PURPOSE: to conclude the Additional Protocol to the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and South Korea, of the other part, to take account of the accession of Croatia to the European Union.
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Council may adopt the act only if Parliament has given its consent to the act.
BACKGROUND: on 24 September 2012, the Council authorised the Commission to open negotiations with the Republic of Korea in order to conclude an Additional Protocol to the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Korea, of the other part, to take account of the accession of Croatia to the European Union.
Those negotiations were successfully completed by initialling the Protocol on 8 November 2013.
It is now necessary to conclude this Protocol on behalf of the European Union.
LEGAL BASIS: Articles 91, 100(2), 167(3), 207 and 218(6), second subparagraph, point (a)(v) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) as well as the Act of Accession of Croatia.
CONTENT: under this proposal, the Council is invited to approve, on behalf of the European Union, the Additional Protocol to the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and South Korea, of the other part, to take account of the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union.
The text of the Protocol is attached to the proposal.
A parallel decision is proposed for the signature and the provisional application of the Protocol on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.