2002/958/EC: Council Decision of 28 November 2002 concerning the conclusion of an Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Community and the Kingdom of Morocco derogating temporarily, as regards the importation into the Community of tomatoes originating in Morocco, from Agricultural Protocol No 1 to the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Kingdom of Morocco, of the other part
Date: 2002-11-28
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU production, Morocco, association agreement (EU), derogation from EU law, fruit vegetable, import, originating product

10.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 333/21

COUNCIL DECISION

of 28 November 2002

concerning the conclusion of an Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the
European Community and the Kingdom of Morocco derogating temporarily, as regards the impor-
tation into the Community of tomatoes originating in Morocco, from Agricultural Protocol No 1
to the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an association between the European Commu-
nities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Kingdom of Morocco, of the other part

(2002/958/EC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu-
nity, and in particular Article 133 in conjunction with the first
subparagraph of Article 300(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Article 18 of the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement estab-
lishing an association between the European Commu-
nities and their Member States, of the one part, and the
Kingdom of Morocco, of the other part (1), hereafter
referred to as the ‘Association Agreement’, which has
been in force since 1 March 2000, provides that from 1
January 2000, the Community and Morocco will assess
the situation with a view to determining the liberalisa-
tion measures to be applied by the parties with effect
from 1 January 2001. The Council has authorised the
Commission to begin negotiations with the Kingdom of
Morocco with a view to concluding a new agricultural
agreement to follow on from the existing one, which
would take the form of additional protocols to the Asso-
ciation Agreement.

Article 2 of Protocol No 1 to the Association Agreement
provides for the application to tomatoes originating in
Morocco of an entry price level from which the specific
customs duties will be reduced to zero, within the limits
the maximum quantities, periods and conditions
of
stipulated in that Article and Article 3 of
the said
Protocol.

certain

temporary

Council Regulation (EC) No 2264/2001 of 21 November
2001 introducing
autonomous
concessions in the form of Community tariff quotas
applicable to imports into the Community of tomatoes
originating in the Kingdom of Morocco (2)
lays down
temporary measures concerning the tomatoes for the
period from 1 November 2001 to 31 May 2002.

Consultations have taken place between the Community
and Morocco under Article 2(6) of Protocol No 1 to the
Association Agreement pending the conclusion of the
comprehensive renegotiation of the agricultural proto-
cols and in order to allow Morocco's traditional exports
of
tomatoes to the Community to continue without
disturbing the Community market.

(4)

(5)

(6)

The outcome of these consultations is an Agreement in
the form of an Exchange of Letters between the Commu-
nity and the Kingdom of Morocco, which is attached to
this Decision, providing for a temporary derogation
from Protocol No 1 to the Association Agreement and
introducing for the period from 1 October 2002 to 31
May 2003 only arrangements similar to those laid down
in Regulation (EC) No 2264/2001.

The Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters
provides that the Community reserves the right to termi-
nate those arrangements if
the negotiations in hand
under Article 18 of the Association Agreement between
the Community and the Kingdom of Morocco are not
completed before 31 December 2002.

The measures necessary for implementing the arrange-
ments contained in this Agreement in the form of an
Exchange of Letters may be adopted by the Commission
in accordance with Article 5(1) of Council Regulation
(EC) No 747/2001 of 9 April 2001 providing for the
management of Community tariff quotas and of refer-
ence quantities for products eligible for preferences
by virtue of agreements with certain Mediterranean
countries (3).

(7)

The Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters
negotiated between the European Community and the
Kingdom of Morocco should be approved,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

regards

The Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between
the European Community and the Kingdom of Morocco dero-
the importation into the
gating temporarily, as
from the
Community of
provisions of Agricultural Protocol No 1 to the Euro-Mediterra-
nean Agreement establishing an association between the
European Communities and their Member States, of the one
part, and the Kingdom of Morocco, of the other part is hereby
approved on behalf of the Community.

tomatoes originating in Morocco,

The text of the Agreement is attached to this Decision.

(1) OJ L 70, 18.3.2000, p. 2. Agreement as amended by the Agreement
in the form of an Exchange of Letters (OJ L 70, 18.3.2000, p. 206).

(2) OJ L 305, 21.11.2001, p. 20.

(3) OJ L 109, 19.4.2001, p. 2. Regulation as amended by Commission

Regulation (EC) No 786/2002 (OJ L 127, 14.5.2002, p. 3).

L 333/22

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

10.12.2002

The President of the Council is hereby authorised to designate the person(s) empowered to sign the Agree-
ment in the form of an Exchange of Letters in order to bind the Community.

Article 2

Done at Brussels, 28 November 2002.

For the Council

The President

B. HAARDER