Article 1 Preferential arrangements
Customs duties on goods originating in Ukraine shall be reduced or eliminated in accordance with Annex I.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Regulation (EU) No 374/2014 on the reduction or elimination of customs duties on goods originating in Ukraine was to apply until Title IV of the Association Agreement enters into force or is applied provisionally. It was intended that Regulation (EU) No 374/2014 would cease to apply on 1 November 2014 at the latest. In the Joint Ministerial Statement on the Implementation of the EU-Ukraine AA/DCFTA of 12 September 2014 following the tri-lateral consultations between the European Union, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, the EU side agreed to propose as part of a comprehensive peace process in Ukraine, to EU Member States to delay until 31 December 2015 the provisional application of the DCFTA while continuing autonomous trade measures of the EU to the benefit of Ukraine during this period. Consequently, in order to support the political and economic stability of Ukraine, the European Commission would propose the extension of the application of Regulation (EU) No 374/2014 on the reduction or elimination of customs duties on goods originating in Ukraine until 31 December 2015. Article 2 of the Association Agreement with Ukraine provides that the respect for democratic principles, human rights and fundamental freedoms and respect for the principle of the rule of law, promotion of respect for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, inviolability of borders and independence, as well as countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, related materials and their means of delivery constitute essential elements of that Agreement. The autonomous preferences provided for under Regulation (EU) No 374/2014 are subject to the respect of these same principles by Ukraine. Volumes/duties granted by the EU under the ATMs regulation in 2014 shall continue to apply for 2015.
Revised version (Article 1 Preferential arrangements):
Customs duties on goods originating in Ukraine shall be reduced or eliminated in accordance with Annex I. Where reference is made in Annex I to staging categories, the basic rate of duties for 2014 and 2015 shall be eliminated in the case of staging category 0 and shall be reduced by 25 % in the case of staging category 3, by 16,7 % in the case of staging category 5 and by 12,5 % in the case of staging category 7.
Article 2 Conditions for entitlement to the preferential arrangements
Entitlement to benefit from the preferential arrangements introduced by Article 1 shall be subject to: (a) compliance with the rules of origin of products and the procedures related thereto as provided for in Title IV, Chapter 2, section 2 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 ( 2 ) ; (b) compliance with the methods of administrative cooperation provided for in Articles 121 and 122 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93; (c) participation by Ukraine in effective administrative cooperation with the Union in order to prevent any risk of fraud; (d) abstention by Ukraine from introducing new duties or charges having equivalent effect and new quantitative restrictions or measures having equivalent effect for imports originating in the Union, or from increasing existing levels of duties or charges or from introducing any other restrictions from 23 April 2014.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Regulation (EU) No 374/2014 on the reduction or elimination of customs duties on goods originating in Ukraine was to apply until Title IV of the Association Agreement enters into force or is applied provisionally. It was intended that Regulation (EU) No 374/2014 would cease to apply on 1 November 2014 at the latest. In the Joint Ministerial Statement on the Implementation of the EU-Ukraine AA/DCFTA of 12 September 2014 following the tri-lateral consultations between the European Union, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, the EU side agreed to propose as part of a comprehensive peace process in Ukraine, to EU Member States to delay until 31 December 2015 the provisional application of the DCFTA while continuing autonomous trade measures of the EU to the benefit of Ukraine during this period. Consequently, in order to support the political and economic stability of Ukraine, the European Commission would propose the extension of the application of Regulation (EU) No 374/2014 on the reduction or elimination of customs duties on goods originating in Ukraine until 31 December 2015. Article 2 of the Association Agreement with Ukraine provides that the respect for democratic principles, human rights and fundamental freedoms and respect for the principle of the rule of law, promotion of respect for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, inviolability of borders and independence, as well as countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, related materials and their means of delivery constitute essential elements of that Agreement. The autonomous preferences provided for under Regulation (EU) No 374/2014 are subject to the respect of these same principles by Ukraine. Volumes/duties granted by the EU under the ATMs regulation in 2014 shall continue to apply for 2015.
