Decision

15 July 2021: Decision No. 2/2021 to formally incorporate the changes to Protocols 1 and 4 into the UK-Faroe Islands Agreement text

Published 7 September 2021

Decision No 2/2021 of the UK-Faroe Islands Joint Committee on the incorporation of Decision No. 1/2020 of the EC/Faroe Islands Joint Committee of 27 July 2020 and amending Article 1 of Protocol 4 of the EU-Faroe Islands Agreement, as incorporated by the Free Trade Agreement between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Kingdom of Denmark in respect of the Faroe Islands, done at London on 31 January 2019

THE UK-FAROE ISLANDS JOINT COMMITTEE,

Having regard to the Free Trade Agreement between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (“the United Kingdom”) and the Kingdom of Denmark in respect of the Faroe Islands (“the Faroe Islands”) (together, “the Parties”) done at London on 31 January 2019 (“the Agreement”),

Whereas:

1. The Agreement incorporated the provisions of the Agreement between the European Community, of the one part, and the Government of Denmark and the Home Government of the Faroe Islands, of the other part, signed in Brussels on 6 December 1996 (“the EU-Faroe Islands Agreement”), in effect immediately before the EU-Faroe Islands Agreement ceased to apply to the United Kingdom, subject to the provisions of the Agreement.

2. Article 8(2) of the Agreement provides that, unless the Parties agree otherwise, any decisions adopted by the Joint Committee established by the EU-Faroe Islands Agreement before the EU-Faroe Islands Agreement ceased to apply to the United Kingdom shall, to the extent those decisions relate to the Parties, be deemed to have been adopted, mutatis mutandis and subject to the provisions of the Agreement, by the Joint Committee established under incorporated Article 31.

3. Article 9(2) of the Agreement provides that the Joint Committee may decide to amend an Annex, Protocol or Appendix to the Agreement.

4. On 27 July 2020, the Joint Committee established by the EU-Faroe Islands Agreement adopted Decision No 1/2020, amending Protocols 1 and 4 to the EU-Faroe Islands Agreement.^{[footnote 1]} This Decision entered into force on 27 July 2020, before the EU-Faroe Islands Agreement ceased to apply to the United Kingdom and was accordingly deemed adopted by the Joint Committee established under incorporated Article 31, in accordance with Article 8(2) of the Agreement.

5. The Parties consider that the Joint Committee should clarify the effects of Articles 1, 2(2) and 2(3) of Decision No 1/2020 of the EC/Faroe Islands Joint Committee with respect to the incorporation of Protocols 1 and 4 of the EU-Faroe Islands Agreement by the Agreement.

6. Noting that Article 1 of Protocol 4 of the EU-Faroe Islands Agreement, as amended by Article 2(1) of Decision No 1/2020 of the EC/Faroe Islands Joint Committee, was modified upon entry into effect of the Agreement by Part D of the Annex of the Agreement, the Parties consider it appropriate that Article 1 of Protocol 4 of the Agreement should be amended in line with Article 2(1) of Decision No 1/2020 of the EC/Faroe Islands Joint Committee.

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

Table I to the Annex to Protocol 1 of the EU-Faroe Islands Agreement, as amended by Article 1 of Decision No 1/2020 of the EC/Faroe Islands Joint Committee, has been incorporated into the Agreement as follows:

1. The following has been inserted between CN code 0303 50 98 and CN code 0303 60 11:

‘0303 53 90

- - - Brisling or sprats (Sprattus sprattus)

0’;

2. The following has been inserted between CN code 1604 12 99 and CN code 1604 19:

‘1604 13	- Sardines, sardinella and brisling or sprats
	- - - Sardines:
1604 13 90	- - - Other	0’.

Article 2

Article 3 of Protocol 4 of the EU-Faroe Islands Agreement, as inserted by Article 2(2) of Decision No 1/2020 of the EC/Faroe Islands Joint Committee, has been incorporated into the Agreement as follows:

‘ARTICLE 3

The Faroes shall open the following tariff quotas for products originating in and coming from the United Kingdom:

CN code	Description	Rate of duty
0204 0206 80 99 0206 90 99 0210 90 11 0210 90 60 Ex 0210 90 90	Meat of sheep or goats, fresh, chilled or frozen Edible offal of sheep and goats, fresh or chilled Edible offal of sheep and goats, frozen Meat of sheep or goats, salted, in brine, dried or smoked, with bone in Edible meat offal of sheep or goats, salted, in brine, dried or smoked Edible flours and meals of meat and meal offal, of sheep and goats	0 0 0 0 0 0

Tariff quota (TQ) in tonnes: 5 in 2020, 2021 and 2022, 11 as from the year 2023’

Article 3

Annex I to Protocol 4 of the EU-Faroe Islands Agreement was deleted by Article 2(3) of Decision No 1/2020 of the EC/Faroe Islands Joint Committee and was not incorporated into the Agreement.

Article 4

With effect from the date of entry into force of this decision, Article 1 of Protocol 4 of the Agreement shall be deleted and replaced with the following:

‘ARTICLE 1

The United Kingdom shall grant to products originating in and coming from the Faroe Islands the following tariff quotas from the year that this Agreement enters into force. The relevant period for all tariff rate quotas listed in the table below is 1 January to 31 December in any year. If this Agreement enters into force part-way through a calendar year, the annual quotas shall be applied on a pro-rata basis for the remainder of that year.

Product (As described within the EU-Faroe Islands Agreement)	Tariff Lines	UK-FO quota (new)
Meat of sheep or goats, fresh, chilled or frozen Edible offal of sheep and goats, fresh or chilled Edible offal of sheep and goats, frozen Meat of sheep or goats, salted, in brine, dried or smoked, with bone in Meat of sheep or goats, salted, in brine, dried or smoked, boneless Edible meat offal of sheep or goats, salted, in brine, dried or smoked Sausages and similar products, of meat, meat offal or blood; food preparations based on these products: - Of sheep and goats Other prepared or preserved meat, meat offal or blood: - Of sheep and goats	0204 0206 80 99 0206 90 99 0210 90 11 0210 90 19 0210 90 60 ex 1601 ex 1602	3 tonnes
Fish feed	ex 2309 90 10 ex 2309 90 31 ex 2309 90 41	2724 tonnes’

Article 5

This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption.

Done in duplicate at London and Tórshavn, on 15 July 2021.

For the Joint Committee

The Chair and Head of the United Kingdom Delegation

Johanna Michael

Assistant Director, Department for International Trade

Head of the Faroe Islands Delegation

Áki Johansen

Minister-Counsellor, Faroese Government

1. Decision No 1/2020 of the EC/Denmark-Faroe Islands Joint Committee of 27 July 2020 amending Protocols 1 and 4 to the Agreement between the European Community, of the one part, and the Government of Denmark and the Home Government of the Faroe Islands, of the other part (OJ L 257 6.8.20, p.36). ↩