Council Decision (EU) 2016/436 of 15 March 2016 on the position to be adopted, on behalf of the European Union, within the Customs Sub-Committee established by the Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Moldova, of the other part, as regards the replacement of Protocol II to that Agreement, concerning the definition of the concept of ‘originating products’ and methods of administrative cooperation

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

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

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

Whereas:

1. Protocol II to the Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Moldova, of the other part⁽¹⁾ (the ‘Agreement’), concerns the definition of the concept of ‘originating products’ and methods of administrative cooperation (‘Protocol II’).

2. Most of the provisions on trade and trade-related matters of the Agreement, including Protocol II, have been applied provisionally since 1 September 2014.

3. The Regional Convention on pan-Euro-Mediterranean preferential rules of origin⁽²⁾ (the ‘Convention’) lays down provisions on the origin of goods traded under relevant agreements concluded between the Contracting Parties to that Convention.

4. The Union signed the Convention on 15 June 2011. The Joint Committee of the Convention decided, by Decision No 2 of 21 May 2014⁽³⁾, that the Republic of Moldova should be invited to accede to the Convention.

5. The Union and the Republic of Moldova deposited their instruments of acceptance with the depositary of the Convention on 26 March 2012 and 31 July 2015, respectively. Consequently, pursuant to Article 10(3) of the Convention, the Convention entered into force in relation to the Union and the Republic of Moldova on 1 May 2012 and 1 September 2015, respectively.

6. Article 6 of the Convention provides that each Contracting Party is to take appropriate measures to ensure that the Convention is effectively applied. To that effect, the Customs Sub-Committee established by the Agreement (the ‘Customs Sub-Committee’) should adopt a decision replacing Protocol II by a new protocol which, with regard to the rules of origin, refers to the Convention.

7. The position of the Union within the Customs Sub-Committee should therefore be based on the attached draft decision,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: