PROTOCOL

adjusting trade aspects of the Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Latvia, of the other part, to take account of the accession of the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden to the European Union and the outcome of the Uruguay Round negotiations on agriculture, including improvements to the existing preferential arrangements

THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY, hereinafter referred to as "the Community", of the one part, and

THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA, of the other part, hereinafter referred to as "Latvia",

WHEREAS the Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Latvia, of the other part (hereinafter referred to as "the Agreement"), was signed in Luxembourg on 12 June 1995;

WHEREAS the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden acceded to the European Union on 1 January 1995;

WHEREAS, under the terms of Articles 76, 102 and 128 of the Act of Accession, the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden have to apply, as from 1 January 1995, the provisions of the preferential agreements concluded by the Community with certain third countries, among them Latvia;

WHEREAS the Community adopted, as from 1 January 1995, transitional measures in the form of autonomous tariff quotas taking into account the preferential tariff concessions applied by the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden to Latvia, and Latvia adopted, as from 1 January 1995, transitional measures in the form of autonomous tariff quotas taking into account the preferential tariff arrangements applied by Latvia to the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden, notably with regard to processed agricultural products;

WHEREAS undertakings by the Community in the framework of the Uruguay Round negotiations require the amendment of the import tariff arrangements in the Community, notably with regard to basic and processed agricultural products;

WHEREAS the accession of the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden to the European Union and the implementation of the Uruguay Round outcome are likely to affect the bilateral concessions granted under the Agreement, which should, therefore, be amended by means of a Protocol adjusting the trade aspects of the Agreement;

WHEREAS the Community adopted, as from 1 July 1996, transitional and autonomous measures establishing certain concessions in the form of Community tariff quotas for certain agricultural products and providing for the adjustment, as an autonomous and transitional measure, of certain agricultural concessions provided for in the Agreement on free trade and trade-related matters with Latvia to take account of the Agreement on Agriculture concluded during the Uruguay Round multilateral trade negotiations; whereas the concessions concerned will be replaced on the date of entry into force of this Protocol by the concessions provided for herein;

WHEREAS the Council decided, by virtue of Decision 96/223/EC(1), to apply on a provisional basis, as from 1 January 1995, the bilateral Agreement negotiated by the Commission on behalf of the Community amending Protocol 1 to the Agreement on trade in textiles to take account of the accession of the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden to the European Union,

HAVE DECIDED to determine, by mutual agreement, the adjustments to be made to the trade aspects of the Agreement to take account, firstly, of the accession of the Republic of Austria, of the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden to the European Union and, secondly, of the entry into force of the outcome of the Uruguay Round negotiations on agriculture, and to this end have designated as their plenipotentiaries:

THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY:

Dietrich von KYAW,

Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Germany,

Chairman of the Permanent Representatives Committee,

Günther BURGHARDT,

Director-General of the Directorate-General for External Political Relations of the Commission of the European Communities,

THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA:

Andris PIEBALGS,

Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary,

Head of the Mission of the Republic of Latvia to the European Union,

WHO, having exchanged their full powers, found in good and due form,

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Annex V to the Agreement relating to textile products, shall be replaced by the text contained in Annex A to this Protocol.

Article 2

As regards processed agricultural products:

1) Protocol 2 to the Agreement shall be replaced by the text contained in Annex B to this Protocol.

2) Article 9(1) of the Agreement shall be replaced by the following: "1. The provisions of this Chapter shall apply to products originating in the Community and in Latvia listed in Chapters 25 to 97 of the Combined Nomenclature, with the exception of the products listed in Annex I and Protocol 2."

3) Article 17 of, and Annex VI to, the Agreement shall be repealed.

4) Article 18(2) of the Agreement shall be replaced by the following: "2. The term 'agricultural products' means the products listed in Chapters 1 to 24 of the Combined Nomenclature and the products listed in Annex I and Protocol 2, but excluding the products which are fishery products within the meaning of Article 22(2)."

Article 3

As regards agricultural products:

1) Article 20(2) of the Agreement shall be replaced by the following: "2. The concessions in relation to agricultural products granted by the Community and Latvia to each other on a harmonious and reciprocal basis are set out in Annex Va (Community concessions) and Annexes X and XI (concessions by Latvia)."

2) The text of Annex Va to the Agreement appears in Annex C to this Protocol.

3) Annexes VII, VIII and IX to the Agreement shall be repealed.

Article 4

Annex XII to the Agreement, relating to fishery products, shall be replaced by the text contained in Annex D to this Protocol.

Article 5

The Annexes to this Protocol shall form an integral part thereto. This Protocol shall form an integral part of the Agreement.

Article 6

This Protocol shall be approved by the Community and Latvia in accordance with their own procedures. The Contracting Parties shall take the necessary measures to implement this Protocol.

Article 7

This Protocol shall enter into force on the first day of the second month following notification of the completion of the procedures referred to in Article 6 by the contracting parties.

Article 8

This Protocol shall be drawn up in duplicate in the Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Latvian languages, each of those texts being equally authentic.

Hecho en Bruselas, el treinta de junio de mil novecientos noventa y nueve.

Udfærdiget i Bruxelles den tredivte juni nitten hundrede og nioghalvfems.

Geschehen zu Brüssel am dreißigsten Juni neunzehnhundertneunundneunzig.

