22004A1125(01)

Protocol

to the Interim Agreement on trade and trade-related matters between the European Community, of the one part, and the Republic of Croatia, of the other part, to take into account the accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia, and the Slovak Republic to the European Union

THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY, hereinafter referred to as "the Community"

of the one part, and

THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA, hereinafter referred to as "Croatia"

of the other part,

Having regard to the accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia, and the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as the new Member States) to the European Union on 1 May 2004,

Whereas:

(1) The Interim Agreement on trade and trade-related matters between the European Community (hereinafter referred to as the Interim Agreement), of the one part, and the Republic of Croatia, of the other part, entered into force on 1 March 2002.

(2) The Treaty concerning the accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic to the European Union (hereinafter referred to as Treaty of Accession) was signed in Athens on 16 April 2003.

(3) Consultations pursuant to Article 23(3) of the Interim Agreement have taken place, so as to ensure that account is taken of the mutual interests of the Community and Croatia stated in this Agreement,

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

ADJUSTMENTS TO THE TEXT OF THE INTERIM AGREEMENT INCLUDING ITS ANNEXES AND PROTOCOLS

SECTION I

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

Article 1

Agricultural products sensu stricto

1. Annex IV(a) and Annex IV(c) to the Interim Agreement shall be replaced by the text of Annex I to this Protocol.

2. Annex IV(b) to the Interim Agreement shall be replaced by the text of Annex II to this Protocol.

3. Annex IV(d) to the Interim Agreement shall be replaced by the text of Annex III to this Protocol.

4. Annex IV(e) to the Interim Agreement shall be replaced by the text of Annex IV to this Protocol.

5. Annex IV(f) to the Interim Agreement shall be replaced by the text of Annex V to this Protocol.

6. A point (d) shall be added to Article 14 (3) of the Interim Agreement as follows:

"(d) From 1 May 2004, Croatia shall apply the customs duties for the commodities listed in Annex IV (g)."

7. The text of Annex VI to this Protocol shall be added to the Interim Agreement as Annex IV(g).

Article 2

Fisheries products

1. Annex V(a) to the Interim Agreement shall be replaced by the text of Annex VII to this Protocol.

2. Annex V(b) to the Interim Agreement shall be replaced by the text of Annex VIII to this Protocol.

Article 3

Processed agricultural products

Lists 2 and 3 of Annex II to Protocol 3 to the Interim Agreement shall be replaced by Lists 2, 3 and 4 of Annex IX to this Protocol.

Article 4

Wine agreement

Annex I to the Additional Protocol adjusting the trade aspects of the Interim Agreement, to take account of the outcome of the negotiations between the parties on reciprocal preferential concessions for certain wines, the reciprocal recognition, protection and control of wine names and the reciprocal recognition, protection and control of designations for spirits and aromatised drinks, shall be replaced by the text of Annex X to this Protocol.

SECTION II

RULES OF ORIGIN

Article 5

1. Paragraph 4 of Article 18 of Protocol 4 to the Interim Agreement shall be replaced by the following:

"4. Movement certificates EUR.1 issued retrospectively must be endorsed with one of the following phrases:

ES"EXPEDIDO A POSTERIORI",CS"VYSTAVENO DODATE膶N臍",DA"UDSTEDT EFTERF脴LGENDE",DE"NACHTR脛GLICH AUSGESTELLT",ET"V脛LJA ANTUD TAGASIULATUVALT",EL"螘螝螖螣螛螘螡 螘螝 韦惟螡 违危韦螘巍惟螡",EN"ISSUED RETROSPECTIVELY",FR"D脡LIVR脡 A POSTERIORI",IT"RILASCIATO A POSTERIORI",LV"IZSNIEGTS RETROSPEKT莫VI",LT"RETROSPEKTYVUSIS I艩DAVIMAS",HU"KIADVA VISSZAMEN艕LEGES HAT脕LLYAL",MT"MA摩RU臓 RETROSPETTIVAMENT",NL"AFGEGEVEN A POSTERIORI",PL"WYSTAWIONE RETROSPEKTYWNIE",PT"EMITIDO A POSTERIORI",SL"IZDANO NAKNADNO",SK"VYDAN脡 DODATO膶NE",FI"ANNETTU J脛LKIK脛TEEN",SV"UTF脛RDAT I EFTERHAND",HR"NAKNADNO IZDANO"."

2. Paragraph 2 of Article 19 of Protocol 4 to the Interim Agreement shall be replaced by the following:

"2. The duplicate issued in this way must be endorsed with one of the following words:

ES"DUPLICADO",CS"DUPLIK脕T",DA"DUPLIKAT",DE"DUPLIKAT",ET"DUPLIKAAT",EL"螒螡韦螜螕巍螒桅螣",EN"DUPLICATE",FR"DUPLICATA",IT"DUPLICATO",LV"DUBLIK膧TS",LT"DUBLIKATAS",HU"M脕SODLAT",MT"DUPLIKAT",NL"DUPLICAAT",PL"DUPLIKAT",PT"SEGUNDA VIA",SL"DVOJNIK",SK"DUPLIK脕T",FI"KAKSOISKAPPALE",SV"DUPLIKAT",HR"DUPLIKAT"."

3. Annex I to Protocol 4 to the Interim Agreement shall be replaced by the text of Annex XI to this Protocol.

4. Annex II to Protocol 4 to the Interim Agreement shall be replaced by the text of Annex XII to this Protocol.

5. Annex IV to Protocol 4 to the Interim Agreement shall be replaced by the text of Annex XIII to this Protocol.

TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS

SECTION III

Article 6

WTO

The Republic of Croatia undertakes that it shall not make any claim, request or referral nor modify or withdraw any concession pursuant to GATT 1994 Articles XXIV.6 and XXVIII in relation to this enlargement of the Community.

Article 7

Proof of origin and administrative cooperation

1. Proofs of origin properly issued by either the Republic of Croatia or a new Member State in the framework of preferential agreements or autonomous arrangements applied between them shall be accepted in the respective countries, provided that:

(a) the acquisition of such origin confers preferential tariff treatment on the basis of the preferential tariff measures contained in the Interim Agreement;

(b) the proof of origin and the transport documents were issued no later than the day before the date of accession;

(c) the proof of origin is submitted to the customs authorities within the period of four months from the date of accession.

Where goods were declared for importation in either the Republic of Croatia or a new Member State, prior to the date of accession, under preferential agreements or autonomous arrangements applied between the Republic of Croatia and that new Member State at that time, proof of origin issued retrospectively under those agreements or arrangements may also be accepted provided that it is submitted to the customs authorities within the period of four months from the date of accession.

2. The Republic of Croatia and the new Member States are authorised to retain the authorisations with which the status of "approved exporters" has been granted in the framework of preferential agreements or autonomous arrangements applied between them, provided that:

(a) such a provision is also provided for in the agreement concluded prior to the date of accession between the Republic of Croatia and the Community;

and

(b) the approved exporters apply the rules of origin in force under that agreement.

These authorisations shall be replaced, no later than one year after the date of accession, by new authorisations issued under the conditions of the Interim Agreement.

3. Requests for subsequent verification of proof of origin issued under the preferential agreements or autonomous arrangements referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be accepted by the competent customs authorities of either the Republic of Croatia or the Member States for a period of three years after the issue of the proof of origin concerned and may be made by those authorities for a period of three years after acceptance of the proof of origin submitted to those authorities in support of an import declaration.

Article 8

Goods in transit

1. The provisions of the Interim Agreement may be applied to goods exported from either the Republic of Croatia to one of the new Member States or from one of the new Member States to the Republic of Croatia, which comply with the provisions of Protocol 4 to the Interim Agreement and that on the date of accession are either en route or in temporary storage, in a customs warehouse or in a free zone in the Republic of Croatia or in that new Member State.

2. Preferential treatment may be granted in such cases, subject to the submission to the customs authorities of the importing country, within four months from the date of accession, of a proof of origin issued retrospectively by the customs authorities of the exporting country.

Article 9

Quotas in 2004

For the year 2004, the volumes of the new tariff quotas and the increases of the volumes of existing tariff quotas shall be calculated as a pro rata of the basic volumes, taking into account the part of the period elapsed before 1 May 2004.

GENERAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS

SECTION IV

Article 10

This Protocol and the Annexes thereto shall form an integral part of the Interim Agreement.

Article 11

1. This Protocol shall be approved by the Community and by the Republic of Croatia in accordance with their own procedures.

2. The instruments of approval shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union.

Article 12

1. This Protocol shall enter into force on the same day as the Treaty of Accession provided that all the instruments of approval of this Protocol have been deposited before that date.

2. If not all the instruments of approval of this Protocol have been deposited before that date, this Protocol shall enter into force on the first day of the first month following the date of the deposit of the last instrument of approval.

3. If not all the instruments of approval of this Protocol have been deposited before 1 May 2004, this Protocol shall apply provisionally with effect from 1 May 2004.

Article 13

This Protocol is drawn up in duplicate in the Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Slovene, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, and Croatian languages, each of these texts being equally authentic.

Article 14

The text of the Interim Agreement, including the Annexes and Protocols forming an integral part thereof, and the Final Act together with the declarations annexed thereto shall be drawn up in Czech, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Slovak, and Slovenian languages, and these texts shall be authentic in the same way as the original texts. The Interim Committee shall approve these texts.

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