Proposal for a Council Decision on the signing on behalf of the European Union of Agreements in form of exchanges of letters on the modification of concessions with respect to processed poultry meat between the European Union and the Federal Republic of Brazil, and between the European Union and the Kingdom of Thailand pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994)

Negotiations under Article XXVIII of GATT 1994 concluded on poultry in 2007 covered tariff lines on poultry meat under heading 0210 as well as one processed poultry line, 1602 32 19 in the EC Schedule CXL: cooked preparations containing more than 57% of poultry meat. Limiting the negotiations to the processed poultry line 1602 32 19 was considered to sufficiently prevent potential substitution effects.

Subsequent import data, however, showed a dramatic import surge of processed poultry meat under tariff line 1602 32 30: preparations containing 25% or more but less than 57% by weight of poultry meat or offal. This indicated that exporters seemed to take advantage of a relative gap in the EU level of protection, substituting poultry preparations containing more than 57% of poultry meat with preparations containing less than 57%, under tariff line 1602 32 30.

Comparable substitution effects were to be expected under other 1602 tariff lines in the future. In order to comprehensively address these substitution effects affecting the EU poultry industry, the Commission requested from the Council the authorisation to renegotiate the concessions on poultry meat under Chapter 16 of the Combined Nomenclature.

The Commission has negotiated with the Federal Republic of Brazil and with the Kingdom of Thailand holding each principal supplying interests and/or substantial interests in various of the tariff lines concerned.

The negotiations have resulted in Agreements in the form of exchanges of letters initialled with the Kingdom of Thailand on 22 November 2011 and with the Federal Republic of Brazil on 7 December 2011.

• Primary Source

European Commission: COM(2012)115: Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the implementation of the Agreements concluded by the EU following negotiations in the framework of Article XXVIII of GATT 1994, amending and supplementing Annex I to Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2012:0115:FIN:EN:PDF

EUR-Lex: COM(2012)105: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2012:105:FIN

European Commission: COM(2012)106: Proposal for a Council Decision on the conclusion of Agreements in form of exchanges of letters on the modification of concessions with respect to processed poultry meat between the European Union and the Federal Republic of Brazil, and between the European Union and the Kingdom of Thailand pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994) http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2012:0106:FIN:EN:PDF

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