Agreement signed by US and EU on WTO tariff rate quotas requiring post-Brexit apportionment (almonds and other products)

20 JANUARY 2023

The office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced on January 17 2023 that the US and EU have signed a U.S. – EU Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) Agreement. The Agreement comes subsequent to the UK departure from the EU, whereupon the EU28 WTO quotas would need to be apportioned between the EU27 and UK, via negotiations with beneficiary countries. The apportionment is based on historical trade flows.

According to the agreement, in respect of the TRQs for which the United States has negotiating or consultation rights under Article XXVIII of the GATT 1994, the US and EU agree with the proposed TRQ quantity commitments set out in the attached Annex 1 to G/SECRET/42/Add.2 for the Union, subject to the following:

– Tariff-rate quota 051 (Dried onions): the Union volume of the erga omnes quota shall be adjusted to 9 770 tonnes;

– Tariff-rate quota 056 (Almonds): the Union volume of the erga omnes quota shall be adjusted to 86 223 tonnes;

– Tariff-rate quota 110 (Fruit juices): the Union volume of the erga omnes quota shall be adjusted to 6 551 tonnes;

– Tariff-rate quota 111 (Grape juice): the Union volume of the erga omnes quota shall be adjusted to 2 525 tonnes;

– Tariff-rate quota 011 (Processed shrimp of the species Pandalus borealis): the Union volume of the erga omnes quota shall be adjusted to 500 tonnes;

G/SECRET/42/Add.2 of the agreement sets out the original proposed concessions made by the EU27 when the UK left that EU, based on respective usage share (%) of the EU27 and the UK (only products covered by FRUCOM are listed here):

TRQ sequence number Description of the TRQ Unit Supplying country Current concession in Schedule CLXXV (EU28) Proposed concession for the EU27
051 Dried onions t   12 000 9 696
056 Almonds, other than bitter t   90 000 85 958
110 Fruit juices t   7 044 6 436
111 Grape juice (including grape must): t   14 029 0
011 Shrimps of the species Pandalus borealis, shelled, boiled, frozen, but not further prepared t   500 474

The respective signatories shall notify each other of the completion of their internal procedures for the entry into force of this Agreement. This Agreement shall enter into force on the date of the last notification.

Contact: Lebo Mofolo, lmofolo@frucom.eu

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