MFAEI sent protest note to BiH Embassy in Zagreb over BiH Parliamentary Assembly’s passing of Act on Protection of Domestic Production

The note read that said Act is directed against the free trade with Croatia as part of CEFTA. It also recalled an earlier note from February 25th 2009, a letter by Croatian Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Labor and Entrepreneurship Damir Polančec from April 2009, and a letter by Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Gordan Jandroković from May 2009, which repeatedly gave arguments for the harmfulness of unjustifiably passing a protectionist and discriminating act by which Bosnia and Herzegovina violated the obligation it has assumed having acceded to CEFTA.

The Ministry expressed special concern over the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina had not taken into account the relevant arguments and facts about the unjustifiability of imposing protective measures, and had not respected the CEFTA-prescribed procedure of consulting with the country affected by the domestic market protection measures. The Republic of Croatia deems that by such unsuitable conduct Bosnia and Herzegovina has proven it does not respect the international obligations towards a neighboring country that is offering it great support in numerous areas of cooperation.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration deems that such conduct runs counter to the spirit of good-neighborly cooperation and will have consequences of the overall relations between the two countries.