Portuguse Republic v Council of the European Union.docVIP

European Union Case Law Court of Justice Judgment of the Court of 23 November 1999. Portuguese Republic v Council of the European Union. Commercial policy - Access to the market in textile products - Products originating in India and Pakistan. Case C-149/96.European Court Reports 1999 page I-08395* * * GROUNDS1 By application lodged at the Court Registry on 3 May 1996, the Portuguese Republic brought an action under the first paragraph of Article 173 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, the first paragraph of Article 230 EC) for the annulment of Council Decision 96/386/EC of 26 February 1996 concerning the conclusion of Memoranda of Understanding between the European Community and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and between the European Community and the Republic of India on arrangements in the area of market access for textile products (OJ 1996 L 153, p. 47, .the contested decision).Legal and factual backgroundInternational multilateral agreements in the Uruguay Round2 On 15 December 1993 the Council unanimously approved the terms of the global commitment on the basis of which the Community and the Member States agreed to end the multilateral trade agreements of the Uruguay Round (.the agreement of principle).3 On the same day, the Director General of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (.GATT), Mr Sutherland, announced in Geneva to the committee for multilateral negotiations the closure of the negotiations of the Uruguay Round. In doing so he invited some of the participants to pursue their negotiations on access to the market, with a view to reaching a more complete and better balanced .market access package.4 Following the closure of those negotiations the negotiations on market access for textile and clothing products (.textile products) with, inter alia, the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan were pursued by the Commission, with the assistance of the .textile committee 113 of the Council (.the textile committee)