries and determined a 22-fold increase in the fee for inspection supervision and control of conformity of fruits and vegetables with market standards when importing from third countries.

The fee for each performed inspection supervision or control and each individual type of fruit and vegetable during the inspection in Croatia amounts to 2,000 kuna (270 euros), while it previously amounted to 90 kuna (12 euros). With this Regulation, Croatia has further burdened businesses from BiH and the countries of the region.