The European Parliament adopted a legislative resolution on the draft Council decision concluding the interim agreement with a view to an Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Central Africa Party, of the other part.

Parliament consented to the conclusion of the agreement.

The Committee on International Trade adopted the report by David MARTIN (S&D, UK) on the draft Council decision concluding the interim agreement with a view to an Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Central Africa Party, of the other part.

Members recommend that the European Parliament should consent to the conclusion of the Agreement as this would send an important signal on the importance of the trade relationship to the Central African region as a whole.

PURPOSE: the conclusion of the interim agreement with a view to an Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Central Africa Party, of the other part

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.

BACKGROUND: the Council has by its Decision 2009/152/EC decided on the signature of the interim agreement with a view to an Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Central Africa Party, of the other part ("the interim agreement"). The interim agreement was signed on 15 January 2009.

It is now appropriate to conclude the agreement on behalf of the European Union.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT: no impact assessment was undertaken.

LEGAL BASIS: Articles 207 and 211, in conjunction with point (a) of Article 218(6), of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

CONTENT: the purpose of this proposal for a decision is to approve on behalf of the Union, the stepping stone Economic partnership Agreement between the European Community and its Members States, of the one part, and Central Africa, of the other part.

The text of the “ stepping stone agreement ” was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, with the decision in regard to its signature. For further information regarding the content of the agreement, please refer to the summary dated 10/07/2008.

BUDGETARY IMPACT: the proposal has no impact on the EU’s budget.

The Lisbon Treaty, which entered into force on 1 December 2009, amended the EU's two core treaties, the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty establishing the European Community (EC Treaty). The latter was renamed the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

These changes had various consequences for many ongoing procedures. First of all, the articles of the TEU and of the old EC Treaty that constitute the legal basis of all the proposals founded on those Treaties were renumbered in accordance with the table of equivalences mentioned in Article 5 of the Lisbon Treaty.

In addition, some proposals underwent a change to their legal basis going beyond a mere change to their numbering, and this resulted in changes to the type of procedure .

The Lisbon Treaty also introduced new concepts of decision-making procedure . The old "codecision procedure" was extended to new areas and renamed the "ordinary legislative procedure". A new "consent procedure" replaced the old "assent procedure". New interinstitutional procedures were also set up for the adoption of certain non-legislative acts, for example the conclusion of some international agreements.

The ongoing proposals concerned by these changes were formally modified by the Commission in a Communication published on 2 December 2009 (COM(2009)0665).

In the case of the proposal for a Council Decision concluding the stepping stone Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and Central Africa, of the other part, the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty had the following impacts :

· the old legal basis – Treaty/EC/Art.133, Art 181, Art.300(3) 2nd para. - became Art 207(4) first para, Art.211, Art 218 (6)(a) of the TFEU. Please note that the numbering of the old legal basis corresponds to the consolidated version of the Treaty that was applicable immediately before the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, and may differ from the references in the original Commission proposal ;

· the proposal, which had previously fallen under the old assent procedure (AVC), was classified as an interinstitutional non-legislative procedure (NLE).

PURPOSE: to propose the signature and the provisional application of a stepping stone Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and Central Africa, of the other part (only Cameroon at this stage).

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.

CONTENT: the content of this provisional Agreement is identical to that of the general Agreement. For more details, please refer to the summary of the Commission’s initial proposal of 10/07/2008.

To recall, this stepping stone Agreement concerns trade and development cooperation issues linking the Community and its Member States and Cameroon.

PURPOSE: to conclude the stepping stone Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and Central Africa, of the other part.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.

BACKGROUND: as it was not possible to conclude before end 2007 a complete EPA with the whole Central African region, that is:

§ Cameroon ,

§ Central African Republic ,

§ Chad ,

§ Democratic Republic of Congo,

§ Congo ,

§ Equatorial Guinea ,

§ Gabon ,

§ Sao Tomé and Principe.

this stepping stone EPA has been negotiated in order to avoid disrupting trade between Central Africa and the European Community, pending completion of the comprehensive EPA with the whole Central African region.

At this stage, the Central African part is composed of Cameroon which is the only country to have initialled it up to now.

Following the initialling of this stepping stone EPA on 17 December 2007, Cameroon was added to the list of countries benefiting from the EPA trade regime established by Council Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007 adopted on 20 December 2007. This Regulation provides for an advance application of the EPA trade regime. This ensured that there was no trade disruption for Cameroon upon the expiry on 31 December 2007 of the trade provisions set out in Annex V of the Cotonou Agreement and the WTO waiver that covered them.

