Serbia and North Macedonia have inked a Protocol for the implementation of a Memorandum on measures to enhance the movement of people and goods, significantly facilitating and accelerating traffic across their shared national border.
The Protocol, signed in Niš, aims to speed up customs procedures conducted by the customs authorities at the joint Preševo-Tabanovce crossing, potentially doubling the flow of freight vehicles through this checkpoint.
“The Protocol, effective from 1st February, will notably hasten the flow of goods and customs processes, reducing the external trade costs for businesses. This continues our commitment to the Open Balkan initiative, strongly promoting the competitiveness of our countries’ economies,” highlighted Branko Radujko, Director of the Customs Administration, who signed the document on behalf of Serbia.
Stefan Bogoev, from the North Macedonian Customs Administration, added that as part of the Open Balkans, the recognition of certificates for freight vehicle measurement between the two countries’ customs administrations will be applied. This means that freight vehicles won’t need to be remeasured upon entering either of the two states.
Upon entry into North Macedonia’s customs territory, only the recording of border crossing and arrival of goods will be conducted. The same applies to exports from one country to the other, provided that an export declaration is accompanied by a weighing certificate stamped by the exporting country’s customs administration.
Cargoes accompanied by a weighing certificate stamped by customs authorities and a transit accompanying document with an MRN for the common transit procedure – T1, will be directed to a special traffic lane marked Open Balkan and Transit at the Preševo-Tabanovce border crossing.
This priority lane applies to every carrier, exporter, or importer registered in any of the Open Balkan initiative member countries, as well as to all holders of the Authorized Economic Operator status from any of the Open Balkan countries.