Paweł Zalewski's question to the European Commission - EU-Morocco trade

E-000768/2012

Question for written answer
to the Commission

Rule 117
Paweł Zalewski (PPE)

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The file on an agreement between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco concerning reciprocal liberalisation measures on agricultural and fishery products will be put to the vote in the next few days. The issue has sparked a great deal of controversy among the representatives of the different political groups in the European Parliament.

With this in mind, is the Commission intending to ensure that imports of the agricultural goods covered by the agreement concerned will be strictly monitored?

Is the Commission intending to use EU legal instruments (e.g. protective and anti-dumping measures or safeguard clauses) where justified?

Request to the European Commission issued on 24/01/2012

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Answer given by Mr Cioloş on behalf of the Commission (19.03.2012)

The conclusion of the Agreement that the Honourable Member is referring to was approved by the European Parliament on 16 February, 2012. It will strengthen the existing channels of bilateral cooperation and safeguard clauses so as to make sure that the provisions on imports of agricultural products, fish and fishery products included in the Agreement are duly respected. The reinforced safeguard measures will equip the EU with a tool to restrict imports from Morocco if they cause serious disturbances to markets and/or serious damage to the production sectors. Morocco, of course, can have recourse to the same measures in the event of similar disturbances caused by imports from the EU.

The Agreement maintains the system of entry prices and tariff quotas for sensitive products currently in place. As regards the former, not only it will continue to be properly applied but also, as part of the reform of the common agricultural policy, the Commission has proposed solutions to better implement the mechanisms of this system.

As for tariff quotas, the Commission recognises the importance of close surveillance of quantities imported. This is reflected in a system of double-checks, which is based on the declaration of the quantities exported by the Moroccan operators (official figures issued by EACCE — L'Etablissement Autonome de Contrôle et de Coordination des Exportations) as well as daily records of imports by the custom services of the EU Member States. These data are transmitted to the Commission services through a system of imports monitoring. Finally, the data are cross-checked with the figures held in the Commission's reference database, COMEXT.

The Commission will continue the close monitoring in order to ensure that relevant quota limitations for Moroccan agricultural exports are being respected as it has been the case up to date.