Revised version (Article 2 Conditions for entitlement to the preferential arrangements):
Entitlement to benefit from the preferential arrangements introduced by Article 1 shall be subject to: (a) compliance with the rules of origin of products and the procedures related thereto as provided for in Title IV, Chapter 2, section 2 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 ( 2 ); (b) compliance with the methods of administrative cooperation provided for in Articles 121 and 122 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93; (c) participation by Ukraine in effective administrative cooperation with the Union in order to prevent any risk of fraud; (d) abstention by Ukraine from introducing new duties or charges having equivalent effect and new quantitative restrictions or measures having equivalent effect for imports originating in the Union, or from increasing existing levels of duties or charges or from introducing any other restrictions from 23 April 2014; (e) respect for democratic principles, human rights and fundamental freedoms and respect for the principle of the rule of law provided for in Article 2 of the Association Agreement ( 3 ).
Article 3 Access to tariff quotas
1. The products listed in Annexes II and III shall be admitted for import into the Union within the limits of Union tariff quotas as set out in those Annexes. 2. The tariff quotas referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be administered by the Commission in accordance with Articles 308a, 308b and 308c of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93, with the exception of the tariff quotas for specific agricultural products referred to in Annex III to this Regulation. 3. Tariff quotas for specific agricultural products referred to in Annex III to this Regulation shall be administered by the Commission pursuant to the rules laid down in accordance with Article 184 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 3 ) .
Article 4 Temporary suspension
Where it finds that there is sufficient evidence of failure to comply with the conditions set out in Article 2, the Commission may adopt implementing acts in order to suspend temporarily in whole or in part the preferential arrangements provided for in this Regulation. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 6(2).
Article 5 Safeguard clause
Where imports of a product originating in Ukraine and included in Annex I to this Regulation cause or threaten to cause serious difficulties to Union producers of like or directly competing products, the Commission may reintroduce the normal Common Customs Tariff duties with regard to such imports subject to the conditions and in accordance with the procedures laid down in Articles 11 and 11a of Council Regulation (EC) No 55/2008 ( 4 ) which shall apply mutatis mutandis .
Article 6 Committee procedure
1. For the implementation of Article 3(2) and Article 4 of this Regulation, the Commission shall be assisted by the Customs Code Committee established by Article 248a of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 ( 5 ) . That committee shall be a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011. 2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.
Article 7 Entry into force and application
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Regulation (EU) No 374/2014 on the reduction or elimination of customs duties on goods originating in Ukraine was to apply until Title IV of the Association Agreement enters into force or is applied provisionally. It was intended that Regulation (EU) No 374/2014 would cease to apply on 1 November 2014 at the latest. In the Joint Ministerial Statement on the Implementation of the EU-Ukraine AA/DCFTA of 12 September 2014 following the tri-lateral consultations between the European Union, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, the EU side agreed to propose as part of a comprehensive peace process in Ukraine, to EU Member States to delay until 31 December 2015 the provisional application of the DCFTA while continuing autonomous trade measures of the EU to the benefit of Ukraine during this period. Consequently, in order to support the political and economic stability of Ukraine, the European Commission would propose the extension of the application of Regulation (EU) No 374/2014 on the reduction or elimination of customs duties on goods originating in Ukraine until 31 December 2015. Article 2 of the Association Agreement with Ukraine provides that the respect for democratic principles, human rights and fundamental freedoms and respect for the principle of the rule of law, promotion of respect for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, inviolability of borders and independence, as well as countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, related materials and their means of delivery constitute essential elements of that Agreement. The autonomous preferences provided for under Regulation (EU) No 374/2014 are subject to the respect of these same principles by Ukraine. Volumes/duties granted by the EU under the ATMs regulation in 2014 shall continue to apply for 2015.
Revised version (Article 7 Entry into force and application):
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union . It shall apply until 31 December 2015. This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.