Activites

• 2013/06/18 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Regulation 2013/527
  • OJ L 165 18.06.2013, p. 0059
• 2013/05/21 Final act signed
• 2013/05/21 End of procedure in Parliament
• #3237
• 2013/05/13 Council Meeting
• 2013/04/16 Results of vote in Parliament
  • Results of vote in Parliament
  • T7-0112/2013 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a legislative resolution on the Council position at first reading with a view to the adoption of a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Annex I to Council Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007 as regards the exclusion of a number of countries from the list of regions or states which have concluded negotiations. Parliament adopted its position at second reading, following the ordinary legislative procedure, which amends the Council position. The amendment adopted by the Parliament concerns the conditions as regards the delegation of power conferred on the Commission to adopt delegated acts : the power to adopt delegated acts shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years from  the date of entry into force of this Regulation (tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration) and the Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later than nine months before the end of the five- year period.

• 2013/03/25 Committee recommendation tabled for plenary, 2nd reading
  • A7-0123/2013 summary

    The Committee on International Trade adopted the report by David MARTIN (S&D, UK) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Annex I to Council Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007 as regards the exclusion of a number of countries from the list of regions or states which have concluded negotiations. The committee recommends that the position of the European Parliament, adopted in first reading following the ordinary legislative procedure, should amend the Commission proposal as follows: Delegated acts: Members propose limiting the delegation of power conferred on the Commission to five years from the entry into force of the Regulation (period may be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration) and obliging the Commission to draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later than nine months before the end of the five- year period. Entry into force: Members propose that the Regulation shall apply as from 1 October 2014.

• 2013/03/21 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
• 2013/01/17 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 2nd reading
• #3210
• 2012/12/11 Council Meeting
  • 15519/1/2012 summary

    In accordance with the political agreement reached on 22 October 2012, the Council adopted its position in first reading on the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Annex I to Council Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007 as regards the exclusion of a number of countries from the list of regions or states which have concluded negotiations on an economic partnership agreement. Council position: overall, the Council supports the Commission proposal with a technical adjustment related to the insertion of Zimbabwe in Annex I to Council Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007. At the time when the Commission submitted its proposal, 18 countries, including the Zimbabwe, had not taken the necessary steps towards ratifying the Economic Partnership Agreements. However, in spring 2012, Zimbabwe notified the deposit of the instrument of ratification of the Interim Economic Partnership Agreement. This is why the Council adds Zimbabwe to Annex I of the amended Regulation. EP amendments: on 13 September 2012, the European Parliament adopted its position at first reading introducing several amendments to the proposal: Timetable for entry into force: with regard to the postponement of the date of entry into force of the Regulation from 1 January 2016 instead of 1 January 2014, the Council shares the Commission’s approach that the initially proposed timetable gives those potentially affected countries the time to implement an Economic Partnership Agreement and thus maintain their current access to the EU. Consequently the Council could not accept this EP amendment. Delegation of powers: as for the powers conferred on the Commission, the European Parliament has emphasised the need to be properly involved in the preparation and implementation of delegated acts by limiting the delegation of power conferred on the Commission for a period of five years, and asking the Commission to draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later than nine months before the end of the five-year period. The European Parliament suggests that the delegation of power should be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period. The European Parliament also suggests that the European Parliament and Council should have four months (rather than two) to object to a delegated act. The Council shares the Commission’s approach regarding the powers conferred on the Commission and, consequently, the Council could not accept EP amendments on the delegation of power. In conclusion, the Council supports the Commission proposal with a technical adjustment in order to reflect the introduction of Zimbabwe in Annex I to Council Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007. It looks forward to constructive discussions with the European Parliament at second reading with a view to the early adoption of the Regulation.

• #3193
• 2012/10/22 Council Meeting
• 2012/09/13 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T7-0342/2012 summary

    The European Parliament adopted by 322 votes to 78 with 218 abstentions a legislative resolution on the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Annex I to Council Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007 as regards the exclusion of a number of countries from the list of regions or states which have concluded negotiations. Parliament adopted its position on first reading following the ordinary legislative procedure. The main amendments are as follows: Postponement of the date of entry into force of the Regulation: Parliament wants the Regulation to apply from 1 January 2016 rather than 2014. It considers that the proposed timetable is unrealistic and is far too short to permit the satisfactory conclusion of the negotiations under way on the partnership agreements. Date of application: the Regulation will apply from 1 January 2016, rather than 2014. Powers conferred on the Commission: Parliament made the following amendments: it emphasised the need for the European Parliament to be duly involved in preparation and implementation of delegated acts; the delegation of power shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years (rather than for an indeterminate period, as the Commission had proposed); the Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later than nine months before the end of the five-year period. The delegation of power shall be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period; the European Parliament and Council will have four months (rather than two) to object to a delegated act. It should be noted that the plenary session rejected a proposal from the GUE/NGL group to reject the Commission’s proposal by 98 votes for, 510 against, with 9 abstentions.

