2003/914/EC: Council Decision of 22 December 2003 on the conclusion of an Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Community and the Kingdom of Morocco concerning reciprocal liberalisation measures and the replacement of Protocols 1 and 3 to the EC-Morocco Association Agreement
Date: 2003-12-22
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: Morocco, agricultural product, agricultural trade, association agreement (EU), liberalisation of trade

31.12.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 345/117

COUNCIL DECISION

of 22 December 2003

on the conclusion of an Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European
Community and the Kingdom of Morocco concerning reciprocal liberalisation measures and the
replacement of Protocols 1 and 3 to the EC-Morocco Association Agreement

(2003/914/EC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com-
munity, and in particular Article 133, in conjunction with the
first sentence of Article 300(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

Article 16 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), which has
been in force since 1 March 2000, provides that the
Community and Morocco will gradually implement
greater liberalisation of their reciprocal trade in agri-
cultural products.

the

Euro-Mediterranean Agreement
Article 18 of
provides that from 1 January 2000 the Community and
the Kingdom of Morocco will assess the situation with a
view to determining the liberalisation measures to be
applied by the Parties with effect from 1 January 2001.

The Community and the Kingdom of Morocco have
agreed to replace Protocols 1 and 3 to the Euro-Mediter-
ranean Agreement by means of an agreement in the
form of an Exchange of Letters. That agreement should
therefore be approved.

The measures necessary for the implementation of this
Decision should be adopted in accordance with Council
Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down
the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers
conferred on the Commission (2),

(1) OJ L 70, 18.3.2000, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

Article 1

The Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between
the European Community and the Kingdom of Morocco
concerning reciprocal liberalisation measures and the replace-
ment of Protocols 1 and 3 to the EC-Morocco Association
Agreement in the Annex hereto is hereby approved on behalf
of the Community.

The text of the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of
Letters is attached to this Decision.

Article 2

The Commission shall adopt
the detailed rules for imple-
menting Protocols 1 and 3 in accordance with the procedure
laid down in Article 3.

Article 3

1.
The Commission shall be assisted by the Management
Committee for Sugar established by Article 42 of Regulation
(EC) No 1260/2001 (3) or, as the case may be, by the commit-
tees established by the corresponding provisions of other regu-
lations on the common organisation of markets or by the
Customs Code Committee established by Article 248a of Regu-
lation (EEC) No 2913/92 (4).

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4 and
7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply.

The period referred to in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC
shall be set at one month.

3.

The Committee shall adopt its own rules of procedure.

Article 4

The President of the Council is hereby authorised to designate
the person empowered to sign the Agreement in the form of
an Exchange of Letters in order to bind the Community.

(3) OJ L 178, 30.6.2001, p. 1; Regulation as last amended by Commis-
sion Regulation (EC) No 680/2002 of 19 April 2002 (OJ L 104,
20.4.2002, p. 26).

(4) OJ L 302, 19.10.1992, p. 1; Regulation as last amended by Regu-
lation (EC) No 2700/2000 of 12 December 2000 (OJ L 311,
12.12.2000, p. 17).

L 345/118

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

31.12.2003

This Decision shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Article 5

Done at Brussels, 22 December 2003.

For the Council

The President

G. ALEMANNO