Kosovo's Controversial 100 Percent Tariff: An Analysis of Its Imposition and the Issues Bleeding Into the Conflict Between Kosovo and Serbia

Authors

Ernira Mehmetaj

First Page

879

Abstract

On November 6, 2018, Kosovo imposed a 10 percent tariff on products imported from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Later that month, on November 28, 2018, after Kosovo was denied membership in the International Criminal Police Organization, Kosovo increased the custom tariffs on Serbian and Bosnian goods from 10 to 100 percent. These actions resulted in a standstill of the European Union–mandated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue—a dialogue seeking to normalize the relations between the two states. Having the tumultuous history shared by Kosovo and Serbia as a backdrop, this Note analyzes the international agreements Kosovo is party to, specifically the Central European Free Trade Agreement and the Stabilization and Association Agreement. It further discusses whether Kosovo violated the same when imposing the tariff. With pressure from the international community to abolish the tariff completely, Kosovo temporary lifted the 100 percent tariff on raw materials imported from Serbia and imposed reciprocity measures. However, with this only occurring a few days after Kosovo’s Assembly passed a motion of no confidence, plunging Kosovo into constitutional chaos, the next steps Kosovo takes with regards to the tariff will weigh heavily on not only Kosovo’s future, but the international community as a whole.

Recommended Citation

Ernira Mehmetaj, Kosovo's Controversial 100 Percent Tariff: An Analysis of Its Imposition and the Issues Bleeding Into the Conflict Between Kosovo and Serbia, 45 Brook. J. Int'l L. 879 (2020).
Available at: https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/bjil/vol45/iss2/8