The negotiation of a full EPA with all Central African states continues, consistently with the negotiating directives for EPAs with the ACP States adopted by Council on 12 June 2002. The stepping stone EPA initialled by Cameroon is intended to be available for the region as a whole. It will be extended by the outcome of negotiations for full EPA reached in 2008.

Pending its entry into force, the stepping stone EPA foresees its provisional application.

CONTENT: the stepping stone EPA, which the Commission request the Council to conclude on behalf of the Community, after assent by the European Parliament, contains provisions on:

§ trade in Goods, that is to say Customs and Non Tariff Measures;

§ trade Defence Instruments;

§ customs Regime and Trade Facilitation;

§ technical Barriers to Trade and Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures;

§ forestry Governance and Trade for Forest Related Products.

It also contains Development Cooperation provisions setting out priority areas of action for its implementation. The stepping stone EPA establishes a framework for development cooperation towards the strengthening of capacity and reinforcement of national economies in Central Africa. It also recalls the Commission's and Member States' intention to contribute to a regional development fund.

The stepping stone EPA initialled by Cameroon is intended to be available for the region as a whole. It will be extended by the outcome of negotiations for full EPA reached in 2008. It therefore foresees the continuation of negotiations at regional level on Establishment, Services and Electronic Trade and Trade Related rules.

Provisional application : pending the entry into force of the stepping stone EPA, the stepping stone EPA foresees the provisional application of the Agreement (see COM(2008)0445).

Lastly, the European Parliament will be called upon to give its assent to the conclusion of the stepping stone EPA.

PURPOSE: to conclude the stepping stone Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and Central Africa, of the other part.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.

BACKGROUND: as it was not possible to conclude before end 2007 a complete EPA with the whole Central African region, that is:

§ Cameroon,

§ Central African Republic,

§ Chad,

§ Democratic Republic of Congo,

§ Congo,

§ Equatorial Guinea,

§ Gabon,

§ Sao Tomé and Principe.

this stepping stone EPA has been negotiated in order to avoid disrupting trade between Central Africa and the European Community, pending completion of the comprehensive EPA with the whole Central African region.

At this stage, the Central African part is composed of Cameroon which is the only country to have initialled it up to now.

Following the initialling of this stepping stone EPA on 17 December 2007, Cameroon was added to the list of countries benefiting from the EPA trade regime established by Council Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007 adopted on 20 December 2007. This Regulation provides for an advance application of the EPA trade regime. This ensured that there was no trade disruption for Cameroon upon the expiry on 31 December 2007 of the trade provisions set out in Annex V of the Cotonou Agreement and the WTO waiver that covered them.

The negotiation of a full EPA with all Central African states continues, consistently with the negotiating directives for EPAs with the ACP States adopted by Council on 12 June 2002. The stepping stone EPA initialled by Cameroon is intended to be available for the region as a whole. It will be extended by the outcome of negotiations for full EPA reached in 2008.

Pending its entry into force, the stepping stone EPA foresees its provisional application.

CONTENT: the stepping stone EPA, which the Commission request the Council to conclude on behalf of the Community, after assent by the European Parliament, contains provisions on:

§ trade in Goods, that is to say Customs and Non Tariff Measures;

§ trade Defence Instruments;

§ customs Regime and Trade Facilitation;

§ technical Barriers to Trade and Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures;

§ forestry Governance and Trade for Forest Related Products.

It also contains Development Cooperation provisions setting out priority areas of action for its implementation. The stepping stone EPA establishes a framework for development cooperation towards the strengthening of capacity and reinforcement of national economies in Central Africa. It also recalls the Commission's and Member States' intention to contribute to a regional development fund.

The stepping stone EPA initialled by Cameroon is intended to be available for the region as a whole. It will be extended by the outcome of negotiations for full EPA reached in 2008. It therefore foresees the continuation of negotiations at regional level on Establishment, Services and Electronic Trade and Trade Related rules.

Provisional application : pending the entry into force of the stepping stone EPA, the stepping stone EPA foresees the provisional application of the Agreement (see COM(2008)0445).

Lastly, the European Parliament will be called upon to give its assent to the conclusion of the stepping stone EPA.