Commonwealth of Independent States Agreement on the Establishment of a Free Trade Area information

Agreement on the Establishment of a Free Trade Area (Russian: Соглашение о создании зоны свободной торговли), Protocol on Amendments and Additions to the Agreement on the Establishment of a Free Trade Area of 15 April 1994 (Russian: Протокол о внесении изменений и дополнений в Соглашение о создании зоны свободной торговли от 15 апреля 1994 года)
Type	Free-trade area
Member states	Armenia  Azerbaijan  Belarus  Georgia  Kazakhstan  Kyrgyzstan  Moldova  Russia (only provisional application of the 1994 agreement and the signatory of the protocol)  Tajikistan  Turkmenistan (only provisional application of the 1994 agreement and has not signed the protocol)  Ukraine  Uzbekistan
Establishment
• Agreement signed	15 April 1994
• Protocol on multilateral free trade signed	2 April 1999
• Multilateral Free Trade Area established	24 November 1999

The Agreement on the Establishment of a Free Trade Area (Russian: Соглашение о создании зоны свободной торговли) is an international agreement on the intention to create a free trade regime in goods signed by 12 post-Soviet states on 15 April 1994, at a meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Council of Heads of State in Moscow and entered into force on December 30, 1994.^[1] Article 1 indicated that this was "the first stage of the creation of the Economic Union" (earlier envisaged by the Treaty on the creation of an Economic Union signed on 24 September 1993 by Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan which were later joined by Turkmenistan and Georgia^[2]), but on 2 April 1999 the countries agreed to remove this phrase from the agreement.^[3] Article 17 also confirmed the intention to conclude a free trade agreement in services^[1] (later it will be launched in 2012 as a part of Eurasian Economic Space and through 2023 agreement within CIS framework).

The 1994 Agreement introduced the freedom of transit of goods, provided for cooperation in several areas, served as a framework for bilateral agreements and, at the first stage, introduced a bilateral free trade regime for the subsequent transition to a multilateral free trade regime.^[4] According to the executive committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States, as of 2023, the Agreement is in force for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine which signed and deposited the notification of ratification / execution of national procedures, while Russia and Turkmenistan have signed and notified the provisional application of the Agreement. ^[1]

On 2 April 1999, in Moscow, the presidents of 11 countries, namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine signed a Protocol on Amendments and Additions to the Agreement on the Establishment of a Free Trade Area of 15 April 1994 (Russian: Протокол о внесении изменений и дополнений в Соглашение о создании зоны свободной торговли от 15 апреля 1994 года). Turkmenistan did not participate. The Protocol entered into force on 24 November 1999 for those countries that had completed ratification. As of 2023, the Protocol has entered into force for all countries, namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine, except Russia, which remains a signatory but has not notified entry into force or provisional application. According to the analytical material of the executive committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the 1999 Protocol replaced the existing bilateral free trade regime with a multilateral regime.

The World Trade Organization was notified on June 29, 1999. The Agreement is designated as "Plurilateral" and "In Force" as of 2023.^[5] The terms of the FTA allow member states to enter into the FTA agreements with other countries, as well as to join/create custom unions.^[6] Although the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union have delegated their powers to conclude free trade agreements to the supranational level,^[7] according to the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union (Article 102), the previous agreements with third countries concluded before 1 January 2015 continue to be in force.^[8] Like other Commonwealth of Independent States agreements, this agreement does not regulate relations with third countries and allows differentiated integration (aka à la carte and multi-speed Europe).

The WTO's Regional Trade Agreements Information System indicates Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as "Current signatories".^[5] This contradicts the information provided by the CIS and the countries themselves.