The European Parliament adopted by 545 votes to 34, with 36 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the draft Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the Union, of the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Union and the Argentine Republic amending the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Union and the Argentine Republic pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 relating to the modification of concessions on all the tariff-rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV as a consequence of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union.

Parliament gave its consent to the conclusion of the Agreement.

The objective of the Agreement is to amend the Agreement between the Union and Argentina signed on 10 May 2021 in relation of the volume of two tariff-rate quotas and provide for the apportionment of the tariff-rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 as a consequence of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the Union, pursuant to Article XXVIII of GATT 1994.

Following negotiations between the EU and other WTO members benefiting from rights under Article XXVIII of the GATT 1994, the EU has agreed to modify the shares of two tariff quotas for which Argentina has negotiating rights, as follows:

- Tariff rate quota 030 (skimmed milk powder): the EU share of the erga omnes quota is revised to 62 917 tonnes to avoid a non-commercially viable volume on UK side;

- Tariff rate quota 110 (fruit juice): the Union share of the erga omnes quota is revised to 6 551 tonnes , taking into account trade in reference periods 2015-2017 and 2016-2018.

The Committee on international trade adopted the report by Jordi CAÑAS (Renew, ES) on the draft Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the Union, of the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Union and the Argentine Republic amending the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Union and the Argentine Republic pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 relating to the modification of concessions on all the tariff-rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV as a consequence of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union.

The committee recommended that the European Parliament give its consent to the conclusion of the Protocol.

In 2018, the EU formally launched the negotiations process under Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 with a number of WTO Members. The underlying principle of the negotiations is a “joint approach” developed between the EU and the UK back in 2017 on how to “apportion” the quantitative commitments contained in the EU28 WTO schedule for the 143 EU agricultural, fish and industrial WTO tariff-rate quotas (TRQs). The basis of this approach is that the existing volume of each TRQ would be fully maintained in the future, but split across two separate customs territories: the EU27 and the UK.

The negotiations between EU and Argentina resulted in the signature of the relevant Agreement on 10 May 2021. The Agreement entered into force on 13 July 2021.

As a result of negotiations with other WTO Members, the EU has agreed to change the shares of two TRQ for which Argentina has negotiating rights, therefore the original agreement with Argentina needs to be amended in the relation to the EU27 volume for the following TRQs.

The EU27 share of an erga omnes TRQ on skimmed-milk powder has been revised to 62 917 tonnes to avoid a non-commercially viable volume on UK side. The EU27 share of an erga omnes TRQ on fruit juices has been revised to 6 551 tonnes, taking into account trade in reference periods 2015-2017 and 2016-2018.

PURPOSE: to conclude, on behalf of the Union, the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Union and the Argentine Republic amending the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Union and the Argentine Republic pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 relating to the modification of concessions on all the tariff-rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV as a consequence of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Council may adopt the act only if Parliament has given its consent to the act.

BACKGROUND: on 10 May 2021, the EU and Argentina signed an agreement in the form of an exchange of letters with a view to concluding negotiations in accordance with Article XXVIII of the GATT 1994, which entered into force on 13 July 2021.

The agreement of 10 May 2021 states that "it shall not prejudice negotiations between the European Union and other Members of the WTO benefiting from rights under Article XXVIII of the GATT 1994 with respect to the erga omnes tariff quotas concerned".

Following negotiations with other WTO members, the EU agreed to modify the allocation of two tariff quotas for which Argentina has negotiating rights. As a result, the initial agreement with Argentina must be amended as regards the volume for the EU-27 for these two quotas

CONTENT: the draft Council Decision seeks to approve, on behalf of the Union, the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Union and the Argentine Republic amending the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Union and the Argentine Republic pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 relating to the modification of concessions on all the tariff-rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV as a consequence of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union.

The objective of the Agreement is to amend the Agreement between the Union and Argentina signed on 10 May 2021 in relation of the volume of two tariff-rate quotas and provide for the apportionment of the tariff-rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 as a consequence of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the Union, pursuant to Article XXVIII of GATT 1994.

Following negotiations between the EU and other WTO members benefiting from rights under Article XXVIII of the GATT 1994, the EU has agreed to modify the shares of two tariff quotas for which Argentina has negotiating rights, as follows:

- Tariff rate quota 030 ( skimmed milk powder ): the EU share of the erga omnes quota is revised to 62 917 tonnes;

- Tariff rate quota 110 ( fruit juice ): the Union share of the erga omnes quota is revised to 6 551 tonnes.