Proposal for a Council Decision on the position to be adopted within the Joint Committee established by the Regional Convention on pan-Euro-Mediterranean preferential rules of origin as regards the request of Ukraine to become a Contracting Party to that Convention

The Regional Convention on pan-Euro-Mediterranean preferential rules of origin lays down provisions on the origin of goods traded under relevant Agreements concluded between the Contracting Parties.

Article 5(1) of the Convention provides that a third party may become a Contracting Party to the Convention, provided that the candidate country or territory has a free trade agreement in force, providing for preferential rules of origin, with at least one of the Contracting Parties.

Ukraine submitted a written request for accession to the Convention on 12 September 2016. Ukrainian authorities confirmed that Ukraine has a free trade agreement with several Contracting Parties, notably with the EU, EFTA states, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Montenegro.

The request should therefore be submitted to the Joint Committee of the Convention for adoption of a Decision inviting Ukraine to accede to the Convention. The position to be taken by the EU within the Joint Committee should be established by the Council. According to the Commission, the accession of Ukraine does not require any transitional measures.

EUR-Lex: COM(2017)162: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2017:162:FIN

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