The Bill was presented by Nadica Pantovic of the Ministry of Finance who said that the under the Bill on the Confirmation of the Amendments to International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System of 1983 with amendment of 1986, the Republic of Serbia, as a signatory party, pledges that, from the day the Convention enters into force, its Customs Tariff nomenclature and statistical nomenclature will be adjusted to the Harmonized System, and is obliged to implement the other provisions of the Convention. In accordance with the abovementioned procedure, the Depositary of this Convention informed the Contracting Parties by letter of the Secretary-General on 5 February 2020 to accept the Recommendation of the Council adopted at its 132nd session on 30 June 2018, to amend Article 8 of the Convention. The recommendation refers to limiting the number of proposals for reconsideration to two, which can be submitted to the Commentary, decisions on classification, other opinions for the interpretation of the Harmonized System and recommendations for ensuring uniformity in the interpretation and application of the Harmonized System. The aim of the proposed amendments is to establish a procedure that facilitates the reconsideration of an issue by the Harmonized System Committee or referral to the Council and to limit the possibility of Contracting Parties to object to any of these issues, to a maximum of two times, in order to avoid objections and thus complicate and slow down the decision-making process in cases essential for uniform practice in the classification of certain goods in all members.

The Committee members unanimously accepted the Bill and moved to propose that the National Assembly adopt it.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairperson Dr Aleksandra Tomic and attended by the following Committee members and deputy members: Zoltan Pek, Bratimir Vasiljevic, Veroljub Arsic, Velibor Milojicic, Sonja Vlahovic, Nikola Vojinovic, Ugljesa Markovic, Ana Carapic, Prof. Dr Vladimir Marinkovic, Dusko Tarbuk, Olivera Pesic and Dr Boban Birmancevic.