EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

The present recommendation concerns a Decision authorising the Commission to engage on behalf of the Union in the negotiations to partially review the International Coffee Agreement 2007 (ICA) that the International Coffee Council (ICC) decided to launch.

1.CONTEXT OF THE RECOMMENDATION

•The International Coffee Agreement 2007

The European Union is a Contracting Party to the ICA. The International Coffee Agreement 2007 (ICA or ‘the Agreement’) aims to ensure enhanced international cooperation in connection with world coffee matters and related issues, provide a forum for intergovernmental consultations on coffee and on ways to improve the world coffee economy, to facilitate trade by collecting and providing information on the world coffee market and to encourage increased demand for coffee globally. A core objective of the Agreement is to encourage Contracting Parties to develop a sustainable coffee sector in economic, social and environmental terms. The Agreement was signed in 2007 and entered into force on 2 February 2011 for a period of ten years; then extended for one year (until 1 February 2022). If necessary, the Agreement can be extended for a maximum of eight years.

•The International Coffee Organization and the International Coffee Council

Article 6 of the ICA states that the International Coffee Organization (ICO or ‘the Organization’), established under the International Coffee Agreement 1962, administers the provisions and supervises the operation of the Agreement. As per Article 9 of the ICA, the International Coffee Council (ICC or ‘the Council’) is the responsible body for the performance of all functions necessary to carry out the provisions of the Agreement, as the highest authority of the Organization. The Council consists of all the Members of the Organization (Article 8 of the ICA). Pursuant to Article 49 of the ICA, the ICC may propose amendments to the Agreement and communicate them to all Contracting Parties. Article 14 of the ICA stipulates that all decisions of the ICC, including amendments to the Agreement shall be taken in principle by consensus. If consensus cannot be reached, the ICC shall take decisions and make recommendations by a distributed majority vote of 70% or more of exporting Members present and voting, and 70% or more of importing Members, present and voting, counted separately. According to Article 12 of the ICA, Members of the ICC hold 2000 votes in total. Each Member of the ICC holds a specified number of votes, which is annually adjusted by the Council following criteria defined by the ICA. The distribution of votes also determines a Member’s contribution (Article 20(2) of the ICA). Currently, the Union is the largest contributor to the ICO.

•The review of the International Coffee Agreement

A partial review to reform the ICA is necessary and is clearly in the interest of the Union to further align it with the practices the Union fosters in other international commodity boards, and to take developments in the global coffee market since 2007 into consideration. This has been regularly outlined during the last ICC sessions in 2019-2020 .

In 2019, at the request of the ICC, the ICO established a Working Group on the revision of the ICA.

The main changes to be proposed in a revision of the ICA concern the governance of the Organization, a possible review of the voting and contribution system and the participation of the private sector and civil society in the work of the Organization.

The overall objectives of the Agreement, as outlined in Article 1 of the ICA, are not intended to change.

The Commission guidelines to recommended changes are set out in the Annex.

2.LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY