Approaches to Defining “Sensitive Goods” and Conducting Free Trade Negotiations

Abstract

The crisis of the multilateral trading system has triggered a new wave of bilateral and plurilateral alliances based on preferential treatment in the most important areas of trade. In these conditions, an extremely important issue is identifying goods eligible for liberalization taking into account the “sensitivity” in trade with a specific partner. From the perspective of foreign economic activity, there are several interpretations of the “sensitive goods” concept: logistical perspective (specifics of transportation and insurance); customs perspective (high risk of fraud, tax evasion, etc.); export control perspective (goods requiring mandatory verification under export control regulations). The approaches considered in this article can be applied to all types of goods and are crucial for negotiating free trade agreements (FTA) involving Russia and EAEU countries, as they help to determine the scope of preferential treatment to be granted.