Proposal for a Council Decision on the conclusion of the Agreement in the form of an exchange of letters between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco concerning protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products and amending 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

Both Parties, the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco, aim to protect geographical indications (GIs) on both sides in order to improve the conditions of bilateral trade, promote quality in the food chain and stimulate sustainable rural development under the terms of the Euro-Mediterranean Roadmap for Agriculture.

Article 9 of Protocol 1 and Article 8 of Protocol 2 to the Association Agreement with Morocco, as amended by the Agreement on Agriculture, made provision for opening negotiations with a view to concluding an agreement on the protection of geographical indications for agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products.

Those negotiations went smoothly. For the EU, the negotiations had two objectives: on the one hand, fostering the protection and use of geographical indications (the Kingdom of Morocco will protect the full list of EU geographical indications), and on the other hand intervention in the event of any misuse of EU geographical indications. The Kingdom of Morocco, for its part, has an interest to foster and protect its current geographical indications on EU territory and strengthen its relations with the EU.

The present proposal is the result of bilateral negotiations concluded on 16 January 2015. The agreement provides for protection of geographical indications (PDOs and PGIs) which are protected in the respective Parties.

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)446: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2015:446:FIN

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)448: Proposal for a Council Decision on the signature, on behalf of the European Union, of the Agreement in the form of an exchange of letters between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco concerning protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products ... http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2015:448:FIN

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