Proposal for a Council Decision on the position to be taken by the European Union within the Association Council set up by the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Kingdom of Morocco, of the other part, as regards the amendment of Article 15(7) of Protocol No 4 to that Agreement, concerning the definition of the concept of ‘originating products’ and methods of administrative cooperation

The prohibition on drawback of customs duties is set out in Article 15 of Protocol No 4 annexed to the EC-Morocco Association Agreement as amended by Decision No 1/2010 of the EU-Morocco Association Council of 23 August 2010. Paragraph 7 of that article provides for a transitional period prior to the full application of the prohibition of drawback of duties by Morocco and allows the country to grant duty drawback to its exporters or economic operators during this period. The transitional period expired on Monday 31 December 2012. However, Article 15(7) provides for the possibility of reviewing this provision by mutual agreement.

On 24 July 2012 Morocco sent a written request asking for a four-year extension of the period of application of this provision. In accordance with Article 39 of Protocol No 4, the provisions of the Protocol may be amended by decision of the Association Council. The text of the decision will amend the existing provision laid down in Article 15(7).

The parties have agreed to extend by three years the application period of Article 15(7), with effect from 1 January 2013 in order to provide clarity, long-term economic predictability and legal certainty for economic operators and to ensure consistency with similar requests by other Mediterranean countries. Pending formal adoption of the present decision, it was agreed, in the context of the Pan-Euro-Med working group, that this decision will apply from 1 January 2013.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)730: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:730:FIN

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