Commission Decision (EU) 2018/1733 of 14 November 2018 approving, on behalf of the European Union, the modification of Appendix 1 to Annex XIII to the Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, of the other part

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Council Decision 2012/735/EU of 31 May 2012 on the signing, on behalf of the Union, and provisional application of the Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and Colombia and Peru, of the other part⁽¹⁾, and in particular Article 4 thereof,

Whereas:

1. The Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and Colombia and Peru, of the other part⁽²⁾, (hereinafter ‘the Agreement’) has been provisionally applied with Peru since 1 March 2013⁽³⁾ and with Colombia since 1 August 2013⁽⁴⁾. Ecuador has acceded to the Agreement by means of a Protocol of Accession⁽⁵⁾, which is provisionally applied since 1 January 2017.

2. Article 209 of the Agreement provides for the possibility to add new geographical indications to Appendix 1 to Annex XIII to the Agreement after having completed the objection procedure and after having examined the geographical indications as set out in Article 208 thereof.

3. Colombia submitted to the Union a request to add new geographical indications to Appendix 1 to Annex XIII to the Agreement. The Union has completed the objection procedure and the examination of nine new geographical indications of Colombia.

4. Article 257(2) of the Agreement provides that the Sub-Committee on Intellectual Property, established by the Parties in accordance with Article 257(1) of the Agreement, is responsible for assessing the information referred to in Article 209 of the Agreement and for proposing to the Trade Committee, established by the Parties in accordance with Article 12(1) of the Agreement, the modification of Appendix 1 to Annex XIII to the Agreement.

5. On 5 October 2018, the Sub-Committee on Intellectual Property assessed the information in relation to the nine new geographical indications of Colombia and proposed to the Trade Committee to modify Appendix 1 to Annex XIII to the Agreement accordingly.

6. Article 13(1)(d) of the Agreement establishes that the Trade Committee is responsible for evaluating and adopting decisions envisaged in the Agreement regarding any subject matter which is referred to it by the specialised bodies established according to the Agreement.

7. Pursuant to Article 14(3) of the Agreement, in the cases referred to in Article 12(4) any decision shall be adopted by the EU Party and the signatory Andean country concerned and shall have effect only between those Parties. The matter falls under the provisions of Article 12(4) as it relates exclusively to the bilateral relationship between the EU Party and Colombia, and has been discussed in a bilateral session of the Sub-Committee on Intellectual Property.

8. Appendix 1 to Annex XIII to the Agreement should therefore be modified and the modifications should be approved on behalf of the Union,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: