Arrangements for products originating in certain states which are part of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States provided for in economic partnership agreements. Recast

The Committee on International Trade adopted the report by Jarosław WAŁĘSA (EPP, PL) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council applying the arrangements for products originating in certain states which are part of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States provided for in agreements establishing, or leading to the establishment of, Economic Partnership Agreements (recast).

The Commission recommended the European Parliament to adopt its position at first reading, taking over the Commission proposal and taking account of the recommendations of the Consultative Working Party of the legal services of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission.

According to the Consultative Working Party of the legal services of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, the Commission proposal does not include any substantive amendments other than those identified as such in the proposal and as regards the codification of the unchanged provisions of the earlier acts together with those amendments, the proposal contains a straightforward codification of the existing texts, without any change in their substance.

It should be recalled that the Commission proposal concerns a codification and recast of the Council Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007 governing imports of products originating in certain ACP countries. This temporary instrument provides duty-free quota-free access to the EU market for products originating in non-LDC ACP countries in the run-up to the conclusion and application of respective WTO-compatible Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) before the 1 October 2016.

The aim of the codification exercise is to ensure transparency, clarity and simplification of the EU legislation after an original legal instrument has been amended numerous times. Since its adoption in 2007, the Market Access Regulation has already been amended nine times, including the post-Lisbon alignment exercise under the "Trade Omnibus II" and subsequent Commission delegated regulations (see the Annex III of the Commission proposal). Thus, codification is essential to ensure clarity and readability of the regulation.

The method of a recast is used because of the need for certain limited substantive changes in the existing Articles (in particular, the possibility for the Commission to adopt delegated acts to set out the regime applicable to products originating in South Africa, under certain conditions laid down in the Regulation).