• 2012/09/12 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2012/06/25 Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading
  • A7-0207/2012 summary

    The Committee on International Trade adopted the report by David MARTIN (S&D, UK) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Annex I to Council Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007 as regards the exclusion of a number of countries from the list of regions or states which have concluded negotiations. The committee recommends that the European Parliament’s position in first reading following the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the Commission proposal as follows: Powers conferred on the Commission: the committee made the following amendments: ·        it emphasised the need for the European Parliament to be duly involved in preparation and implementation of delegated acts; ·        the delegation of power shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years (rather than for an indeterminate period, as the Commission had proposed); ·        the Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later than nine months before the end of the five-year period. The delegation of power shall be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period; ·        the European Parliament and Council will have four months (rather than two) to object to a delegated act. Date of application: the Regulation will apply from 1 January 2016, rather than 2014.

• 2012/06/21 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• 2011/10/12 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2011/09/30 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(2011)0598 summary

    PURPOSE : to amend the list of countries that benefit from trade preferences by removing those which have still not taken the necessary steps towards ratification of an Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA)  from Annex I of Council Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007. PROPOSED ACT : Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.BACKGROUND : Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007 granted a number of countries duty-free, quota-free access to the EU market under certain conditions. After the negotiation process of the EPA with the ACP regions was concluded in December of 2007, a number of countries were offered such access in anticipation of the steps towards ratification of an EPA. However, several countries have neither taken the necessary steps towards ratification of an EPA nor concluded comprehensive regional negotiations. Accordingly, the proposal intends to remove those countries which have not signed their Agreements or have not ratified their agreements.IMPACT ASSESSMENT : no impact assessment was undertaken.LEGAL BASIS : Article 207(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning  of the European Union.CONTENT : the following States have not taken steps towards the completion of their respective agreements and will be removed from Annex I of Council Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007:Botswana;Burundi;Cameroon;the Comoros;Côte d’Ivoire;the Fiji Islands;Ghana;Haiti;Kenya;Lesotho;Mozambique;Namibia;Rwanda;Swaziland;Tanzania;Uganda;Zambia;Zimbabwe.  According to the criteria set out in Article 2(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007, trade preferences granted to these countries should no longer be maintained. The Commission will continue to work with a view to ensuring that these countries become a contracting party to an EPA, and will use to the full the recent momentum of different negotiations to create a sustainable long term trade regime with these partners in keeping with the EPA negotiating directives and the priorities set out in the Cotonou Agreement.  The Commission has informed the Council, the European Parliament, the ACP Group of States and civil society that the current situation is not sustainable, as duty-free quota-free market access is still granted to beneficiary countries which are not taking the necessary steps towards ratification of the agreements on which this access is based, thus removing the justification for its advance provisional application.Delegated acts: should the countries removed from Annex I take the necessary steps towards ratification of an EPA, they would continue to benefit from the respective trade preferences and could therefore be re-instated in the Annex as soon as possible in order to provide continuity of their market access. To this end the Commission should be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 290 of the TFEU for the purpose of amending Annex I in order to reinstate these countries. The proposal states that the delegation of power shall be conferred on the Commission for an indeterminate period of time and may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council. A delegated act shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or the Council within a period of 2 months and that period shall be extended by 2 months at the initiative of the European Parliament or the Council.BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS: the proposal has no financial impact on expenditure but has a financial impact on revenue – the effect is as follows: the amount budgeted for the year 2011: EUR 16 653 700 000. Own resources (customs duties) will increase by EUR 381.60 million for each year from 2014 to 2016 inclusive. The reason is that if a country is removed from a list of beneficiaries, it will export to the EU under a different trade regime which is either less favourable or at best equal to the regime offered by the Regulation, resulting in more customs duties being collected on behalf of the EU. The calculation of impact on the EU budget takes the situation created by Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007 as the status quo (duty-free, quota-free access to the EU market, no duties paid). Then, for each country concerned, it compares the  status quo  to duties paid under an alternative trade regime each country will enjoy once removed from the list of beneficiaries, which is as follows:  for least-developed countries (LDCs): the Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme, offering duty-free, quota-free access to the EU market (no duties paid); for upper-middle-income countries (UMICs): the most-favoured-nation (MFN) treatment (duties paid as per general EU tariff schedule);for other developing countries (DCs): the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) that suspends or reduces tariffs (some duties paid, some at a reduced rate). The final impact on the EU budget will depend on the number of countries removed from the list of beneficiaries. The amendment proposes to remove 18 countries from Annex I, of which 9 would not benefit from the EBA scheme and therefore their exports to the EU would be subject to a duty. However, if they fulfill certain conditions before the amendment takes effect on 1 January 2014, they will continue to benefit from current trade preferences. In this respect, the figure given is a maximum, as it assumes all 9 concerned countries will be removed: in fact, if a country continues to benefit from the Regulation, the customs duties will not accrue to the EU budget and the figure will be lower.

  • DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/trade/', 'title': 'Trade'}, DE GUCHT Karel

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(2011)0598
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A7-0207/2012
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T7-0342/2012
• Council position published: 15519/1/2012
• Committee recommendation tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A7-0123/2013
• Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading: T7-0112/2013
• : Regulation 2013/527
• : OJ L 165 18.06.2013, p. 0059

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)