Free movement of goods

On 1 January 2004, the Agreement amending the Protocol to the Europe Agreement between the Czech Republic and the EC on conformity assessment and acceptance of industrial products (PECA) entered into force.

The PECA Protocol, including its Annexes, as a part of the Europe Agreement between the Czech Republic and the EC, was concluded on 4 April 2001 and published as a Council Decision of the same day.

The purpose of the PECA Protocol is to eliminate technical barriers to trade between countries in respect of industrial products. It provides for mutual acceptance of industrial products listed in the Annexes on mutual acceptance of industrial products that satisfy the requirements to be lawfully placed on the market in one of the states that are parties to the Europe Agreement; furthermore it provides for mutual recognition of the results of conformity assessment of industrial products.

Until recently, the application of Article 8 of the PECA Protocol was restricted to industrial products that originated in the parties of the Europe Agreement according to so called non-preferential rules of origin. In order to improve trade between the parties of the Europe Agreement, the above restriction of Article 8 disappeared as of 1 January 2004. Consequently, the PECA Protocol currently covers all industrial products regardless of their origin.