EU/Colombia and Peru Trade Agreement: implementation of the bilateral safeguard clause and stabilisation mechanism for bananas

The Committee on International Trade adopted the report by Bernd LANGE (S&D, DE) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council implementing the bilateral safeguard clause and the stabilisation mechanism for bananas of the Trade Agreement between the European Union and Colombia and Peru.

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

Monitoring: Members specify that the Commission shall monitor the evolution of import and export statistics of Colombian and Peruvian products, in particular in sensitive sectors including bananas, and it may consider extending the scope of the monitoring to other sectors. The Commission shall present an annual monitoring report on updated statistics on imports from Colombia and Peru of products in the sensitive sectors and those sectors to which monitoring has been extended, including bananas, and will do its utmost to include the employment rates and working conditions for banana producers in Colombia and Peru to avoid all forms of dumping.  

Dialogue with civil society: the Commission shall establish a systematic dialogue with civil society organisations as regards the implementation and impact of the Agreement.

The Commission’s investigation: any investigation must also look into working conditions and effects on employment in Union industry. It must also evaluate the observance by Colombia and Peru of the social and environmental standards laid down in the Agreement and any consequences on prices or unfair competitive advantages potentially leading to serious injury or the threat of serious injury to producers or specific sectors of the economy in the Union.

European Parliament recommendation: in the event that the European Parliament adopts a recommendation to initiate a safeguard investigation, the Commission will carefully examine whether the conditions under the Regulation for ex-officio initiation are fulfilled.

Prior surveillance measures: in the event that there is an increase of imports concentrated in one or several of the Union's outermost regions, the Commission may introduce prior surveillance measures.

Report: the Commission shall present an annual report on the application and implementation of the Agreement and of the Regulation to the European Parliament. The report shall include:

·        information about the application of provisional and definitive measures, prior surveillance measures, regional surveillance and safeguard measures, the termination of investigations without measures, and the activities of the various bodies responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Agreement;

·        up-to- date statistics on banana imports from Colombia and Peru and their direct and indirect impact on the development of employment and working conditions in the Union production sector;

·        the fulfilment of obligations under Title IX of the Agreement, and action taken in that respect by Colombia and Peru;

·        a summary of the statistics and the evolution of trade with Colombia and Peru.

Ad hoc meeting with Parliament: the European Parliament may, within one month from the Commission presenting the report, invite the Commission to an ad hoc meeting of its responsible committee to explain any issues related to the implementation of the Regulation.

Lastly, the committee stated that the application of the stabilisation mechanism for bananas shall under no circumstances prevent the activation of measures included in the bilateral safeguard clause.