Considerations on COM(2024)338 -

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dossier COM(2024)338 - .
document COM(2024)338
date July 30, 2024
 
(1) The Euro-Mediterranean Interim Association Agreement on trade and cooperation between the European Community, of the one part, and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) for the benefit of the Palestinian Authority of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, of the other part (the Agreement) was concluded by the Union by Council Decision 97/430/EC1 and entered into force on 1 July 1997.

(2) Pursuant to Article 63 of the Agreement, the Joint Committee may adopt decisions. Pursuant to Article 4 of Protocol 3 to the Agreement, the Joint Committee established by Article 63 of the Agreement (Joint Committee) may decide to amend the provisions of that Protocol.

(3) The Joint Committee, during its next meeting, is to adopt a decision amending Protocol 3 to the Agreement.

(4) It is appropriate to establish the position to be taken on the Union’s behalf in the Joint Committee as the Decision of the Joint Committee will be binding on the Union.

(5) During the first technical meeting on Transitional rules of origin held in Brussels on 5 February 2020, the majority of the Contracting Parties to the Regional Convention on pan-Euro-Mediterranean preferential rules of origin2 (the Convention) agreed to implement the revised rules of the Convention3 (the Transitional rules of origin4) in parallel with the rules of the Convention, on a transitional bilateral basis, pending the adoption of the revised rules of the Convention.

(6) The application of the Transitional rules of origin ensures the adaptation of the trade flows and customs practices pending the entry into force on 1 January 2025 of the revised rules of the Convention, on which the Transitional rules of origin are based.

(7) A network of bilateral protocols on rules of origin among Contracting Parties to the Convention5 entered into force rendering the Transitional rules of origin applicable6 since 1 September 2021.

(8) The objective of the Transitional rules of origin is to introduce more relaxed rules to facilitate the qualification of the preferential originating status for goods. As the Transitional rules of origin are in general more relaxed than those of the Convention, goods fulfilling the rules of origin of the Convention could also qualify as originating under the Transitional rules of origin, with the exception of certain agricultural products classified under Chapters 2, 4 to 15 and 16 (except for processed fishery products) and Chapters 17 to 24 of the Harmonised System. The Transitional rules of origin are applicable in parallel with the rules of origin of the Convention creating two distinctive zones of cumulation. Therefore, to facilitate the application of permeability between the Convention and the Transitional rules of origin as provided for by Article 21(1), point (d) of Appendix A to Protocol 3 to the Agreement, Article 8 of Appendix A to Protocol 3 to the Agreement should be amended.