Council Decision (EU) 2022/2524 of 12 December 2022 on the conclusion, on behalf of the Union, of the Agreement between the European Union and New Zealand pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 relating to the modification of concessions on all the tariff-rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV as a consequence of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union

What it is

PURPOSE : to conclude, on behalf of the Union, of the Agreement between the European Union and New Zealand pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 relating to the modification of concessions on all the tariff-rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV as a consequence of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union. ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Council may adopt the act only if Parliament has given its consent to the act. BACKGROUND: on 15 June 2018, the Council authorised the Commission to open negotiations pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 on the apportionment of the tariff-rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV as a consequence of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the Union. Negotiations with New Zealand were successfully concluded on 20 December 2021 with the initialling of the agreement between the European Union and New Zealand. The European Parliament adopted by 572 votes to 37, with 21 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the draft Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the Union, of the Agreement between the European Union and New Zealand pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 relating to the modification of concessions on all the tariff-rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV as a consequence of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union. Parliament gave its consent to the conclusion of the agreement. In October 2018, in the run-up to the UK's withdrawal from the EU, the EU formally opened negotiations under Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 with several members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), including New Zealand. The negotiations are based on a ‘joint approach’ developed in 2017 by the EU and the UK on how to ‘apportion’ the quantitative commitments contained in the EU28 WTO schedule for the 143 EU agricultural, fish and industrial WTO tariff rate quotas (TRQs). The agreements negotiated under Article XXVIII of GATT need to ensure that recently observed trade flows into the EU and the UK are not disrupted for the respective trade under the tariff rate quotas. Negotiations with New Zealand covered tariff rate quotas on sensitive products such as sheep meat, bovine meat and dairy products, including butter, cheese for processing and cheddar cheese. In the end, the tariff rate quotas volumes as defined with the ‘joint approach’ method remained unchanged, expect for two country-specific meat tariff rate quotas which were adjusted based on more recent data, and two country-specific dairy tariff quotas which were adapted with a view to improving the management of these quotas.

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