Proposal for a Council Decision on the position to be adopted on behalf of the European Union within the Joint Committee established by the Euro-Mediterranean Interim Association Agreement on trade and cooperation between the European Community, of the one part, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) for the benefit of the Palestinian Authority of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, of the other part, as regards the replacement of Protocol 3 to that Agreement, concerning the definition of the concept

The Regional Convention on pan-Euro-Mediterranean preferential rules of origin ('the Convention') lays down provisions on the origin of goods traded under relevant Agreements concluded between the Contracting Parties. The EU and Palestine signed the Convention on 15 June 2011 and 18 September 2013 respectively.

The EU and Palestine deposited their instrument of acceptance with the depositary of the Convention on 26 March 2012 and 27 May 2014 respectively. As a consequence, the Convention entered into force in relation to the EU and Palestine on 1 May 2012 and on 1 July 2014 respectively.

Article 6 of the Convention provides that each Contracting Party shall take appropriate measures to ensure that the Convention is effectively applied. To that effect, the Joint Committee established by the Euro-Mediterranean Interim Association Agreement on trade and cooperation between the European Community, of the one part, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) for the benefit of the Palestinian Authority of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, of the other part, should adopt a Decision replacing Protocol 3 concerning the definition of the concept of 'originating products' and methods of administrative cooperation by a new Protocol which, with regard to the rules of origin, refers to the Convention.

The position to be taken by the EU within the Joint Committee should be established by the Council.

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)26: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2015:026:FIN

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