PURPOSE: codification of Council Regulation (EC) No
3286/94 of 22 December 1994 laying down Community procedures in the
field of the common commercial policy in order to ensure the
exercise of the Community's rights under international trade rules,
in particular those established under the auspices of the World
Trade Organization (WTO).
PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament
and of the Council.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European
Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative
procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.
CONTENT: in the interests of clarity and rationality,
the purpose of this proposal is to undertake a codification of
Council Regulation (EC) No 3286/94 laying down Community
procedures in the field of the common commercial policy in order to
ensure the exercise of the Community's rights under international
trade rules, in particular those established under the auspices of
the World Trade Organization.
Council Regulation (EC) No 3286/946 has been
substantially amended several times. It is recalled that on 1 April
1987, the Commission decided to instruct its staff that all acts
should be codified after no more than ten amendments, stressing
that this is a minimum requirement. The Edinburgh European Council
(December 1992) confirmed this requirement, stressing the
importance of codification.
The European Parliament, the Council and the
Commission have agreed, by an interinstitutional agreement dated 20
December 1994, that an accelerated procedure may be used for the
fast-track adoption of codification instruments.
The new Regulation will supersede the various acts
incorporated in it; this proposal fully preserves the content of
the acts being codified and hence does no more than bring them
together with only such formal amendments as are required by the
codification exercise itself.