Έγινε στην Βρυξέλλες, στις τριάντα Ιουνίου χίλια εννιακόσια ενενήντα εννέα.

Done at Βrussels on the thirtieth day of June in the year one thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine.

Fait à Bruxelles, le trente juin mil neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf.

Fatto a Bruxelles, addì trenta giugno millenovecentonovantanove.

Gedaan te Brussel, de dertigste juni negentienhonderd negenennegentig.

Feito em Bruxelas, em trinta de Junho de mil novecentos e noventa e nove.

Tehty Brysselissä kolmantenakymmenentenä päivänä kesäkuuta vuonna tuhatyhdeksänsataayhdeksänkymmentäyhdeksän.

Som skedde i Bryssel den trettionde juni nittonhundranittionio.

Parakstits Brisele, junija trisdesmitaja diena, tukstosi devini simti devindesmit devitaja gada.

Por la Comunidad Europea/For Det Europæiske Fællesskab/Für die Europäische Gemeinschaft/Για την Ευρωπαϊκή Κοινότητα/For the European Community/Pour la Communauté européenne/Per la Comunità europea/Voor de Europese Gemeenschap/Pela Comunidade Europeia/Euroopan yhteisön puolesta/För Europeiska gemenskapen

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Latvijas Republikas varda

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(1) OJ L 81, 30.3.1996, p. 1.

ANNEX A

"ANNEX V

List of textile products orginating in Latvia and subject to Community tariff ceilings

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ANNEX B

"PROTOCOL 2

on trade between the Community and Latvia in processed agricultural products.

Article 1

1. The Community and Latvia apply to processed agricultural products the duties, listed in Annex I and Annex II respectively in accordance with the conditions mentioned therein, whether limited by quota or not.

2. The Association Council will decide on:

- any extension of the list of processed agricultural products under this Protocol,

- any amendment of the duties mentioned in Annexes I and II,

- any increase or abolition of tariff quotas.

3. The Association Council may replace the duties established by this Protocol by a regime established on the basis of the respective market prices of the Community and Latvia of the agricultural products actually used in the manufacture of processed agricultural products subject to this Protocol. It will establish the list of goods subject to these amounts and, as a consequence, the list of basic products; to this end, it will decide the general rules of application.

Article 2

The duties applied conforming to Article 1 may be reduced by decision of the Association Council:

- when in trade between the Community and Latvia the duties applied to the basic products are reduced, or

- in response to reductions resulting from mutual concessions relating to processed agricultural products.

The reductions provided for under the first indent of the first subparagraph will be calculated on the part of the duty designated as the agricultural component which shall correspond to the agricultural products actually used in the manufacture of the processed agricultural products in question and deducted from the duties applied to these basic agricultural products.

Article 3

The Community and Latvia will inform each other of the administrative arrangement adopted for the products covered by this Protocol.

Such arrangement should ensure equal treatment for all interested parties and should be as simple and flexible as possible.

Declaration

If Latvia reduces its duty rates applicable on an MFN basis to imports from non-Community origins for goods listed in Annex II to Protocol 2 below those in force on 1 January 1997 the preferential duty rates applicable to imports from the Community of these goods shall be adjusted in order to maintain the relative preference of the Community.

ANNEX I

Table 1: Quotas applicable upon import into the Community of goods originating in Latvia

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Table 2: Duties applicable upon import into the Community of goods originating in Latvia

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Note:

The Basic Amounts taken into consideration in calculating the reduced agricultural components (EAR) and additional duties, applicable on importation into the Community of goods listed in this table are those set out in Table 3 to this Annex.

Table 3: Basic amounts taken into consideration in calculating the reduced agricultural components and additional duties applicable on importation into the Community of goods listed in Table 2

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ANNEX II

Duties applicable to goods originating in the Community on import into Latvia

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Note:

Duties are set to zero for imports into Latvia of processed agricultural products orginating in the Community which fall within Regulation (EC) No 3448/93 and are not listed in this table."

ANNEX C

"ANNEX Va

Imports into the Community of the following products originating in Latvia shall be subject to the concessions set out below (MFN = most favoured nation duty):

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ANNEX

Minimum import price arrangement for certain soft fruit for processing

1.

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2. The minimum import prices, as set out in point 1, will be respected on a consignment by consignment basis. In the case of a customs declaration value being lower than the minimum import price, a countervailing duty will be charged equal to the difference between the minimum import price and the customs declaration value.

3. If the import prices of a given product covered by this Annex show a trend suggesting that the prices could go below the level of the minimum import prices in the immediate future, the European Commission will inform the Republic of Latvia authorities in order to enable them to correct the situation.

4. At the request of either the Community or Latvia, the Association Council shall examine the functioning of the system or the revision of the level of the minimum import prices. If appropriate, the Association Council shall take the necessary decisions.

5. To encourage and promote the development of trade and for the mutual benefit of all parties concerned, a consultation meeting will be organised three months before the beginning of each marketing year in the European Community. This consultation meeting will take place between the European Commission and the interested European producers' organisations for the products concerned, of the one part and the authorities', producers' and exporters' organisations of all the associated exporting countries, of the other part.

During this consultation meeting, the market situation for soft fruit including, in particular, forecasts for production, stock situation, price evolution and possible market development, as well as possibilities to adapt supply to demand, will be discussed."

ANNEX D

"ANNEX XII

Products originating in Latvia for which the Community grants reduced- or zero-duty tariff quotas

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