Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2018)30 - EU position in the EU-Algeria Association Committee on changes to applications of the preferential tariffs for agricultural products and processed agricultural products - Main contents
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| dossier | COM(2018)30 - EU position in the EU-Algeria Association Committee on changes to applications of the preferential tariffs for agricultural ... |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2018)30  |
| date | 17-01-2018 |
1. Subject matter of the proposal
This proposal concerns the decision establishing the position to be adopted on behalf of the European Union in the EU-Algeria Association Committee in connection with the planned adoption of a decision modifying the conditions of application of the preferential tariffs for agricultural products and processed agricultural products set out in Article 14 of the EuroMediterranean Agreement.
2. Context of the proposal
2.1.Euro-Mediterranean Agreement
The Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an Association between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, of the other part (hereinafter the ‘Association Agreement’), signed on 22 April 2002, entered into force on 1 September 2005 1 . The European Union is party to the Agreement 2 . The Association Agreement provides the basis for relations between the European Union and the Republic of Algeria.
2.2. Association Committee
In accordance with Article 96 of the Association Agreement, the Association Committee consists of representatives of members of the Council of the European Union and of the Commission of the European Communities, on the one hand, and representatives of the Government of Algeria, on the other.
By virtue of Article 97 of the Association Agreement, the Association Committee has the power to take decisions for the management of the Agreement as well as in those areas where the Association Council has delegated its powers to the Committee.
2.3.Act envisaged by the Association Committee
The Association Committee must adopt a decision modifying the tariff conditions established initially for the agricultural products and processed agricultural products in Protocols 2 and 5 to the Association Agreement and which are listed in Annex I to this Decision.
The aim of the act envisaged is to modify a number of the European Union’s preferential quotas for agricultural products and processed agricultural products (thirty-six tariff lines).
The act envisaged will become binding upon the Parties in accordance with Article 97 of the Agreement, which provides that: ‘Decisions shall be adopted by agreement between the Parties and shall be binding on the Parties, which shall take the measures necessary to implement them’.
3. Position to be adopted on behalf of the Union
In view of the difficulties faced by Algeria in dismantling customs duties for agricultural products and processed agricultural products, the Algerian Foreign Affairs Minister sent notification by means of a note verbale on 27 December 2010, following which Algeria requested modifications to a number of the European Union’s preferential quotas for agricultural products and processed agricultural products (thirty-six tariff lines). Consultations took place between the parties from September 2010 to July 2011 in accordance with Article 16 of the Association Agreement. A group of experts from the European Commission and Algeria met six times between September 2010 and July 2011.
As a result of the consultations, an agreement was reached on the acceptable modifications to the basic duties, quantities and schedule established initially for dismantling tariffs, in accordance with the conditions laid down in Protocols 2 and 5 to the Agreement.
The negotiators agreed on new provisions to be applied to bilateral trade in agricultural products and in processed agricultural products from the European Union in Algeria. These provisions are set out in the annex to a memorandum signed on 11 July 2011, which was enacted unilaterally by Algeria on 1 October 2012.
In view of the low amount of compensation (EUR 1.5 million) and the modified quantities, an impact assessment was not required. However, this decision should be adopted for the purposes of providing legal certainty.
4. Legal basis
4.1.Legal procedural basis
4.1.1.Principles
Article 218(9) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) makes provision for decisions establishing ‘the positions to be adopted on the Union’s behalf in a body set up by an agreement, when that body is called upon to adopt acts having legal effects, with the exception of acts supplementing or amending the institutional framework of the agreement’.
The concept of ‘acts having legal effects’ includes acts that have legal effects by virtue of the rules of international law governing the body in question. It also includes instruments that do not have a binding effect under international law, but that are ‘capable of decisively influencing the content of the legislation adopted by the EU legislature’ 3 .
4.1.2.Application to the present case
The Association Committee is a body created by an agreement, in this case the EuroMediterranean Agreement establishing an Association between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, of the other part.
Article 13 of the Association Agreement provides for the liberalisation of reciprocal trade in agricultural products, fisheries products and processed agricultural products between the EU and Algeria.
Article 14 of the Association Agreement sets out the mutual commitments regarding the arrangements applicable to the agricultural products, fisheries products and processed agricultural products listed in Protocols 1 to 5.
Article 15 of the Association Agreement makes provision for the opening of negotiations between the EU and Algeria to determine the liberalisation measures to be applied by the EU and Algeria after an agreed date.
Article 16 of the Association Agreement makes provision for the potential modification of the agreed tariff arrangements linked to a change in the parties’ agricultural policies. However, the party making the modification must accord imports originating in the other party a comparable advantage.
The act that the Association Committee is called upon to adopt is an act with legal effects, since it contains new provisions that apply to bilateral trade in agricultural products and in processed agricultural products from the European Union in Algeria and modifies the initial conditions of application of the preferential tariffs for the agricultural products and processed agricultural products in Protocols 2 and 5 to the Association Agreement. The act envisaged does not supplement or amend the institutional framework of the Agreement.
Therefore, the procedural legal basis for the proposed decision is Article 218(9) TFEU.
4.2.Substantive legal basis
4.2.1.Principles
The substantive legal basis for a decision under Article 218(9) TFEU depends primarily on the aim and content of the act envisaged in respect of which a position is taken on the Union’s behalf. If the act envisaged pursues two aims or has two components and if one of those aims or components is identifiable as the main one, whereas the other is merely incidental, the decision under Article 218(9) TFEU must be founded on a single substantive legal basis, namely that required by the main or predominant aim or component.
4.2.2.Application to the case at hand
The aim and content of the act envisaged relate to trade in agricultural products, fisheries products and processed agricultural products, in accordance with Chapter 2 of the Association Agreement.
Therefore, the substantive legal basis of the proposed decision is Article 207 TFEU.
4.3.Conclusion
The legal basis of the proposed decision should be Article 207 TFEU in conjunction with Article 218(9) TFEU.
5. PUBLICATION OF THE ACT ENVISAGED
Given that the act of the Association Committee will modify the initial conditions of application of the preferential tariffs for the agricultural products and processed agricultural products in Protocols 2 and 5, it should be published in the Official Journal of the European Union once it has been adopted.