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 extending the WTO waiver on additional autonomous trade preferences granted by the European Union to the Republic of Moldova

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). The Council is hereby requested to grant authorisation to the Commission to request an extension of the WTO waiver on autonomous trade preferences granted by the European Union to Moldova and thus allow the European Union to join a consensus on this waiver request in accordance with Article IX of the WTO Agreement.

On 21 January 2008, the Council adopted the Regulation (EC) No 55/2008 introducing Autonomous Trade Preferences for the Republic of Moldova. With this Regulation, the EU fulfilled its commitment in the context of the European Neighbourhood Policy Action Plan (ENP Action Plan) for Moldova. The Plan, agreed in 2005, called on the EU to consider granting Moldova improved access to the EU market which would support the development of Moldovan economy through increased export performance, provided that Moldova substantially improves its system of controls and certification of origin of goods.

To permit the EU to provide preferential treatment for imports originating in the Republic of Moldova without being required to extend the same preferential treatment to the like products of any other WTO Member, a waiver was granted by the WTO General Council to the European Union, temporarily suspending certain WTO commitments to the extent necessary to fulfil the above objective.

On 15 May 2008 the WTO General Council decided to waive the provisions of paragraph 1 of Article I and the provisions of Article XIII of the GATT 1994 from 1 March 2008 until 31 December 2013 to the extent necessary to permit the European Union to accord duty-free or preferential treatment to products originating in Moldova, including certain agricultural products for which limited concessions are given as defined in the Annex to this Decision, without being required to extend the same duty-free or preferential treatment to like products of any other WTO Member.

Council Regulation (EC) No 55/2008 was amended by the Regulation (EU) No 581/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council extending the application of the autonomous trade preferences granted to the Republic of Moldova until 31 December 2015. Such an extension proved necessary as an advanced preferential trade relationship between the EU and Moldova in the context of the European Partnership has not yet been effectively established. Considering the above, the Commission requests the Council’s authorisation to submit to the WTO, on behalf of the European Union, a request to extend the current waiver until 31 December 2015.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)575: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:575:FIN

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