Proposal for a Council Decision on the position to be adopted, on behalf of the European Union, in the EEA Joint Committee established by the Agreement on the European Economic Area, as regards the replacement of Protocol 4 to that Agreement, on rules of origin, by a new Protocol which is aligned to the Regional Convention on pan-Euro-Mediterranean rules of origin

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

The EU signed the Convention on 15 June 2011 and deposited its instrument of acceptance with the depositary of the Convention on 26 March 2012. As a consequence, the Convention entered into force in relation to the EU on 1 May 2012. Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, the other Contracting Parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (hereafter ‘the EEA Agreement’), signed the Convention on 15 June 2011, 30 June 2011 and 15 June 2011 respectively and deposited their instrument of acceptance with the depositary of the Convention on 9 November 2011, 12 March 2012 and 28 November 2011 respectively. As a consequence, the Convention entered into force in relation to Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein on 1 January 2012, 1 May 2012 and 1 January 2012 respectively.

Article 6 of the Convention provides that each Contracting Party shall take appropriate measures to ensure that the Convention is effectively applied. As a consequence, in the EEA Agreement, Protocol 4 on rules of origin should be replaced by a new Protocol which, as much as possible, refers to the Convention. At the same time, the text of Protocol 4 is updated aligning it, inter alia, to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

This proposal replaces Protocol 4 entirely with a new Protocol in order to enhance readability for economic operators and for administrations.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2014)741: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2014:741:FIN

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