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On the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of the Agreement in the form of an exchange of letters between the Union and the United States of America pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 relating to the modification of concessions on all the tariff rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV as a consequence of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union

Full title

On the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of the Agreement in the form of an exchange of letters between the Union and the United States of America pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 relating to the modification of concessions on all the tariff rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV as a consequence of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union

Document INTA-PR-691079 · COM(2021)0122 – C90000/2021 – 2021/0064(NLE)

Kind
Report parliamentary committee draft INTA-PR-691079
Date
24 March 2021
Committee
Committee on International Trade
Rapporteur
Bernd Lange
Dossier
2021-0064
More facts (2)
Formats
Official page PDF Word
Reference
COM(2021)0122 – C90000/2021 – 2021/0064(NLE)
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Cite this page Official page (opens the official site)
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In short

A summary of the text written by AI; ¶ opens the paragraph it rests on.

AI: In short Written by AI from the official text — check the source · deepseek-flash · 25 Sept 2026

This is a draft report by the Committee on International Trade on a proposed Council decision to conclude an EU–United States agreement on modifying tariff rate quotas in the EU's WTO schedule after the UK's withdrawal. The agreement follows Article XXVIII of the GATT 1994 and splits the existing volume of 143 EU tariff rate quotas between the EU27 and the UK, based on 2013–2015 trade flows. The rapporteur recommends that Parliament give its consent to the conclusion of the agreement.

Position. The rapporteur recommends that Parliament give its consent to the conclusion of the agreement, without prejudice to its democratic right of continuous scrutiny.

Key points

  1. Parliament gives its consent to the conclusion of the agreement.
  2. The agreement modifies concessions on all tariff rate quotas in the EU Schedule CLXXV following the UK's withdrawal from the EU.
  3. The EU launched negotiations under Article XXVIII of the GATT 1994 with WTO members, including the United States, in October 2018.
  4. The negotiations apply a joint EU–UK approach from 2017 to apportion the quantitative commitments for 143 EU agricultural, fish and industrial tariff rate quotas.
  5. The existing volume of each tariff rate quota is fully maintained but split between the EU27 and the UK.
  6. The apportionment is based on trade flows into the EU27 and the UK during a three-year reference period from 2013 to 2015.
  7. Regulation (EU) 2019/216 empowers the Commission to amend apportionment shares based on information from Article XXVIII negotiations or other sources.
  8. The United States accepted the EU's proposed apportioned volumes for most tariff rate quotas, with changes agreed for some quotas.
  9. The EU27 share of the United States and Canada's country-specific beef tariff rate quota will be revised and the in-quota rate for the erga omnes beef tariff rate quota will be reduced.
  10. The agreement was initialled on 5 March 2021 in Geneva.
  11. Regulation (EU) 2019/216 and Commission Implementing Regulations (EU) 2020/761 and (EU) 2020/1988 will be amended to reflect the amended tariff rate quota volumes.
  12. Parliament's swift consent is needed for the Council to adopt the decision concluding the agreement and for it to come into force in due time.

Who is affected

  • EU agricultural, fish and industrial exporters and importers, as the agreement modifies tariff rate quotas for these sectors.
  • The United States, as a WTO member that negotiated and accepted the apportioned tariff rate quota volumes.
  • The United Kingdom, as its withdrawal from the EU led to the apportionment of tariff rate quotas between the EU27 and the UK.

Figures and deadlines

  • 143 EU agricultural, fish and industrial WTO tariff rate quotas are apportioned.
  • The reference period for trade flows is 3 years from 2013 to 2015.
  • The agreement was initialled on 5 March 2021 in Geneva.

Legal basis. Article 207(4) and Article 218(6), second subparagraph, point (a), of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

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Draft european parliament legislative resolution

on the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of the Agreement in the form of an exchange of letters between the Union and the United States of America pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 relating to the modification of concessions on all the tariff rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV as a consequence of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union

(COM(2021)0122 – C90000/2021 – 2021/0064(NLE))

(Consent)

The European Parliament,

–having regard to the proposal for a Council decision (COM(2021)0122),

–having regard to the draft agreement in the form of an exchange of letters between the Union and the United States of America pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 relating to the modification of concessions on all the tariff rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV as a consequence of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union (00000/2021),

–having regard to the request for consent submitted by the Council in accordance with Article 207(4) and Article 218(6), second subparagraph, point (a), of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (C90000/2021),

–having regard to Rule 105(1) and (4), and Rule 114(7) of its Rules of Procedure,

–having regard to the recommendation of the Committee on International Trade (A90000/2021),

1.Gives its consent to the conclusion of the agreement;

2.Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the governments and parliaments of the Member States and of United States of America.

