The European Parliament adopted by 493 votes to 5, with 107 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the draft Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the Union, of the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Union and the Arab Republic of Egypt pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 relating to the modification of concessions on all the tariff rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV as a consequence of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.
Parliament gave its consent to the conclusion of the Agreement.
The objective of the Agreement is to provide, pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994, for the apportionment of the tariff rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV as a consequence of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the Union.
On the conclusion of the negotiations, the Arab Republic of Egypt and the European Union agreed on the following:
- with respect to tariff rate quota 048 (cucumbers, fresh or chilled, from 1 November to 15 May), Egypt and the European Union agree to the following change to the scheduled commitment: the European Union's volume of this erga omnes quota should be adjusted to 647 tonnes;
- with respect to tariff rate quota 048, the European Union will acknowledge Egypt's initial negotiating right.
Negotiations with Egypt resulted in an Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters that was initialled on 22 May 2023 in Geneva.