Considerations on COM(2010)97 - Signature and provisional application of a "General Agreement on Trade in Bananas" between the EU and Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Venezuela and of an "Agreement on Trade in Bananas" between the EU and the US

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dossier COM(2010)97 - Signature and provisional application of a "General Agreement on Trade in Bananas" between the EU and Brazil, Colombia, Costa ...
document COM(2010)97 EN
date May 10, 2010
 
table>(1)The Commission reached Understandings with Ecuador and the United States of America, on 11 April 2001 and on 30 April 2001 respectively (the ‘Understandings’), which identified means to resolve the disputes brought by those countries in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) with respect to the tariff treatment of bananas imported into the Union. Those Understandings envisaged the introduction of a tariff-only regime for the imports of bananas. To that effect, on 12 July 2004 the Council authorised the Commission to negotiate the modification of the bound tariff with a view to introducing a tariff-only regime for bananas in the EU schedule for bananas pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (‘GATT 1994’).
(2)On 22 March 2004 and on 29 January 2007 the Council authorised the Commission to open negotiations pursuant to Article XXIV:6 of the GATT 1994 in the course of the accession to the European Union of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia and of Bulgaria and Romania, respectively.

(3)The negotiations were successfully concluded on 15 December 2009 by the initialling of a Geneva Agreement on Trade in Bananas with Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Venezuela (the ‘Geneva Agreement’) and of an Agreement on Trade in Bananas with the United States of America (the ‘EU/US Agreement’).

(4)The Agreements negotiated by the Commission meet the claims of the countries concerned pursuant to Article XXIV:6 and Article XXVIII of the GATT 1994. In addition, they implement the Understandings by providing for the binding of a tariff-only regime, and provide an adequate solution to all the pending disputes concerning the tariff treatment of bananas, which should therefore be formally settled.

(5)Those two Agreements should be signed on behalf of the Union, subject to their conclusion at a later date.

(6)In view of the need to implement expeditiously the initial tariff cuts, to prevent the continuation of the pending disputes and to ensure that the Union’s final market access commitments for bananas in the next WTO multilateral market access negotiations for agricultural products successfully concluded do not exceed those provided for in paragraphs 3, 6 and 7 of the Geneva Agreement and paragraph 2 and paragraph 3(a) and 3(b) of the EU/US Agreement, both Agreements should be applied provisionally, in accordance with paragraph 8(b) of the Geneva Agreement and paragraph 6 of the EU/US Agreement, respectively, from the date of signature of each Agreement, pending their entry into force,