Proposal for a Council Decision on the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union within the Association Committee in Trade configuration established by the Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Moldova, of the other part

The attached proposal constitutes the legal instrument for establishing the Union positions to be adopted on its behalf in a body set up by an association agreement between the Union and a third country. In particular, it relates to the implementation of the Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Moldova, of the other part, regarding the adoption of a list of arbitrators for dispute settlement on trade-related matters.

The Agreement was signed on 27 June 2014, and was provisionally applied in part, pending ratification by the Member States, since 1 September 2014. Council Decision (EU) 2016/839 of 23 May 2016 approved the conclusion of the Agreement and it entered into force on 1 July 2016. The Agreement established the Association Committee in Trade configuration, which monitors the implementation of Title V (Trade and Trade-related matters) of the Agreement and resolves related issues. This Committee has to establish a list of arbitrators to ensure the proper functioning of the dispute settlement mechanism, as provided for in Article 404 of the Agreement.

This proposal replaces the Commission proposal COM(2015)390 final. The replacement is necessary because two of the arbitrators proposed by the Republic of Moldova no longer fulfill the conditions set out in Article 404(2) of the Agreement. The Republic of Moldova proposed and the European Commission recommends the Council to accept two other candidates that fulfill the conditions set out in Article 404(2) of the Agreement. In addition, this proposal reflects the fact that the Agreement entered into force on 1 July 2016.

EUR-Lex: COM(2016)649: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2016:649:FIN

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