EU/ACP countries' Economic Partnership Agreements: exclusion of certain countries from trade preferences; Commission delegated powers

The Committee on International Trade adopted the report by David MARTIN (S&D, UK) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Annex I to Council Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007 as regards the exclusion of a number of countries from the list of regions or states which have concluded negotiations.

The committee recommends that the European Parliament’s position in first reading following the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the Commission proposal as follows:

Powers conferred on the Commission: the committee made the following amendments:

·        it emphasised the need for the European Parliament to be duly involved in preparation and implementation of delegated acts;

·        the delegation of power shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years (rather than for an indeterminate period, as the Commission had proposed);

·        the Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later than nine months before the end of the five-year period. The delegation of power shall be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period;

·        the European Parliament and Council will have four months (rather than two) to object to a delegated act.

Date of application: the Regulation will apply from 1 January 2016, rather than 2014.