Draft DECISION OF THE EEA JOINT COMMITTEE amending Annex XXI (Statistics on external trade) to the EEA Agreement - Draft common position of the Community

(presented by the Commission)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1. In order to ensure the requisite legal security and homogeneity, the EEA Joint Committee is to integrate all the relevant Community legislation into the EEA Agreement as soon as possible after its adoption.

2. The EEA Joint Committee should therefore adopt the attached decision to amend Annex XXI to the EEA Agreement by adding recently adopted acquis in the field of Statistics. The decision concerns:

32000 R 1917: Commission Regulation (EC) No 1917/2000 of 7 September 2000 laying down certain provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 as regards statistics on external trade (OJ L 229, 9.9.2000, p. 14).

3. The proposal includes an adaptation for EEA EFTA States.

4. Article 1(3)(a) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2894/94 concerning the arrangements for implementing the EEA Agreement envisages that the Council establish the Community position for decisions extending Community legislation with substantial changes.

5. The Council is requested to approve the attached draft decision for adoption by the EEA Joint Committee. The Commission would hope to be able to put forward the position of the Community in the EEA Joint Committee in May 2002.

Draft DECISION OF THE EEA JOINT COMMITTEE amending Annex XXI (Statistics on external trade) to the EEA Agreement

THE EEA JOINT COMMITTEE,

Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, as amended by the Protocol adjusting the Agreement on the European Economic Area, hereinafter referred to as 'the Agreement', and in particular Article 98 thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Annex XXI to the Agreement was amended by Decision of the EEA Joint Committee No .../... of ... [1].

[1] OJ L ...

(2) Commission Regulation (EC) No 1917/2000 of 7 September 2000 laying down certain provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 as regards statistics on external trade [2], as corrected by OJ L 3, 6.1.2001, p. 28, is to be incorporated into the Agreement.

[2] OJ L 229, 9.9.2000, p. 14.

(3) Regulation (EC) No 1917/2000 repeals with effect from 1 January 2001 Commission Regulation (EC) No 840/96 of 7 May 1996 laying down certain provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 as regards statistics on external trade [3], which is incorporated into the Agreement and which is consequently to be repealed under the Agreement.

[3] OJ L 114, 8.5.1996, p. 7.

(4) Commission Regulation (EC) No 1669/2001 of 20 August 2001 amending Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1917/2000 laying down certain provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 as regards statistics on external trade [4] is to be incorporated into the Agreement,

[4] OJ L 224, 21.8.2001, p. 3.

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Annex XXI to the Agreement shall be amended as follows:

1. The following point shall be inserted after point 16 (text of point 16 (Commission Regulation (EEC) No 455/88), deleted):

'16a. 32000 R 1917: Commission Regulation (EC) No 1917/2000 of 7 September 2000 laying down certain provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 as regards statistics on external trade (OJ L 229, 9.9.2000, p. 14), as corrected by OJ L 3, 6.1.2001, p. 28, as amended by:

- 32001 R 1669: Commission Regulation (EC) No 1669/2001 of 20 August 2001 (OJ L 224, 21.8.2001, p. 3).

The provisions of the Regulation shall, for the purposes of the present Agreement, be read with the following adaptations:

(a) The reference to Regulation (EC) No 2454/93 in Article 6(1) is not applicable.

(b) The following new subparagraph shall be added to Article 7(1)(a):

'For the EFTA States 'country of origin' shall be taken to mean the country in which the goods originated within the meaning of the respective national rules of origin.'

(c) The following new subparagraph shall be added to Article 9(2):

'For the EFTA States 'the customs value' shall be defined within the respective national rules.'

(d) Article 11(2) is not applicable.

(e) Chapter 2 of Title II (Articles 16-19) is not applicable.

(f) Code No 7 in Articles 6(4)(a) and 6(4)(b) shall not apply to Liechtenstein.

(g) 'Own propulsion' as mode of transport under Article 10(3) is not used for Liechtenstein.'.

2. The text of point 10 shall be deleted.

Article 2

The texts of Regulations (EC) Nos 1917/2000, as corrected by OJ L 3, 6.1.2001, p. 28 and 1669/2001 in the Icelandic and Norwegian languages, to be published in the EEA Supplement of the Official Journal of the European Communities, shall be authentic.

Article 3

This Decision shall enter into force on [...], provided that all the notifications under Article 103(1) of the Agreement have been made to the EEA Joint Committee [5].

[5] [No constitutional requirements indicated.] [Constitutional requirements indicated.]

Article 4

This Decision shall be published in the EEA Section of, and in the EEA Supplement to, the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Done at Brussels, .

For the EEA Joint Committee

The President

The Secretaries to the EEA Joint Committee