Back matter, 1

Parts that accompany the text rather than belong to it: explanatory statement, annexes, opinions appended by other committees. Collapsed.

Explanatory statement 6 blocks

In view of the United Kingdom's (UK) withdrawal from the European Union (EU), in October 2018, the EU formally launched negotiations under Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 with a number of Members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), including the United States of America (USA). The underlying principle of the negotiations is a “joint approach” developed between the EU and the UK in 2017 on how to “apportion” the quantitative commitments contained in the EU28 WTO schedule for the 143 EU agricultural, fish and industrial WTO tariff rate quotas (TRQs). The basis of this approach is that the existing volume of each TRQ would be fully maintained after the UK's withdrawal from the EU, but split across two separate customs territories: the EU27 and the UK.

The principle of the applied methodology is based on the trade flows into the EU27 and the UK during a representative reference period (of 3 years from 2013 to 2015) for all WTO TRQs. The agreed methodology of the apportionment is described in detail in Regulation (EU) 2019/216 of the European Parliament and of the Council. More specifically, Article 2(b) of this Regulation empowers the Commission to amend the apportionment shares taking into account pertinent information that it may receive either in the context of negotiations under Article XXVIII of GATT 1994 or from other sources with an interest in a specific tariff rate quota.

For the majority of the TRQs where the USA is concerned, the apportioned volumes proposed by the EU were accepted by the USA. Changes in volumes have been agreed for some TRQs mostly to take into account a more recent reference period or avoid non-commercially viable volumes on the UK side. In addition, the EU27 share of the USA and Canada’s country-specific beef TRQ will be revised and the in-quota rate for the erga omnes beef TRQ will be reduced.

Negotiations with the USA resulted in an Agreement that was initialled on 5 March 2021 in Geneva ("the Agreement"). The relevant Regulation (EU) 2019/216 of the European Parliament and Council and Commission Implementing Regulations (EU) 2020/761 and (EU) 2020/1988 will be amended to reflect these amended TRQ volumes. Consequently, the European Commission proposes to the Council to authorise the conclusion of the Agreement.

In accordance with Article 218(6) TFEU, the swift consent of the European Parliament is needed in order for the Council to adopt a decision concluding the Agreement and for the latter to come into force in due time.

In the light of the above, the Rapporteur recommends that the Parliament give its consent to the conclusion of the Agreement, without prejudice to its democratic right of continuous scrutiny.

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Permalink
https://news.eu-parl.st-solutions.dev/texts/INTA-PR-691079
Data source
Licensed CC BY 4.0.
Retrieved
25 September 2026

Cite as

European Parliament (2021). “DRAFT RECOMMENDATION on the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of the Agreement in the form of an exchange of letters between the Union and the United States of America pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 relating to the modification of concessions on all the tariff rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV as a consequence of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union”. Text, 24 March 2021. docId INTA-PR-691079. EU Parl Watch Research. https://news.eu-parl.st-solutions.dev/texts/INTA-PR-691079 (retrieved 25 September 2026). Data: EP Open Data API: document record, https://data.europarl.europa.eu/api/v2/documents/INTA-PR-691079 (CC BY 4.0).
BibTeX 
@misc{epw-text-inta-pr-691079,
  author = {{European Parliament}},
  title = {{DRAFT RECOMMENDATION on the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of the Agreement in the form of an exchange of letters between the Union and the United States of America pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 relating to the modification of concessions on all the tariff rate quotas included in the EU Schedule CLXXV as a consequence of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union}},
  year = {2021},
  date = {2021-03-24},
  howpublished = {\url{https://news.eu-parl.st-solutions.dev/texts/INTA-PR-691079}},
  url = {https://news.eu-parl.st-solutions.dev/texts/INTA-PR-691079},
  urldate = {2026-09-25},
  publisher = {EU Parl Watch Research},
  note = {Text. docId INTA-PR-691079. Data: EP Open Data API: document record (CC BY 4.0)}
}