The Committee on International Trade adopted the report by Iuliu WINKLER (EPP, RO) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 55/2008 introducing autonomous trade preferences for the Republic of Moldova.
The committee recommended that the European Parliaments position adopted at first reading, following the ordinary legislative procedure, should amend the Commission proposal as follows:
Waiver granted by the WTO: Article 16 par. 3, 4 and 5 of Regulation (EC) 55//2008 refers to the WTO waiver granted to the EU in order to allow for a preferential treatment of imports of certain goods from Moldova. The current waiver will expire on 31 December 2013. The Commission submitted to the WTO a request to extend the existing waiver until 31 December 2015. Pending the WTO decision, Members considered it important to ensure the undisrupted trade flows from Moldova, thereby providing legal certainty for the economic operators. Members considered that the references to the WTO waiver should therefore be deleted from the Regulation.
Application: having regard to the time constraints for the adoption of the amending Regulation, Members considered it important to ensure that it enters into force as soon as possible after the publication. They proposed setting the date of application for 1 January 2014.