PURPOSE: to abolish the autonomous quotas on imports of textiles and clothing originating in Belarus.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Regulation (EU) 2017/354 of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) 2015/936 on common rules for imports of textile products from certain third countries not covered by bilateral agreements, protocols or other arrangements, or by other specific Union import rules.

CONTENT: the Regulation amending Regulation (EU) 2015/936 repeals quota restrictions on imports of textiles and clothing from Belarus .

The Regulation follows the release of political prisoners in Belarus on 22 August 2015, together with several positive initiatives undertaken by Belarus over the last 2 years, such as resumption of the EU-Belarus Human Rights Dialogue, contributed to the improvement of relations between the Union and Belarus.

The Regulations recalls that EU-Belarus relations should be based on common values, in particular with regard to human rights, democracy and the rule of law . However, the human rights situation in Belarus remains of concern to the Union, in particular with regard to issues such as the death penalty, which should be abolished.

Accordingly, the adoption of the Regulation is without prejudice to the Union’s ability to have recourse to new quotas in the future should the human rights situation in Belarus seriously deteriorate.

In order to facilitate administrative procedures, the Regulation extends the period of validity of import authorisations to nine months, instead of six.

Article 31 of the Regulation on the adoption of delegated acts is amended: the power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission for a period of five years (which may be tacitly extended for periods of identical duration), from 20 February 2014. The European Parliament or the Council shall have the right to object to a delegated act within a period of two months (extendable for four months) from the notification of the act.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 23.3.2017.

The European Parliament adopted by 549 votes to 87, with 33 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) 2015/936 of the European Parliament and of the Council on common rules for imports of textile products from certain third countries not covered by bilateral agreements, protocols or other arrangements, or by other specific Union import rules.

Regulation (EU) 2015/936 of the European Parliament and of the Council lays down the common rules for imports of textile products from certain third countries not covered by bilateral agreements, protocols or other arrangements, or by other specific Union import rules.

The European Parliament’s position adopted at first reading, following the ordinary legislative procedure, amended the Commission proposal as follows:

Quotas on outward processing traffic : taking account of the positive political developments between the Union and Belarus, the Regulation should repeal the autonomous quotas on imports of textiles and clothing originating in Belarus, provided for in Annexes II and III to Regulation (EU) 2015/936, without prejudice to the Union’s ability to have recourse to quotas in the future should the human rights situation in Belarus seriously deteriorate.

According to the amended text, the removal of autonomous quotas on imports of textiles and clothing originating in Belarus implies that the quotas on outward processing traffic are no longer necessary . As a result, Article 4(2) and Chapter V of Regulation (EU) 2015/936, together with Annex V thereto should be deleted.

Delegated acts : Article 31 of the Regulation concerning the adoption of delegated acts has been amended accordingly.

The power to adopt delegated acts shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years (may be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration) from 20 February 2014. The European Parliament or the Council have the right to oppose the delegated act within a period of two months (extendable by four months) of notification of that act.

Human rights : in a new recital, Members stipulated that EU-Belarus relations shall be based on common values, in particular with regard to human rights, democracy and the rule of law. It was also recalled that the human rights situation in Belarus remains of concern to the Union, in particular with regard to issues such as the death penalty, which should be abolished.

The Committee on International Trade adopted the report by Hannu TAKKULA (ADLE, FI) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) 2015/936 of the European Parliament and of the Council on common rules for imports of textile products from certain third countries not covered by bilateral agreements, protocols or other arrangements, or by other specific Union import rules.

The committee recommended that the European Parliament’s position adopted at first reading, following the ordinary legislative procedure, should amend the Commission proposal as follows:

Quotas on outward processing traffic : the amended text stressed that the removal of the autonomous quotas on imports of textiles and clothing originating in Belarus implies that the quotas on outward processing traffic are no longer necessary. However, Members stated that the logical consequence of the abolition of autonomous quotas on import of textiles and clothing originating in Belarus should be the deletion from Regulation (EU) 2015/936 of all provisions relating to quotas on outward processing traffic.

Human Rights : in a new recital, Members stated that EU-Belarus relations should be based on common values, especially with regard to human rights, democracy and the rule of law and it should be recalled that the human rights situation in the Republic of Belarus remains a concern to the Union, in particular issues such as the death penalty which should be abolished.

PURPOSE: to abolish the autonomous quotas on imports of textiles and clothing originating in Belarus.

PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.

BACKGROUND: Regulation (EU) 2015/936 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishes common rules for imports of textile products from certain third countries not covered by bilateral agreements, protocols or other arrangements, or by other specific Union import rules.

The release of the political prisoners on 22 August 2015 was an important step, which together with several positive initiatives undertaken by Belarus over the last two years contributed to the improvement of EU-Belarus relations.

The Commission considers that it is necessary to recognise the positive political developments between the European Union and Belarus and to further improve bilateral relations.

CONTENT: recognising the positive political developments in relations between the European Union and Belarus and in order to further improve bilateral relations, the Commission proposes to abolish the autonomous quotas on imports of textiles and clothing originating in Belarus , also considering their limited use. To that effect, Annexes II and III of Regulation (EU) 2015/936 should be amended accordingly.

In addition, this opportunity will be seized to correct erroneous CN codes and to introduce the official names of the Republic of Belarus and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea according to the 2011 Interinstitutional Style Guide of the European Union, as well as to increase the period of validity of import authorisations from six to nine months in order to facilitate administrative procedures.