Proposal for a Council Decision relating to the conclusion of an Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Bulgaria concerning fishery products, in the form of an additional Protocol completing the Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Bulgaria, of the other part
Date: 2002-04-25
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Bulgaria, abolition of customs duties, association agreement (EU), fishery product, trade policy

C 291 E/136

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

26.11.2002

Proposal for a Council Decision relating to the conclusion of an Agreement between the European
Community and the Republic of Bulgaria concerning fishery products, in the form of an additional
Protocol completing the Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European
Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Bulgaria, of the
other part

(2002/C 291 E/04)

COM(2002) 204 final — 2002/0099(ACC)

(Submitted by the Commission on 25 April 2002)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

On 29 May 2000, the Council approved the negotiating mandate for the Commission to undertake
negotiations with the associated CEECs, including the Republic of Bulgaria, to conclude reciprocal tariff
concessions in the fisheries sector. As a result, negotiations were held with the Republic of Bulgaria on 4
October 2001 and 10 January 2002 to finalise these bilateral concessions. The details of the bilateral
concessions are contained in Agreed Minutes that were signed on behalf of the Commission and the
Bulgarian authorities on 10 January 2002. The two parties agreed on a model for gradual and reciprocal
liberalisation of trade on all fish and fishery products.

The agreement states that both the Community and the Republic of Bulgaria, from the date of entry into
force of the agreement, will remove the customs tariff duties applied to certain fish and fishery products
listed in a specific Annex. The Community and the Republic of Bulgaria also agree to apply, from the date
of entry into force of this agreement, a 30 % ad valorem reduction of the customs tariff duties applied to all
the remaining fish and fishery products. The following year a further reduction of 30 % will be applied and
two years after the entry into force of the agreement, full free trade of all fish and fishery products will be
applied.

The Commission is of the opinion that the results of the technical negotiations represent a balanced and
acceptable result which, in a simple administrative manner, and on a gradual basis, will lead to full free
trade, without any exceptions, between the Republic of Bulgaria and the European Community.

The present proposal is one of a series on which the Council is being asked to take a decision. It adheres
to the same principles of gradual liberalisation of trade in fish and fishery products as the earlier proposals.

In light of the above, the Council is requested to adopt the present decision to add a Protocol concerning
trade concessions in the fisheries sector to the Europe Agreement with the Republic of Bulgaria.

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THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

(3) The Agreement

in the form of a Protocol should be

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 133 in conjunction
with Article 300(2), first sub-paragraph, first sentence, thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas:

(1) It

is desirable to complete by means of an additional
Protocol the Europe Agreement establishing an association
between the European Communities and their Member
States, of the one part, and the Republic of Bulgaria, of
the other part (1),
to provide for preferential
conditions for the importation into the Community of
fish and fishery products originating in the Republic of
Bulgaria, and into the Republic of Bulgaria of fish and
fishery products originating in the Community.

so as

(2) To that end a new Protocol

laying down the trade
fish and fishery products should be

arrangements for
added to the said Europe Agreement.

approved,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

fishery

The Agreement between the European Community and the
Republic of Bulgaria in the form of an additional Protocol
Europe
concerning
Agreement establishing an association between the European
Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the
Republic of Bulgaria, of the other part, is hereby approved on
behalf of the Community.

completing

products,

the

The text of the Agreement in the form of a Protocol is attached
to this Decision.

Article 2

The President of the Council
is authorised to designate the
person empowered to sign the Agreement in order to bind
the Community.

(1) OJ L 358, 31.12.1994, p. 3.

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AGREEMENT

between the European Community and the Republic of Bulgaria concerning fishery products in
the form of an additional Protocol completing the Europe Agreement establishing an association
between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of
Bulgaria of the other part

ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL

laying down the trade arrangements for fish and fishery products between the European
Community and the Republic of Bulgaria

THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Community’ of the one part, and

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA, of the other part,

WHEREAS the Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their
Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Bulgaria, of the other part, hereinafter referred to as
‘the Europe Agreement’, was signed in Brussels on 8 March 1993 and entered into force on 1 February
1995;

WHEREAS technical negotiations based on Articles 21(5) and 24 of the Europe Agreement were carried out
and successfully concluded between the Community and the Republic of Bulgaria to agree on reciprocal
tariff concessions in the fisheries sector;

WHEREAS the Community and the Republic of Bulgaria also agreed on an administratively simple manner
of implementing the negotiated tariff concessions as soon as possible on a gradual basis;

HAVE DECIDED to apply the agreed tariff concessions in view of establishing full free trade of all fish and
fishery products:

Article 1

From the date of entry into force of this Protocol, both Parties
shall apply full free trade for all the products specified in the
Annex to this Protocol.

