Brussels, 20/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 20 June, the European Commission announced that the EU and Morocco have found an agreement to settle the dispute that has existed between them since March over the customs conditions for the access of Moroccan tomatoes to the European market.
After months of technical-level discussion, the compromise was finalised in a telephone conversation between European Commissioner for Agriculture Dacian Ciolos and Morocco's Minister for Agriculture Aziz Akhennouch on Thursday 19 June, said Ciolos' spokesperson Roger Waite.
According to the Commission, the dispute arose because of a reform to the customs clearance rules for extra-Community products. The reform aimed to make the system more transparent and to reduce opportunities for exporters to circumvent the rules. However, according to Rabat, this review - which is due to enter into force on 1 October - was going to lead to an increase in tariffs, threatening the sector's survival.
The agreement between the EU and Morocco does not call into question the EU's abolition of a way of customs clearance that was open to fraud, but it limits the financial impact of removing the regime, increasing the flat-rate import value (which has not been changed since 1996) for all Moroccan exports. “Reflecting the current market conditions”, this measure limits the extra taxes likely to be charged to Moroccan exporters, said Waite. The measure takes into account the growing share of cherry tomatoes - which have a high added value - in European imports from Morocco. Morocco's export of cherry tomatoes to the EU has increased from around 300 tonnes per year 15 years ago to 70-80,000 tonnes today. In total, Morocco exports a total of 350,000 tonnes of cherry tomatoes per year. “In order to calculate the flat-rate import value, we are going to do a weighted average. If the price is below our entry price, this will set off the additional payment of a customs duty”, Waite stated. Moroccan exporters of premium tomatoes feared that, without changing the method of calculating the flat-rate import value, it would frequently lead to additional duties. The agreement that has now been found seems to allay Morocco's fears.
In line with the common agricultural policy (CAP) reform (the regulation on common market organisation - CMO), changes have been made to the manner in which customs valuation is implemented. These changes, which will come into operation on 1 October 2014, are extremely welcome, states the Commission in a press release, because they will ensure that henceforth customs valuation for fruit, vegetables and grape-must products covered by the entry price regime “is more transparent and robust”.
The changes agreed last year as part of the CAP reform “therefore constitute an important step which should reassure European producers and importers of fruit and vegetables that customs duty collection with respect to third country imports will henceforth occur objectively and transparently”, the Commission states. The customs procedure which has been the object of particular criticism will be definitively eliminated as of 1 October, the Commission underlines.
It may now be that this agreement on strengthening border controls on fruit and vegetables will enable slightly quicker approval by Morocco of the legislation on the new fisheries agreement between the EU and Morocco. The EU and Morocco nevertheless state that the two agreements “are not linked”. (LC)