L 215/12 Official Journal of the European Communities 1. 8. 98 COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1706/98 of 20 July 1998 on the arrangements applicable to agricultural products and goods resulting from the processing of agricultural products originating in the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP States) and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 715/90 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 43 and 113 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the opinion of the European Par- liament (3, (1) Whereas the Fourth ACP-EC Convention signed at Lomé on 15 December 1989, hereinafter referred to as the ‘Convention’ was concluded for a 10-year period from 1 March 1990; whereas, however, provi- sion was made for the possibility of amending the Convention in mid-term; (2) Whereas in application of that provision, an agree- ment amending the said Convention was signed in Mauritius on 4 November 1995; (3) Whereas transitional measures applicable until entry into force of the said agreement should be adopted in order to give effect in advance to some of these amendments to the Convention; (4) Whereas Article 168(2)a) of the Convention lays down that products originating in the ACP States and: — listed in Annex II to the EC Treaty, where they come under a common organisation of the market within the meaning of Article 40 of the EC Treaty, or — subject, on import into the Community, to specific rules introduced as a result of the imple- mentation of the common agricultural policy, shall be imported into the Community, notwith- standing the general arrangements applied in respect of third countries, in accordance with the following provisions: () OJ C 108, 7. 4. 1998, p. 17. (%) Opinion delivered on 13 July 1998 (not yet published in the Official Journal). () ) (i) those products, for which Community provisions in force at the time of import do not provide, apart from customs duties, for the application of any measure relating to their import, shall be imported free of customs duties; (ii = for products other than those referred to under (i), the Community shall take the necessary measures to ensure more favourable treatment than that granted to third countries benefiting from the most-favoured-nation clause for the same products; Whereas Article 168(2)(d) of the Convention lays down that the arrangements referred to in subpara- graph (a) of that paragraph shall enter into force at the same time as the Convention and shall remain applicable for its duration; Whereas it was agreed, following Council Decision 97/683/EC of 22 April 1997 approving the agree- ment in the form of an exchange of letters between the Community and the ACP States on Annex XL of the Fourth ACP-EC Convention concerning the joint declaration on agricultural products referred to in Article 168(2)a)(ii) ®) and in accordance with Article 1(j) of Decision No 6/95 of the ACP-EC Council of Ministers of 20 December 1995 on trans- itional measures to be applied from 1 January 1996, that  the  arrangements  provided for in Article 168(2)(a) concerning trade in agricultural and food products should apply to the ACP States which signed the agreement on the mid-term review of the Convention, from 1 January 1996, that is to say, before the date of entry into force of the amended Convention; Whereas the Regulations on the common organisa- tion of the markets in the sectors concerned establish trade arrangements with third countries; () OJ L 287, 21. 10. 1997, p. 30.