On 18 December 1989, in Brussels, the European Economic Community, the European Atomic Energy Community and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics signed the Agreement on trade and commercial and economic cooperation. Signatories: Roland Dumas, President-in-Office of the Council of the European Communities; Frans Andriessen, Vice-President of the Commission, for the EEC and for Euratom; Eduard Shevardnadze, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the USSR. Publication: OJ L 68, 15.3.1990, p. 3–17, CELEX 21990A0315(01). Ten authentic texts: Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian (Article 26).

The preamble recognises the wish for direct contractual relations, the Helsinki Final Act and the CSCE documents, the Joint Declaration of 25 June 1988 between the EEC and the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, and the economic restructuring under way in the USSR. Article 1: within their respective laws, the Parties shall use their best endeavours to facilitate the harmonious development and diversification of trade and of commercial and economic cooperation. Article 2: it applies to goods originating in the Community or in the USSR, except products covered by the ECSC Treaty; the textile agreement initialled on 11 December remains distinct.

Article 3: most-favoured-nation treatment as regards customs duties, customs clearance, warehouses and transhipment, internal taxes, methods of payment and the transfer of such payments, and the rules relating to the sale, purchase, transport, distribution and use of goods on the domestic market. It does not apply to advantages for a customs union or free-trade area, GATT arrangements in favour of developing countries, or frontier-zone trade. Article 5: the USSR shall grant imports originating in the Community non-discriminatory treatment as regards quantitative restrictions, licences and the allocation of the currency needed to pay for such imports.

Article 8: the Community undertakes to make efforts towards the progressive abolition of the specific quantitative restrictions applied under Regulation (EEC) No 3420/83, to eliminate within one year of entry into force the restrictions listed in Annex I, and to suspend, on the terms specified, those in Annex II. Article 11: remaining specific quantitative restrictions by 31 December 1995 at the latest, except a limited number of products that might be deemed sensitive. Article 14: goods shall be treated at market-related prices. Article 15: safeguard consultations not later than thirty days after a request, except in critical circumstances.

Articles 20 and 21: economic cooperation in areas of mutual interest, without affecting the powers of the Member States to conclude bilateral economic cooperation agreements with the USSR. Article 22: a joint committee, recommendations by mutual consent, once a year, alternately in Brussels and Moscow. Article 24: the Agreement applies to the territories of the Community Treaties and to the territory of the USSR. Article 25: it enters into force on the first day of the second month following mutual notification that the necessary legal procedures have been completed; an initial period of ten years, automatic yearly renewal, denunciation on six months’ written notice. Notifications were exchanged on 28 February 1990; entry into force: 1 April 1990.

Later partnership and cooperation agreements with successor States replaced this text for most of them; this is not a 2026 status list.

Rond-point Schuman and the Berlaymont, Brussels, the city of signature, not the signing room. Wikimedia Commons, free licence.

For context: EEC–Soviet Union cooperation agreement. The text: Agreement EEC–Euratom–USSR (OJ L 68).