News Release
Peter Mandelson
No. 172/04
December 14, 2004
THE EU TO LIFT TEXTILES QUOTAS FROM 1 JANUARY 2005
On December 13th the Council
adopted a Commission proposal
for a Regulation
that will eliminate from 1st January 2005 all quantitative restrictions on the
import of textile
and clothing products from WTO countries. This Regulation implements one of the
key commitments taken at the end of the last WTO
Trade Round (“Uruguay Round”) in 1994. “This definitively seals the disappearance
of textiles quotas that have been in place for four decades and there is no going
back," declared EU Trade
Commissioner Peter
Mandelson. “The challenge now for the textiles industry worldwide is to
compete in the new environment. But policy makers also need to ensure that the
transition is as smooth as possible and managed in a way that does not wipe out
the textiles industries of weak and vulnerable developing countries. They too
should be able to benefit from liberalization in due course,” he added.
The Council Regulation will abolish from 1 January
2005 all quotas on imports of textile and clothing products from WTO countries.
It will also establish a transitional regime concerning the import in the first
quarter of 2005 of products subject to the import quota regime in 2004.
The Regulation also sets up a statistical monitoring system for the imports to
the EU of a number of textile and clothing products. This will give early intelligence
on signs of serious market disruption and will allow the EU to follow closely
the development of trade in the new environment.
The Commission will favor dialogue and consultation in averting and remedying
possible problems. In this spirit a Sino-EU
Textiles Trade dialogue was begun on 6 May 2004. The Commission welcomes the
announcement by China at the EU-China
Summit of 8 December of a number of measures designed to ensure that the expansion
of textile exports from China happens progressively. We hope that these Chinese
policies enable other developing country exporters of textiles and garments to
share the benefits from the expansion of trade.
In order to ensure predictability in dealing with possible future requests for
safeguard measures, the Commission will shortly adopt guidelines for the transparent
handling of such cases. They will cover in particular the use of the textiles-specific
safeguard clause contained in the Protocol of Accession of China to the WTO. Peter
Mandelson said, “Such measures should be operated only if strictly necessary
after monitoring the effects of quota removal, primarily on vulnerable developing
countries.”
Background
The WTO Agreement
on Textile and Clothing (ATC), which established a ten-year period for the
elimination of the quotas, will expire on 31 December 2004. From 1st January 2005
trade in textile and clothing products will be subject to the general GATT rules,
which proscribe the imposition of quantitative restrictions for imports. The EU
already eliminated fifty-six bilateral quotas in 2002 under the third stage of
integration of the ATC. The new Council Regulation will:
• Eliminate all quotas applied to the import of textile
and clothing products from WTO countries, as of 1 January 2005. Currently the
EU applies 210 quotas for the import of textiles and clothing products from eleven
WTO countries or territories (Argentina, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Peru, Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea and Thailand), which have been in force
under bilateral agreements concluded under the former GATT Multi-Fibre
Agreement in the 70s. In 2003, EU-25
imports worldwide of products for which quotas will be eliminated accounted for
€41.7 billion or 63% of total textile and clothing imports, although only 20%
of EU imports were imported under quotas.
• To ensure the respect of the bilateral textile agreements, goods shipped before
1st January 2005 and subject to quotas in 2004 shall be subject to the import
regime prevailing in 2004, even if they are presented for customs clearance after
1st January 2005. However, in order to avoid excessive burdens on trade and customs,
from 1st April 2005 all such goods will be allowed to enter the EU freely.
• A monitoring system will be set up from 1st January 2005 to follow imports of
the most sensitive textile and clothing products. This scheme will involve: (a)
a customs-based monitoring of imports of liberalized goods from all origins; and
(b) a requirement for the issue of an import surveillance document for the import
of certain products from China, which will be discontinued in 2005 as soon as
the customs-based surveillance system is fully operational. This information will
be made publicly available at least on a monthly basis.
Imports quotas will, however, be maintained vis-à-vis
some non-WTO countries, i.e., Belarus and North Korea, Serbia and Montenegro and
Vietnam, although agreements being finalized with Vietnam and Serbia should lead
to the elimination of quotas for them early in 2005.
For more information: http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/issues/sectoral/industry/textile/pr291104_en.htm
Further Contact Information
Sue Tucker
Press and Media Relations
Delegation of the European Commission
2300 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
Tel: 202-862-9552
Fax: 202-429-1766
susan.tucker@cec.eu.int
