Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council implementing the bilateral safeguard clause and the stabilisation mechanism for bananas of the Agreement establishing an Association between the European Union and its Member States on the one hand, and Central America on the other

On 23 April 2007 the Council authorised the Commission to open negotiations with certain countries of Central America, which resulted in a Association Agreement with Central America. The Agreement was initialled on 22 March 2011.

On 19 January 2009 the Council also authorised the Commission to open negotiations with the Member Countries of the Andean Community, which resulted in a Trade Agreement with Colombia and Peru. This Agreement was initialled on 23 March 2011.

Both agreements include a bilateral safeguard clause that provides for the possibility to re-instate the MFN customs duty rate when, as a result of a trade liberalisation, imports take place in such increased quantities and under such conditions as to cause (or threaten to cause) serious injury to the Union industry producing the like or directly competitive product.

Furthermore, the agreements also incorporate a Stabilisation Mechanism for Bananas according to which, until 1 January 2020, preferential customs duties can be suspended when a certain annual import volume is reached.

In order for these measures to be operational, the safeguard clause and the Stabilisation Mechanism should be incorporated in European Union law, and the procedural aspects of their application as well as the rights of interested parties need to be specified.

EUR-Lex: COM(2011)599: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2011:599:FIN

European Commission: COM(2011)600: Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council implementing the bilateral safeguard clause and the stabilisation mechanism for bananas of the Trade Agreement between the European Union and Colombia and Peru http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2011:0600:FIN:EN:PDF

EU: EEAS: Andean Community and the European Union https://eeas.europa.eu/diplomatic-network/andean-community_en

European Commission: DG Trade: Countries and regions: Central America http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/countries-and-regions/regions/central-america/

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