However, the court said that the annulment of the agreements would not take effect immediately, but only after the expiry of the two-month period for filing an appeal or after a possible decision if an appeal was filed. “There will be an appeal against the court`s decision, which is incompatible with EU policy, ideologically motivated and detrimental to the strategic partnership,” the senior diplomatic source told Reuters on condition of anonymity. U.S. Free Trade Agreement website for Morocco: www.trade.gov/us-morocco-free-trade-agreement Office of the U.S. Trade Representative: U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement (ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/morocco-fta) Consultations are the basic mechanism for resolving disputes between FTA partners. The Agreement provides that the Parties shall endeavour to resolve any dispute between themselves on the interpretation and application of the Agreement by direct consultations and, if necessary, by consultations within the Joint Committee. In cases where consultations do not lead to a satisfactory solution, the Parties may resort to arbitration. Annex VIII governs the constitution and functioning of the Court. As part of their Association Agreement, which entered into force in March 2000, the EU and Morocco concluded a free trade area to liberalise mutual trade in goods. They then developed the free trade agreement through an agreement on trade in agricultural, agricultural, food and fisheries products and a protocol establishing a bilateral dispute settlement mechanism, both of which entered into force in 2012.

The main legal links between Morocco and the EU are defined in the 2000 Association Agreement. Several other agreements address sectoral issues, including the 2006 EU-Morocco Fisheries Partnership Agreement and the 2006 Open Skies Agreement. The pan-European-Mediterranean cumulation system of origin was created in 2005. It brings together the EU, Morocco and other partners in Europe and the Mediterranean to support regional integration by creating a common system of rules of origin. Rules of origin are the technical criteria that determine whether a particular product qualifies for duty-free or other preferential access under a particular trade agreement. Illegal immigration and terrorism have already replaced previously important issues on the agenda, such as trafficking (i.e. agriculture and fisheries) and drug trafficking. Since 2000, the Moroccan and EU authorities have sought to cooperate more closely through intelligence sharing and cooperation on border control. Morocco and the EU have also signed an Open Skies agreement.

The agreement is the first in Europe beyond its borders. It entered into force in the summer of 2006. Since 2000, Morocco and the EU have signed numerous bilateral agreements. Various free trade agreements that Morocco has ratified with its main economic partners, such as the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area Agreement. The two sides recently announced their intention to extend their free trade agreement not only to goods, but also to agriculture and services, giving Morocco almost the same agreement with Europe that member states have with each other. These agreements are part of the Euro-Mediterranean free trade area signed in Barcelona (Spain) in 1995. In 2017, Federica Mogherini, the European Union`s foreign minister, sparked controversy and diplomatic confusion over her statement that trade agreements between Morocco and the EU were not affected by the 2016 European Court of Justice ruling on the extent of trade with Morocco. That judgment confirmed that bilateral trade agreements, such as the EU-Morocco Fisheries Partnership Agreement, cover only agricultural and fishery products originating within Morocco`s internationally recognised borders and therefore explicitly exclude all products from Western Sahara or its territorial waters.

The international community, including the EU, unanimously rejects Morocco`s territorial claim to Western Sahara. [5] [6] [7] [8] The Joint Committee set up by the FTA held its third meeting in December 2012. At the meeting, the United States and Morocco announced agreement on three new initiatives: an agreement on trade facilitation, common principles for international investment, and common principles for information and communication technology (ICT) services. ==References=====External links===and Moroccan experts discussed issues related to the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement, including technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary issues, and technical assistance to support the implementation of the labour and environmental provisions of the Free Trade Agreement. .