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 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:

The Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republicof Serbia, of the other part (‘SAA’) was signed on 29 April 2008 and concluded on 22 July 2013^f2. The SAA entered into force on 1 September 2013.

It is necessary to lay down rules for the implementation of certain provisions of the SAA, as well as the procedures for the adoption of detailed rules of implementation.

In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of the SAA, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council^f3. Given that the implementing acts form part of the common commercial policy, the examination procedure should in principle be used for their adoption. Where the SAA provides for the possibility, in exceptional and critical circumstances, to apply forthwith measures necessary to deal with the situation, the Commission should adopt such implementing acts immediately. The Commission should adopt immediately applicable implementing acts where, in duly justified cases relating to measures concerning agricultural and fishery products, imperative grounds of urgency so require.

The SAA stipulates that certain agricultural and fishery products originating in Serbia may be imported into the Union at a reduced customs duty, within the limits of tariff quotas. It is therefore necessary to lay down provisions regulating the management and review of those tariff quotas in order to allow for their thorough assessment.

Where trade defence measures become necessary, they should be adopted in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 260/2009^f4, Council Regulation (EC) No 1225/2009^f5 or, as the case may be, Council Regulation (EC) No 597/2009^f6.

Where a Member State provides information to the Commission on a possible case of fraud or failure to provide administrative cooperation, the relevant Union legislation, in particular Council Regulation (EC) No 515/97^f7, should apply.

This Regulation contains implementing measures for the SAA, and should thus apply from the date of entry into force of the SAA.

Upon the entry into force of the SAA, the SAA replaced the Interim Agreement on trade and trade-related matters between the European Community, of the one part, and the Republic of Serbia, of the other part^f8 (‘Interim Agreement’), which had entered into force on 1 February 2010 and provided for the early entry into force of the trade and trade-related provisions of the SAA. In order to ensure the effective application and management of the tariff quotas granted under the Interim Agreement and the SAA, as well as to ensure legal certainty and equal treatment with regard to the levying of duties, certain provisions of this Regulation should apply from the date of entry into force of the Interim Agreement,

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