From date of entry into force of this Protocol, both Parties shall
apply a 30 % ad valorem reduction of the customs tariff duties
applied by the Community and by the Republic of Bulgaria
respectively for all remaining fish and fishery products as
defined in Article 1 of
the Council Regulation (EC) No
104/2000.

One year after the date of entry into force of this Protocol,
both Parties shall apply a further 30 % ad valorem reduction of
the customs tariff duties as they were at the time of entry into
force of this Protocol.

Two years after the date of entry into force of this Protocol, or
if commonly agreed before this date, full free trade of all fish
and fishery products will be applied.

(a) all the figures which have less than 50 (included) after the
decimal point should be rounded down to the nearest
whole number;

(b) all the figures which have more than 50 after the decimal
point should be rounded up to the nearest whole number;

(c) all the tariffs below 2 % should automatically be fixed at

0 %.

Article 3

This Protocol will enter into force on the first day of the month
following the date on which the Parties have notified each
other of the accomplishment of their internal procedures.

Article 2

The calculation of the reductions mentioned in Article 1 will
be carried out by using common mathematics principles taking
into account that:

Article 4

This Protocol may be amended by decision of the Association
Council.

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LIST OF PRODUCTS REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 1(1) OF THE PROTOCOL

ANNEX

Tariff No

Description

0301 93

– – Carp, live

0302 69 11

– – – – Carp, fresh or chilled

0303 21

– – Trout

(Salmo trutta, Oncorhynchus mykiss, Oncorhynchus clarki, Oncorhynchus aguabonita,
Oncorhynchus gilae, Oncorhynchus apache and Oncorhynchus chrysogaster), excluding livers
and roes, frozen:

0303 50 00

– Herrings (Clupea harengus, Clupea pallasii), excluding livers and roes, frozen

0303 71

– – Sardines (Sardina pilchardus, Sardinops spp.), sardinella (Sardinella spp.), brisling or sprats

(Sprattus sprattus), frozen:

0303 74

– – Mackerel (Scomber scombrus, Scomber australasicus, Scomber japonicus), frozen:

0303 79

– – Other frozen fishes:

0304 10 19

– – – – Fillets of other freshwater fish, fresh or chilled

ex 0304 10 38

– – – – Fillets of herring and mackerel, fresh or chilled

ex 0304 10 91

– – – Other fresh or chilled meat of freshwater fish other than of trout

0304 20

– Frozen fillets:

0304 90

– Other fish meat, frozen:

0305 30

– Fish fillets, dried, salted or in brine, but not smoked:

0305 41 00

– – Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka, Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, Oncorhynchus keta, Oncorhynchus
tschawytscha, Oncorhynchus kisutch, Oncorhynchus masou and Oncorhynchus rhodurus), Atlantic
salmon (Salmo salar) and Danube salmon (Hucho hucho), smoked

0305 49

– – Other smoked fish, including fillets:

0305 69

– – Other salted but not dried or smoked fish and other fish in brine:

0306 13 30

– – – Shrimps of the genus Crangon, frozen

0306 23 31

– – – – Shrimps of the genus Crangon, fresh, chilled or cooked by steaming or by boiling in

water

0306 23 39

– – – – Other

0307 31 10

– – – Mussels (Mytilus spp.), live, fresh or chilled

0307 39 10

– – – Mussels (Mytilus spp.), other than live, fresh or chilled

0307 49

– – Cuttle fish (Sepia officinalis, Rossia macrosoma, Sepiola spp.) and squid (Ommastrephes spp.,

Loligo spp., Nototodarus spp., Sepioteuthis spp.) other than live, fresh or chilled

0307 99 13

– – – – Striped venus and other species of the family Veneridae, frozen

0511 91

– – Products of fish or crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates; dead animals of

Chapter 3:

1604 12

– – Herrings, prepared or preserved:

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Tariff No

Description

1604 14

– – Tunas, skipjack and bonito (Sarda spp.), prepared or preserved:

1604 19 10

– – – Salmonidae, other than salmon, prepared or preserved

1604 19 91

– – – – Fillets, raw, merely coated with batter or breadcrumbs, whether or not prefried in oil,

deep frozen

1604 19 92

– – – – – Cod (Gadus morhua, Gadus ogac, Gadus macrocephalus), prepared or preserved

1604 19 93

– – – – – Coalfish (Pollachius virens), prepared or preserved

1604 19 94

– – – – – Hake (Merluccius spp., Urophycis spp.), prepared or preserved

1604 20

– Other prepared or preserved fish:

1604 30

– Caviar and caviar substitutes:

1605 20

– Prepared or preserved shrimps and prawns:

1605 90

– Prepared or preserved molluscs and other aquatic invertebrates

2301 20 00

– Flours, meals and pellets, of fish or of crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates