Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION establishing the position to be taken by the European Union within the General Council of the World Trade Organization on the United States' request for a WTO waiver to extend and expand the scope of the US Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA)
Date: 2015-01-30
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Caribbean Islands, United States, World Trade Organisation, economic recovery, exemption from customs duties, originating product, tariff exemption













EUR-Lex - 52015PC0033 - EN











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52015PC0033

Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION establishing the position to be taken by the European Union within the General Council of the World Trade Organization on the United States' request for a WTO waiver to extend and expand the scope of the US Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) /* COM/2015/033 final - 2015/0023 (NLE) */









EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
1.           CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL
The objective of this proposal is to
establish the position to be taken by the European Union within the General
Council of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the United States’ request for
a WTO waiver to extend and expand the scope of the United States Caribbean
Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) from 1 January 2015 until 31 December 2019
and thus allow the European Union to support this waiver request. 
2.           LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE
PROPOSAL
Article 218(9) of the Treaty on the Functioning
of the European Union (TFEU) provides that when a decision having legal effect
needs to be taken in a body set up by an international agreement, the Council,
on a proposal from the Commission or the High Representative of the Union for
Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, shall adopt a decision establishing the
position to be adopted on the Union’s behalf. The granting of a waiver to allow
the United States to extend and expand the scope of the existing waiver granting
preferential tariff treatment to the eligible products originating in
beneficiary Central American and Caribbean countries and territorities
designated pursuant to the provisions of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery
Act as lastly amended falls under this provision as the decision is taken in a
body set up by an international agreement (the WTO General Council or
Ministerial Conference) affecting the rights and obligations of the EU. 
3.           OPTIONAL ELEMENTS 
The Commission will be authorised to take a
position on behalf of the EU to support the United States’ request for a WTO waiver
to extend and expand the scope of the existing waiver
to the extent necessary to permit the United States to provide duty-free
treatment to eligible products originating in beneficiary Central American and
Caribbean countries and territories from 1 January 2015 until 31
December 2019. 
The United States justifies its request with the exceptional circumstances of the economic situation in
the Caribbean Basin countries. The objective of the amended CBERA is to assist
the trade and economic development and recovery of these countries by
encouraging the expansion of their productive capacity in response to more
liberal access and to new trading opportunities. 
According to the United States, the duty-free treatment provided under CBERA should not prejudice the interests of
other Members not benefiting from such treatment, and it is expected that the
extension of such duty-free treatment will not cause a significant diversion of
  United States imports of products eligible under CBERA originating in Members
who are not beneficiary countries.
The waiver request would be the fourth extension
of the preferential tariff-treatment, currently valid until 31 December 2014. The United States was granted a waiver of obligations under
paragraph 1 of Article I on 15 February 1985, for the period from 1 January
1984 through 30 September 1995. On 15 November 1995 the US was granted a
renewal of the waiver in respect of paragraph 1 of Article I of the GATT 1994
through 30 September 2005, and again on 29 May 2009 through 31 December 2014,
to the extent necessary for the United States to provide duty-free treatment
for imports of eligible products originating in beneficiary countries
designated pursuant to the provisions of the CBERA.
For the EU, the waiver request does not
pose economic concerns since the duty-free treatment does not have an impact on
the EU trade with the beneficiaries countries. 
2015/0023 (NLE)
Proposal for a
COUNCIL DECISION
establishing the position to be taken by
the European Union within the General Council of the World Trade Organization
on the United States' request for a WTO waiver to extend and expand the scope
of the US Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article
207(4), in conjunction with Article 218(9) thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the European
Commission, 
Whereas:
(1)       Pursuant to paragraph 3 of
Article IX of the WTO Agreement, the United States submitted a request to
extend the existing waiver through 31 December 2019 and expand the scope of the
existing waiver of its obligations under paragraph 1 of Article I of the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994), to the extent
necessary to permit the United States to provide duty-free treatment to
eligible products originating in beneficiary Central American and Caribbean
countries and territories ("beneficiary countries") designated
pursuant to the provisions of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act of
1983, as amended by the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Expansion Act of 1990
and by the United States-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act, the Haitian
Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act of 2006, the
Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act of 2008,
and the Haitian Economic Lift Program Act of 2010 (collectively, "CBERA as
amended").
(2)       The United States was granted a waiver of obligations under paragraph 1 of Article I on 15 February
1985, for the period from 1 January 1984 through 30 September 1995. On 15
November 1995 the United States was granted a renewal of the waiver in respect
of paragraph 1 of Article I of the GATT 1994 through 30 September 2005, and
again on 29 May 2009 through 31 December 2014, to the extent necessary for the
United States to provide duty-free treatment for imports of eligible products
originating in beneficiary countries designated pursuant to the provisions of
the CBERA.
(3)       Article IX paragraphs 3
and 4 of the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO
Agreement) set out the procedures for the granting of waivers concerning the
Multilateral Trade Agreements in Annex 1A or 1B or 1C to the WTO Agreement and
their annexes. 
(4)       The granting of this
waiver would not affect negatively neither the economy of the Union nor the
trade relations with the beneficiaries of this waiver. Moreover, the Union generally supports actions to combat poverty and promote stability in the beneficiaries'
countries.
(5)       It is appropriate,
therefore, to establish the position to be taken by the Union within the WTO
General Council to support the waiver request by the United States,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: 
Article 1
The position to be
taken by the European Union within the General Council of the World Trade
Organization is to support the United States' waiver request to extend and
expand the scope of the United States Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA)
as lastly amended from 1 January 2015 until 31 December 2019 in accordance with
the terms of the waiver request. 
This position
shall be expressed by the Commission. 
Article 2
This Decision shall enter into force on the day of its
adoption. 
Done at Brussels,
                                                                       For
the Council
                                                                       The
President