By Council Decision (EU) 2017/38, the Council authorised the provisional application of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada of the one part, and the European Union and its Member States, of the other part (‘the Agreement’).

The Agreement stipulates that customs duties on imports into the Union of goods originating in Canada must be reduced or eliminated in accordance with the tariff elimination schedule in Annex 2-A to that Agreement. Annex 2-A provides that for certain goods the reduction or elimination of customs duties is granted within tariff quotas.

Annex 2-A to the Agreement stipulates that the Union is to manage certain of those tariff quotas on a first-come, first-served basis. The Commission should manage those tariff quotas in accordance with the rules on the management of tariff quotas laid down in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447.

The Agreement provides that in order for goods to benefit from those tariff quotas, they must comply with the rules of origin as set out in Annex 5 to the Protocol on rules of origin and origin procedures attached to that Agreement.

As published in the Official Journal of the European Union, the Agreement is to be applied provisionally from 21 September 2017. In order to ensure the effective application and management of those tariff quotas granted under the Agreement which the Commission shall manage on a first-come first-served basis, this Regulation should apply from 21 September 2017.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Customs Code Committee,