Introductory text

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 207(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure^f1,

Whereas:

Article 329 of the Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and Colombia and Peru, of the other part^f2 (‘the Agreement’) signed on 26 June 2012, provides for the possible accession to the Agreement of other Member Countries of the Andean Community.

Following the request by Ecuador to restart negotiations with the Union to become a Party to the Agreement, negotiations were conducted between the Union and Ecuador in 2014. As a result of those negotiations, a Protocol of Accession by Ecuador to the Agreement (‘the Protocol of Accession’) was initialled on 12 December 2014.

Following the initialling of the Protocol of Accession, an interim reciprocal arrangement is necessary for the establishment of a free-trade area with Ecuador in order to avoid unnecessary trade disruption. Therefore, as from 1 January 2015, customs duties applied on the date of initialling of the Protocol of Accession should not be increased nor new customs duties applied to goods originating in Ecuador.

This Regulation therefore provides for the maintenance of the level of duty rates applicable to goods originating in Ecuador on 12 December 2014 as from 1 January 2015.

The tariff treatment provided for under this Regulation is without prejudice to measures taken under Council Regulations (EC) No 260/2009^f3, (EC) No 597/2009^f4 or (EC) No 1225/2009^f5.

As a condition for the application of the tariff treatment provided for under this Regulation, Ecuador should abstain from introducing new duties or charges having equivalent effect and new quantitative restrictions or measures having equivalent effect for imports from the Union, or from increasing existing levels of duties or charges or from introducing any other restrictions from 12 December 2014.

To ensure that Ecuador maintains its commitment to core international conventions on human and labour rights, environmental protection and good governance, the application of this Regulation should be subject to the continued and effective implementation of those conventions by Ecuador.

In order to prevent any risk of fraud, the entitlement to benefit from the tariff treatment provided for under this Regulation should be conditional on compliance by Ecuador with the relevant rules of origin of goods and the procedures related thereto.

It is necessary to provide for the application of Common Customs Tariff duties with regard to any goods originating in Ecuador which cause, or threaten to cause, serious difficulties to Union producers of like or directly competing products, subject to an investigation by the Commission.

In the event of failure to comply with any of the conditions laid down in this Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission to suspend temporarily, in whole or in part, the tariff treatment provided for herein. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council^f6.

This Regulation should be applied until six months after the entry into force or date of provisional application of the Protocol of Accession, and until 31 December 2016 at the latest,

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