PURPOSE: to conclude an Agreement in the form of an
Exchange of Letters between the European Union and China pursuant
to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 relating
to the modification of concessions in the schedule of Croatia in
the course of its accession to the European Union.
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the Council may adopt
the act only if Parliament has given its consent to the
act.
BACKGROUND: with the accession of Croatia, the
European Union enlarged its customs union. Consequently, it was
required under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules (Article XXIV:6
of the GATT 1994) to enter into negotiations with WTO Members
having negotiating rights related to the tariff schedule of Croatia
in order to eventually agree on a compensatory
adjustment.
On 15 July 2013, the Council authorised the Commission
to open negotiations under Article
XXIV:6 of the GATT 1994. The Commission has negotiated
with the Members of the WTO holding negotiating rights, the issue
of the withdrawal of specific concessions in relation to the
withdrawal of the schedule of Croatia in the course of its
accession to the EU.
Negotiations with China resulted in a draft
Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters that was initialled
on 7 October 2015 in Brussels. It is now appropriate to
conclude the Agreement.
CONTENT: the proposal requires the Council to adopt a
decision to conclude the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of
Letters with China. In parallel, a separate proposal on the
signature of the Agreement is also submitted.
Negotiations with China resulted in an Agreement
containing the following points:
- an increase of the volumes of the existing quotas
allocated to China for garlic (increased by 2 150 tonnes)
and mushrooms (increased by 650 tonnes, net
weight);
- a EU tariff reduction of -0.1% for footwear
classified in tariff line 6404 19 90 (lowering the current bound EU
duty of 17 % to 16.9%);
- a EU tariff reduction of -0.2% for air conditioning
machines classified in tariff line 8415 10 90 (lowering the
current bound EU duty of 2.7 % to 2.5%).
It is envisaged that these measures will become
effective by the second half of 2016.