Press Release: Commission proposes banana import quantities for new Member States

The European Commission presented 16 April 2004 transitional measures for banana imports into the ten new Member States to the Management Committee for Bananas. The Regulation would fix an additional quantity of bananas of 300 000 tonnes to supply the market of new Member States for the period May-December 2004. This additional quantity would be fixed on a transitional basis, and should in no way prejudge the outcome of the negotiations in the context of the Article XXIV (6) GATT in which the European Union is to engage in the coming weeks. This additional quantity would provide the new Member States with a sufficient supply of bananas. The Regulation also defines the necessary transitional measures for managing the additional quantity as of 1 May 2004 in the enlarged EU.