Introductory text

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 207(3) and (4), in conjunction with Article 218(9) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

Whereas:

The stepping stone Economic Partnership Agreement between Côte d’Ivoire, of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part (‘the Agreement’) was signed on behalf of the Union in Abidjan on 26 November 2008 pursuant to Council Decision 2009/156/EC^f1 and has been applied on a provisional basis since 3 September 2016.

Pursuant to Article 14 of the Agreement, and in order to benefit from the preferential treatment provided for in the Agreement, the parties to the Agreement are to establish a reciprocal common regime governing the rules of origin, which is to form an integral part of the Agreement by a decision of the EPA Committee.

At its annual meeting in 2019, the EPA Committee is to adopt a decision as regards Protocol 1 concerning the definition of the concept of ‘originating products’ and the methods of administrative cooperation.

Protocol 1 provides for further simplification of the rules of origin and takes into account the most recent developments in order to provide more flexible and simpler rules of origin, with a view to facilitating trade for economic operators and to optimising the use of the preferential treatment provided for in the Agreement.

It is appropriate to establish the position to be taken on behalf of the Union in the 2019 annual meeting of the EPA Committee, as that decision will be binding on the Union.

The position of the Union in the APE Committee should therefore be based on the attached draft decision,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: