The EU Council of Ministers is attempting to reach a compromise on a proposal opening and providing for the management of the Union autonomous tariff quotas for certain fishery products for the 2024-2025 period.
The European Commission has submitted a (non-public) proposal on this subject. The Spanish Presidency of the EU Council has drafted a compromise text that slightly modifies the initial proposal with regard to the tonnage of cod (45,000 tonnes instead of 50,000) that can be imported from third countries. Certain figures for shrimp imports from third countries have been revised upwards, and the compromise introduces a tariff quota of 10,000 tonnes of frozen tilapia fillets.
The compromise text, which will be discussed in an EU Council working party on Thursday 12 October, states that, in view of the deterioration in relations between the Union and Russia and in order to ensure consistency with the Union’s actions and principles in the field of the Union’s external action, it would therefore not be appropriate to allow products originating in imports from Russia to benefit from duty exemption and most-favoured nation treatment as regards products falling within the scope of the agreement.
Link to the compromise text: https://aeur.eu/f/8zr (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)