PURPOSE: to allow the EU to accede to the
International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC).
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the Council may only
adopt the act if Parliament has approved it.
BACKGROUND: the International Cotton Advisory
Committee (ICAC) is the International Commodity Body (ICB) for
cotton. Its mission is to assist governments in fostering a healthy
world cotton economy. ICAC acts as a statistical observer and
brings together producing, consuming, and trading countries and all
segments of the cotton industry. It has an overall facilitating
role. To date, the ICAC is one of the few ICBs1 where the European
Union is not a member, whereas nine Member States have been members
of the ICAC in their own right (Belgium, Germany, Greece, Finland,
France, Italy, Netherlands, Poland and Spain).
Membership of ICAC is in
the interest of the Union, owing to the significance of cotton to
the Union's economy.
On various occasions (namely in its conclusions of
2004, 2008 and 2010), the Council of the European Union has
requested the European Commission to consider EU membership of
ICAC. It authorised the Commission in 2013 to negotiate, on behalf
of the European Union and on the basis of negotiating directives,
the accession of the Union to ICAC.
CONTENT: with this draft decision, the Council is
called upon to permit the EU to accede to the International Cotton
Advisory Committee, on behalf of the Union. The Union will pay a
contribution in line with the ICAC Rules and
Regulations.
BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS: ICAC membership is based on
the payment of an annual contribution. It is calculated on an
annual basis as a function of the number of ICAC's members (fixed
part) and the volume of raw cotton traded by each member (variable
part). A first contribution of maximum EUR 400 000 would be
required, which will give the EU an appropriate influence in ICAC
affairs and allow broad EU involvement in ICAC's
activities.