On 29 March 2017, the United Kingdom submitted the notification of its intention to withdraw from the Union pursuant to Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union(TEU). The TEU and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) (collectively, the ‘Treaties’) will cease to apply to the United Kingdom from the date of entry into force of a withdrawal agreement or failing that, two years after that notification, that is from 30 March 2019, unless the European Council, in agreement with the United Kingdom, unanimously decides to extend that period.
(2)
The withdrawal agreement as agreed between the negotiators contains arrangements for the application of provisions of Union law to and in the United Kingdom beyond the date the Treaties cease to apply to and in the United Kingdom. If that agreement enters into force, Council Regulation (EC) No 32/2000 (2) will apply to and in the United Kingdom during the transition period in accordance with that agreement and will cease to apply at the end of that period.
(3)
The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the Union will have effects on the relations of the United Kingdom and the Union with third parties, in particular in the context of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) of which both are original members. As negotiations on that withdrawal have been ongoing at the same time as the negotiations on the multiannual financial framework (MFF), and taking into account the share dedicated to the agricultural sector in the MFF, that sector could be exposed to a great extent.
(4)
By letter of 11 October 2017, the Union and the United Kingdom informed the other WTO Members that it was their intention that, upon leaving the Union, the United Kingdom would replicate to the extent possible its current obligations as a Member State of the Union in its new, separate, schedule of concessions and commitments on trade in goods. However, given that, as regards quantitative commitments, replication is not an appropriate method, the Union and the United Kingdom informed the other WTO Members of their intention to ensure that other WTO Members’ current market access levels would be maintained by apportioning the Union’s tariff rate quotas between the Union and the United Kingdom.
(5)
In line with the WTO rules, such apportionment of tariff rate quotas that are part of the schedule of concessions and commitments of the Union will have to occur in accordance with Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994). The Union will, therefore, following completion of preliminary contacts, engage in negotiations with WTO Members having a principal or substantial supplying interest or holding an initial negotiating right in relation to each of these tariff rate quotas. Those negotiations should remain limited in scope and should in no way extend to a renegotiation of the general terms or degree of access of products to the Union market.
(6)
However, given the time limits imposed on this process by the negotiations on the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the Union, it is possible that agreements might not be concluded with all WTO Members concerned in relation to all of the tariff rate quotas on the date the Union’s WTO schedule of concessions and commitments on trade in goods ceases to apply to the United Kingdom. In view of the need to ensure legal certainty and the continuous smooth operation of imports under the tariff rate quotas to the Union and to the United Kingdom, it is necessary for the Union to be able to proceed unilaterally to the apportionment of the tariff rate quotas. The methodology used should be in line with the requirements of Article XXVIII of GATT 1994.
(7)
The following methodology should therefore be used: as a first step the United Kingdom’s usage share for each individual tariff rate quota should be established. That share, expressed as a percentage, is the United Kingdom’s share of total Union imports under the tariff rate quota over a recent representative three-year period. That share should then be applied to the entire scheduled tariff rate quota volume, taking into account any under-fill thereof, in order to arrive at the United Kingdom’s share of a given tariff rate quota. The Union’s share would then consist of the remainder of the tariff rate quota in question. This means the total volume of a given tariff rate quota is not changed, that is to say EU-27 volume equals current EU-28 volume minus the United Kingdom volume. The underlying data should be extracted from the relevant Commission databases.
(8)
The methodology for the usage share for each individual tariff rate quota has been established and agreed by the Union and the United Kingdom, in line with the requirements of Article XXVIII of GATT 1994, and therefore, that methodology should be wholly maintained to ensure its consistent application.
(9)
In those cases where no trade is observed for a specific tariff rate quota over the representative period, two alternative approaches should be pursued in order to establish the United Kingdom’s usage share. In those cases where there is another tariff rate quota with the identical product definition, the usage share of that identical tariff rate quota should be applied to the tariff rate quota that is without observed trade over the representative period. In those cases where there is no tariff rate quota with an identical product definition, the formula to calculate the usage share should be applied to Union imports in the corresponding tariff lines outside of the tariff rate quota.
(10)
For the agricultural tariff rate quotas concerned, Articles 184 to 188 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) provide the necessary legal basis for the administration of the tariff rate quotas once apportioned by this Regulation. In this regard, the tariff rate quota quantities concerned are set out in Part A of the Annex to this Regulation. That administration should therefore be carried out having due regard to the objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy, as laid down in the TFEU, and the multi-functionality of agricultural activities. For the tariff rate quotas covering most fisheries products, industrial products and certain processed agricultural products, the administration of the tariff rate quotas is carried out pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 32/2000. The tariff rate quotas quantities concerned are set out in Annex I to that Regulation and that Annex should therefore be replaced by the quantities set out in Part B of the Annex to this Regulation.
Four fisheries tariff rate quotas are not administered under Regulation (EC) No 32/2000 but under Commission Regulation (EC) No 847/2006 (4), which implements Council Decision 2006/324/EC (5). The tariff rate quota quantities concerned are set out in Part C of the Annex to this Regulation. Implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission to adapt the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 847/2006 in respect of those four fisheries tariff rate quotas in line with the apportioned quantities established by this Regulation. Those implementing powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6).
(11)
In order to take into account the fact that negotiations with affected WTO Members have been taking place in parallel with the ordinary legislative procedure for the adoption of this Regulation, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission to amend Parts A and C of the Annex to this Regulation with respect to the quantities of the apportioned tariff rate quotas listed therein, in order to take account of any agreements concluded or of pertinent information that it might receive in the context of those negotiations which would indicate that specific factors that were not previously known require an adjustment to the apportionment of the tariff quotas between the Union and the United Kingdom, while ensuring consistency with the common methodology agreed jointly with the United Kingdom. That power to adopt acts should also be delegated to the Commission where such pertinent information becomes available from other sources with an interest in a specific tariff rate quota. In addition, Regulation (EC) No 32/2000 should be amended in order to delegate to the Commission the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU to amend Annex I to that Regulation.
(12)
In accordance with the principle of proportionality and in light of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the Union, it is necessary and appropriate to lay down rules to apportion tariff rate quotas included in the WTO schedule of the Union. This Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve the objectives pursued, in accordance with Article 5(4) TEU.
(13)
In accordance with Article 4(3) of Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1182/71 of the Council (7), the cessation of application of acts fixed at a given date shall occur on the expiry of the last hour of the day falling on that date. This Regulation should therefore apply from the day following that on which Regulation (EC) No 32/2000 ceases to apply to the United Kingdom given that from that day both the Union and the United Kingdom need to know what their WTO obligations are. However, the provisions of this Regulation setting out the delegation of power and the conferral of implementing powers should apply from the date of entry into force of this Regulation.
(14)
Taking into account the procedural requirements of the ordinary legislative procedure and the need to subsequently adopt implementing acts for the application of this Regulation on the one hand, and the necessity to have the apportioned tariff rate quotas in place and ready to be applied at the moment that the United Kingdom ceases to be covered by the schedule of concessions and commitments of the Union, which could be as early as 30 March 2019, on the other hand, it is essential for this Regulation to enter into force as soon as possible,
