Foreign trade

Foreign trade is considered to be trade with countries outside the European Union, i.e. with third countries, and therefore all bilateral or regional agreements concluded by the European Union that promote trade are valid in Estonia. 

The development of the legal framework for foreign trade takes place primarily through the World Trade Organisation (WTO), in which Estonia and other member states are represented by the European Commission. The competence of the Commission is to shape the foreign trade policy of the European Union, which essentially means that the member states give the Commission a mandate to conduct negotiations, on the basis of which the Commission, in turn, makes proposals to the Council for the implementation of a common foreign trade policy. 

In Estonia, the organisation of foreign trade policy is divided between different ministries:

• The competence of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications is mainly to formulate the trade policy for industrial products. The ministry officials participate in the Council of Europe’s Working Party on Trade Questions (WPTQ) and Trade Policy Committee (Services and Investment) (TPC S&I), as well as in the expert groups of the European Commission's technical trade barriers (technical norms, standards, conformity assessment procedures), trade defence instruments, and the Market Access Advisory Committee.
• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for coordinating the general foreign trade policy and negotiating agreements with third countries, as well as for the control of strategic goods and the implementation of international sanctions.
• The Ministry of Finance deals with the formulation of tax and customs policy and issues related to rules of origin.
• The Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture is responsible for issues related to the common market organisation of agricultural products (both internal market organisation (quotas, subsidies, etc.) and trade with third countries (import, export, as well as sanitary and phytosanitary measures).