Proposal for a Council Regulation adapting Council Regulation (EC) No 1340/2008 of 8 December 2008 on trade in certain steel products between the European Community and the Republic of Kazakhstan by reason of the accession of Croatia to the European Union

Article 17(1) of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, and the Republic of Kazakhstan provides that trade in certain steel products are to be subject to a specific agreement on quantitative arrangements.

The Bilateral Agreement between the European Community and the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan on trade in certain steel products concluded on 19 July 2005 expired on 31 December 2006. Since 2007 autonomous measures established by Council Regulation (EC) No 1870/2006 and Council Regulation (EC) No 1531/2007 have governed the trade in certain steel products between the European Community and Kazakhstan.

Pending the signature and entry into force of a new agreement or Kazakhstan’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), quantitative limits starting in 2009 were established with Council Regulation (EC) No 1340/2008. In addition, this Regulation provides for a procedure to administer this regime whereby the competent authorities of the Member States do not issue import licences before obtaining confirmation from the Commission that appropriate amounts remain available within the quantitative limit.

On 1 July 2013 Croatia became a member state of the EU. The current proposal is an adaptation in order to take account of Croatia’s accession to the EU.

The current proposal does not envisage any modifications of the existing quota levels. According to data from the Croatian State Office for Trade Policy during the last three years Croatia did not have any imports from Kazakhstan of steel products falling within the scope of the regulation. Furthermore, the existing quota has not been used. The quota utilisation was 0% in 2012 and 0% in 2013.

EUR-Lex: COM(2014)448: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2014:448:FIN

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