The European Parliament adopted amendments on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the exercise of the Union's rights for the application and enforcement of international trade rules.
The issue has been sent back to the committee responsible. The vote has been postponed.
The main amendments adopted in plenary were as follows:
Including services: Parliament proposed including services into the array of commercial policy measures at the disposal of the Union as long as international or bilateral trade dispute settlement bodies permits it.
Trade policy measures: the Commission should duly justify to the European Parliament the choice of the specific commercial policy measures adopted. It should also justify to the European Parliament when it envisages suspending, modifying or terminating a measure.
The Commission should keep the European Parliament regularly informed, particularly when the Union has referred a matter to a dispute settlement body.
As regards information gathering, the Commission should inform the European Parliament of the outcome of such information gathering and outline in its proposal for an implementing act how it has determined the Union's general interest in the specific case in question.
Procurement: Parliament stated that it should be essential for the Union to have the possibility to swiftly enforce its rights in the area of government procurement when a party fails to respect its commitments under the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement or under any bilateral or regional binding agreements. It stressed that the Union's action should be aimed at ensuring the maintenance of a substantially equivalent level of concessions in the field of government procurement.
Dispute Settlement and Enforcement dialogue: the Commission should regularly participate in an exchange of views with the European Parliament's Committee responsible for international trade on the management of trade disputes, including ongoing cases, effects on Union industries, envisaged measures, justification and impact of the envisaged measures, and on the implementation of commercial policy measures pursuant to this Regulation.
Review clause: a longer review clause (5 years instead of 3) is suggested as it is expected that the Commission will have the resort to enforcement mechanisms less often.