The European Union has decided to release the remaining quota of 4,500 tonnes of textile imports from India into EU countries for the current year. It is more than two years since the EU last released this quota. The EU will now release the full quota of 8,000 tonnes of textiles every year - after checking the implementation by India of the agreed level of duties. The issue of restoration of the full quota of textile exports from India to the EU was taken up during the EU summit in Lisbon. A number of follow-up meetings were held and in July last year it was agreed that India would notify a reduction of duties to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and implement the reductions. At that stage, the EU released 3,500 tonnes of quotas. In the meantime, India signed an agreement with the United States to reduce duties and notified this to the WTO. As this notification fulfilled the EU requirements also, the EU took the decision to release the remaining 4,500 tonnes of the textile quota for exports from India to the European Union countries.