Safeguard measures provided for in the EEC/Iceland Agreement. Codification
PURPOSE: codification of Regulation (EEC) No 2843/72 of the Council of 19 December 1972 on the safeguard measures provided for in the Agreement between the European Economic Community and the Republic of Iceland.
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 (EEC) No 2843/72 of the Council has been substantially amended several times. It is recalled that in 1987, the Commission decided to instruct its staff that all acts should be codified after no more than ten amendments, stressing that this is a minimum requirement. The Edinburgh European Council in December 1992 confirmed the importance of codification as it offers certainty as to the law applicable to a given matter at a given time.
The European Parliament, the Council and the Commission agreed, by an interinstitutional agreement dated 20 December 1994, that an accelerated procedure may be used for the fast-track adoption of codification instruments.
CONTENT: in the interests of clarity and transparency of Union law, the purpose of this proposal is to undertake a codification of Regulation (EEC) No 2843/72 on the safeguard measures provided for in the Agreement between the European Economic Community and Iceland.
The new Regulation will supersede the various acts incorporated in it; it fully preserves the content of the acts being codified and hence does no more than bring them together with only such formal amendments as are required by the codification exercise itself.
Main provisions codified: an Agreement between the European Economic Community and Iceland was signed in Brussels on 22 July 1972. Detailed rules are necessary for implementing the safeguard clauses and precautionary measures provided for in the Agreement.
The implementation of the bilateral safeguard clauses of the Agreement requires uniform conditions for the adoption of safeguard measures. Those measures should be adopted in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council. The Commission should adopt immediately applicable implementing acts where, in duly justified cases relating to situations referred to in the proposal (notably in the case of export aids that have a direct and immediate effect on trade, imperative grounds of urgency so require).
It should be noted that the future Regulation shall repeal Regulation (EEC) No 2843/72