Proposal for a Council Decision establishing the position to be taken by the European Union within the General Council of the World Trade Organization on the request for a WTO waiver on additional autonomous trade preferences granted by the European Union to Pakistan

The objective of this proposal is to establish the position to be taken by the European Union within the General Council of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as regards the request for a WTO waiver on additional autonomous trade preferences granted by the European Union to Pakistan and thus allow the European Union to join a consensus on the adoption of this waiver request.

On 14 October 2010, the Commission adopted a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council introducing emergency autonomous trade preferences for Pakistan, thereby responding to the invitation by the European Council of 16 September 2010 in the wake of the unprecedented and devastating floods in Pakistan. Discussions on this proposal in the Parliament and in the Council will resume shortly.

To permit the EU to provide preferential treatment for imports originating in Pakistan without being required to extend the same preferential treatment to the like products of any other Member of the WTO, a waiver has to be granted by the WTO, suspending temporarily certain WTO commitments which would be otherwise applicable.

On 18 November 2010, the EU presented to the WTO a request for a waiver from the provisions of GATT 1994 Article I:1 and Article XIII, to the extent necessary (in document G/C/W/640) and on 26 October 2011, a revised waiver request (in document G/C/W/640.Rev1). As bilateral discussions on this waiver request are still ongoing with some WTO Members, a second revised waiver request will be submitted in due time.

EUR-Lex: COM(2012)024: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2012:024:FIN

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