EU rights to apply and enforce international trade rules

 

SUMMARY OF:

Regulation (EU) No 654/2014 — the EU’s rights to apply and enforce international trade rules — amending Regulation (EC) No 3286/94 laying down procedures to ensure the EU’s rights under international trade rules

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE REGULATION?

It ensures that the EU is able to enforce and exercise its rights under international trade agreements by adopting trade policy measures.

KEY POINTS

The regulation sets out rules and procedures for the EU to suspend or withdraw its obligations under an international trade agreement in order to:

• respond to breaches of international trade rules by non-EU countries and enforce a judicial ruling in favour of the EU, to obtain a satisfactory solution that restores benefits for EU businesses;
• rebalance obligations under and in line with a trade agreement, when non-EU countries alter the treatment of goods from the EU, either temporarily through a safeguard measure or long-term through modifying tariff concessions.

Action

To safeguard the EU’s interests, the European Commission can adopt implementing acts to adapt its trade policy in response to the actions of the non-EU country concerned. In urgent cases, the Commission can immediately adopt applicable implementing acts. The Commission, assisted by the EU Member States, consults with relevant stakeholders before adopting these acts.

Available trade policy measures

These consist of:

• suspending tariff concessions and imposing new or increased customs duties;
• introducing or increasing quantitative restrictions (quotas) on imports or exports of goods;
• suspending concessions and introducing certain restrictions in the area of public procurement.

Determining appropriate measures

Trade policy measures are determined based on the following:

• effectiveness of the measures in inducing the non-EU country to comply with international trade rules;
• potential of the measures to provide relief to businesses within the EU affected by non-EU country measures;
• availability of alternative sources of supply for the goods or services concerned;
• avoiding disproportionate administrative complexity and costs in applying the measures;
• measures must be proportionate to and must not exceed the harm that they are introduced to counteract.

Revision of the regulation

Because a current lack of new appointments to the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has meant that the second tier of its dispute settlement mechanism is not able to function, amending Regulation (EU) 2021/167 introduced some changes to Regulation (EU) No 654/2014.

The amending Regulation (EU) 2021/167:

• allows enforcement action in situations where:
  • the EU obtains a favourable ruling from a WTO dispute settlement panel,
  • the process is then blocked because the non-EU country appeals to the non-functioning WTO Appellate Body, and does not agree to interim appeal arbitration under Article 25 of the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding;
• allows enforcement action when:
  • a trade partner under a bilateral or regional trade agreement imposes illegal trade measures,
  • subsequently does not take the steps necessary for the dispute settlement process under that agreement to function;
• extends the scope of possible countermeasures to trade in services and some trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights. This extension is accompanied by safeguards to ensure that the most efficient and proportionate countermeasures are used and that EU Member States’ authorities and stakeholders are consulted.

FROM WHEN DOES THE REGULATION APPLY?

• Regulation (EU) No 654/2014 has applied since 17 July 2014.
• Amending Regulation (EU) 2021/167 has applied since 13 February 2021.

BACKGROUND

For further information, see:

• Dispute settlement (European Commission).

MAIN DOCUMENT

Regulation (EU) No 654/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 concerning the exercise of the Union’s rights for the application and enforcement of international trade rules and amending Council Regulation (EC) No 3286/94 laying down Community procedures in the field of the common commercial policy in order to ensure the exercise of the Community’s rights under international trade rules, in particular those established under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (OJ L 189, 27.6.2014, pp. 50-58)

Successive amendments to Regulation (EU) No 654/2014 have been incorporated into the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.

RELATED DOCUMENTS

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/886 of 20 June 2018 on certain commercial policy measures concerning certain products originating in the United States of America and amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/724 (OJ L 158, 21.6.2018, pp. 5-18)

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/724 of 16 May 2018 on certain commercial policy measures concerning certain products originating in the United States of America (OJ L 122, 17.5.2018, pp. 14-28)

See consolidated version.

Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council — Initial Review of the scope of the Enforcement Regulation (COM(2017) 373 final, 11.7.2017)

Regulation (EU) 2015/1843 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 October 2015 laying down Union procedures in the field of the common commercial policy in order to ensure the exercise of the Union’s rights under international trade rules, in particular those established under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (codification) (OJ L 272, 16.10.2015, pp. 1-13)

Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 October 2013 laying down the Union Customs Code (OJ L 269, 10.10.2013, pp. 1-101)

See consolidated version.

last update 26.03.2021