The South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) was signed in 2004, but came into force on 01 January, 2006. Original member countries were Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri-Lanka. Later, Afghanistan acceded to the Agreement through approval at the Fifteenth SAARC Summit held in Colombo on 2-3 August 2008.
The SAFTA Agreement also has a common Rules of Origin (RoO) for determining the eligibility to tariff benefits available under the Agreement.
To download the Agreement on SAFTA, the SAFTA Rules of Origin and its Product Specific Rules, click on the download links on the right side menu.
Trade liberalization program (TLP) under SAFTA commenced on 1 July 2006. Member countries maintain a sensitive list, and products appearing in the sensitive lists will not enjoy tariff concessions. Under the trade liberalization program (TLP), all SAARC countries have been implementing SAFTA by issuing necessary customs notifications. These notifications issued by other member countries allow Bangladeshi exporters to receive tariff concessions if they export their products to those countries.
To download the latest TLP notifications under SAFTA issued by Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, click on the respective documents below:
For more details and updated information on SAFTA issues, visit www.saarc-sec.org.
Afghanistan TLP Notification under SAFTA
Sri Lanka TLP Notification under SAFTA
SAFTA Rules of Origin (Annex IV of SAFTA Agreement)
Product Specific Rules (Annex A of Annex-IV of SAFTA Agreement
Pakistan TLP Notification under SAFTA
Nepal TLP Notification under SAFTA
Maldives TLP Notification under SAFTA
India Revised Sensitive List for NLDCs
India Revised Sensitive List for LDCs
Bhutan TLP Notification under SAFTA
SAPTA/SAFTA Certificate of Origin-authorized officials in INDIA