European Enlargement Commissioner Oli Rehn signed the protocol on behalf of the European Commission, and Dutch Agriculture Minister Cees Weerman signed it on behalf of the Dutch presidency of the European Union.
This is the first document to have been signed by Zagreb and the EU after Croatia last week was given the exact date for the start of membership talks with the European bloc next March.
After signing the document, Minister Cobankovic said today's event presented an important step in Croatia's institutionalised association with the EU. He added that the protocol confirmed favourable conditions for Croatia's export to the EU market.
Cobankovic said that his country had made progress in its efforts to enter the EU, and that the government would continue fulfilling all the criteria necessary for admission to the European bloc.
The EU commissioner and the Dutch minister praised Croatia as a country that set an example in the Balkans and voiced hope that Croatia would become an EU member as soon as possible.
Protocol VII has been applied as a provisional document since 1 May this year when the EU admitted ten new members, and it will officially go into force on 1 February 2005, together with the Stabilisation and Association Agreement.
Under Protocol VII, Croatia can export without quantity quotas and tariffs all agricultural produce and food products, except for baby beef, certain wines and some sorts of fish and fish products for which tariff quotas were set.
The protocol also increases to some extent trade concessions for exports from the 25 EU members to Croatia, covering 60 groups of products, including live animals, some sorts of meat and dairy products, some kinds of fruit and vegetables, confectionery, nonalcoholic drinks, and wines.
There is no increase in concessions for 21 categories of products which Croatia imports from the EU.
The protocol retains the asymmetry of trade concessions to the benefit of Croatia, which should facilitate the integration of the Croatian agricultural sector with the EU until the country is admitted as a full member.