AGREEMENT for the conclusion of negotiations between the European Community and New Zealand under Article XXIV:6

THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY AND NEW ZEALAND,

DESIRING to bring their GATT Article XXIV:6 negotiations to conclusion on the basis of a reasonable and mutually satisfactory compromise, and

FURTHER DESIRING to strengthen the close partnership in commercial and economic matters between the European Community and New Zealand,

AGREE TO THE FOLLOWING PROVISIONS:

A. The European Community shall incorporate in its new Schedule CLX, for the customs territory of the EUR 15, the concessions that were included in the previous Schedule LXXX as modified by the European Community Schedule annexed to the Marrakesh Protocol to the General Agreement, 1994 (dated 15 April 1994).

B. To settle the current GATT Article XXIV:6 negotiations on agriculture the following has been agreed and as regards the tariff rate quotas will apply with effect from 1 January 1996:

- add 1 700 tonnes to the allocation for New Zealand under the EC tariff rate quota for sheepmeat,

- add 1 000 tonnes to the allocation for New Zealand under the EC tariff rate quota for cheese for processing,

- add 500 tonnes to the allocation for New Zealand under the EC tariff rate quota for cheddar,

- tariff rate quota 300 tonnes of high quality beef at 20 %,

- ex 0810 90 10 Kiwifruit, 15 May to 15 November:

- reduction of the final tariff rate from 8,8 % to 8,0 %;

- reduction by 0,8 % percentage points of the tariff rate at each stage prior to the final tariff rate. The first such reduction shall apply from 15 May 1996.

New Zealand accepts the basic components of the European Community's approach to adjusting the GATT obligations of the EUR 12 and those of Austria, Finland and Sweden, following the recent enlargement of the Community:

- netting out of export commitments,

- netting out of tariff quotas,

- aggregation of domestic support commitments.

The appropriate legal modalities of implementation remain to be agreed.

C. The following has also been agreed:

- ex 0304 20 96 frozen fillets of fish of the species Pseudocyttus Maculatus and Allocytus spp.

tariff quota of 200 tonnes at zero duty.

D. Final provisions

This Agreement shall enter into force on the date of signature.

Consultations will be held with regard to the matters in this Agreement at any time at the request of either party.

Signed ad Brussels this twenty-second day of December in the year one thousand nine hundred and ninety-five.

For the Government of New Zealand

On behalf of the Council of the European Union