Announcements

The project started on August 15, 2011 and will last 30 months, until 15th February 2014. The value of ther project is 2.65 mil. EUR. Project office is in the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development of Serbia, B. Kralja Aleksandra 15, room 201.  

The overall objective of the project is as follows:

To facilitate harmonisation of the legislative framework and implementing mechanisms in the field of free movement of goods (Chapter 1 of the EU acquis). In close cooperation with the CEFTA parties and CEFTA Secretariat, the project will enhance trade amongst beneficiaries and between the beneficiaries and the EU with a view to improving the competitiveness of the regional economy pre-accession.

The project builds on the results of and continues the work carried out under the IPA 2008 project Quality Infrastructure in the Western Balkans and Turkey which was finalized in June 2011. 

The common areas of quality infrastructure have been identified and are based on the results of previous and present assistance programmes and completed assessments.

The purposes of the project are as follows:

1. Through regional networking initiatives and training, to improve the capabilities of ministries, quality infrastructure bodies and other institutions which are implementing strategies to comply with Chapter 1 of the EU acquis, enabling them to offer industry services to provide the tools to trade in the EU market, as well as in the markets of the beneficiaries.

2. Through regional proficiency testing schemes, improve confidence in products tested in beneficiary countries’ laboratories, whose performance will be benchmarked with each other and with EU counterparts.

3. Contribute to the removal of technical barriers to trade between beneficiaries and the EU; and, through the CEFTA Working Group on Technical Barriers to Trade, contribute to the removal of technical barriers to trade between beneficiaries.

Specific activities:

Activity 1 - Assessments

Activity 2 - Proficiency Testing

Activity 3 - Training

Activity 4 - Networking.