91999E1086

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1086/99

by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE) to the Commission

(15 April 1999)

Subject: Trade relations between the EU and Morocco

The European Community and Morocco signed a Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreement. on 26 February 1996.

Will the Commission provide a detailed breakdown of the balance of trade since that agreement entered into force and, in particular, state what industrial products of Moroccan origin have entered the EU exempt from customs duties and equivalent taxes and free from all forms of import restrictions or equivalent measures since then, indicating the quantities involved?

Will it also provide a detailed breakdown of the Moroccan products that have been admitted into the Community under duty-free arrangements or subject to a reduction in tariff protection, indicating the quantities involved?

Answer given by Mr Marín on behalf of the Commission

(4 May 1999)

The Euro-Mediterranean Agreement setting up an association between the Community and its Member States, on the one part, and Morocco, on the other, was signed on 26 February 1996 but is not yet in force since Italy has not ratified it. Pending ratification, which the Commission hopes will take place soon, trade relations between the Commission and Morocco are still governed by the EC-Morocco Cooperation Agreement and the Agreement between the Member States of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and Morocco, signed in Rabat on 27 April 1976.

Under these agreements and the later protocols of adjustment, industrial products originating in Morocco can be imported into the Community without quantitative restrictions or measures having equivalent effect and are exempt of customs duties and charges having equivalent effect. Note that in the case of products of the processing of agricultural products, the exemption applies to the ad valorem duty alone, not to the agricultural element. These arrangements will continue under the new Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreement signed in 1996. However, some voluntary restraint measures that existed for some Moroccan textile exports are no longer applicable, the relevant EC-Morocco arrangement having expired on 31 December 1997. Exports of Moroccan textiles thus enjoy the same liberal arrangements as other manufactures.

The EC-Morocco trade balance usually records a surplus for the Community, which stood at EUR 1000 million in 1998.