EU trade deal with Syria

European Union ministers have been asked by the European Commission to approve a wide-ranging trade deal with Syria, removing mutual duties on many leather lines and related products. Tariffs on Syrian exports to the EU would be scrapped once this EU-Syria Association Agreement came into force, with some Syrian import duties being removed more gradually. Assuming formal approval by the EU Council of Ministers, liberalised leather commodities would include bovine hides and skins (tanned, fresh or wet-salted), bovine leather, raw and tanned skins of sheep or lambs and leather from these species, goat skins and other key industry products. Leather tanning solutions, pigments, dyes and polishes, un-tanned leather scraps, sod oil (a tanning residue) and other wastes are also covered. Syrian duties would be scrapped, either immediately or within three, six, nine or twelve years, depending on their size.