DECISION

No 2/2005

OF THE

ACP-EC

COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

of 8 March 2005

concerning the Rules of Procedure of the Joint ACP-EC Ministerial Trade Committee

(2005/298/EC)

THE ACP-EC COUNCIL OF MINISTERS,

Having regard to the Partnership Agreement between the Members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, of the one part, and, the European Community and its Member States of the other part, signed in Cotonou on 23 June 2000 (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement), and in particular Article 38(3) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Article 38(1) of the Agreement sets up a Joint Ministerial Trade Committee.

(2) By Decision No 4/2001 of 24 April 2001 the ACP-EC Committee of Ambassadors adopted the Rules of Procedure of that Committee by delegation of powers.

(3) Certain amendments are necessary to take account of the accession of new Member States to the European Union.

(4) At the 29th session of the ACP-EC Council of Ministers, held in Gaborone, Botswana, on 6 May 2004, the decision was taken to amend the Rules of Procedure accordingly,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Composition

1. The Joint Ministerial Trade Committee (hereafter referred to as the Trade Committee), shall be composed, on the one hand, of a minister from each Member State of the European Community and a member of the Commission of the European Communities and, on the other hand, on a parity basis, of ministers from the ACP States.

2. Each party shall communicate the names of its representatives to the Secretariat of the Trade Committee.

3. The Trade Committee may decide to set up a number of smaller groups, composed of an equal number of ACP and EC members of the Committee including a member of the Commission, in order to draw up recommendations on the specific areas referred to in Article 12(1).

Article 2

Chairmanship

The Trade Committee shall be chaired alternately, for a period of six months, by the member of the Commission of the European Communities on behalf of the European Community, and by a representative of the ACP States. The first Chairman shall be a representative of the ACP States.

Article 3

Meetings

1. The Trade Committee shall meet at least once a year or more frequently at the request of either party.

2. The Trade Committee shall meet either where the meetings of the Council of the European Union are usually held or at the seat of the Secretariat of the ACP Group of States, or in a city of one of the ACP States, in accordance with the decision taken by the Trade Committee.

3. The meetings of the Trade Committee shall be convened by its Chairman.

4. The proceedings of the Trade Committee shall be valid only if a majority of the representatives of the Member States of the European Community, a member of the Commission of the European Communities and a majority of the representatives of the ACP States who are Committee members are present.

Article 4

Representation

1. The members of the Trade Committee may be represented if they are prevented from attending a meeting.

2. A member wishing to be so represented must notify the Chairman of the name of his representative before the meeting.

3. The representative of a member of the Trade Committee shall exercise all the rights of that member.

Article 5

Delegations

1. The members of the Trade Committee may be accompanied by officials responsible for trade matters.

2. Before each meeting, the Chairman shall be informed of the intended composition of the delegation of each party.

3. The Trade Committee may, by agreement between the parties, invite non-members to attend its meetings.

4. Representatives of regional or sub-regional organisations of the ACP engaged in an economic integration process may attend the meeting as observers, subject to prior approval by the Trade Committee.

Article 6

Secretariat

The Secretariat of the ACP-EC Council of Ministers shall act as Secretariat of the Trade Committee.

Article 7

Documents

The Secretariat of the ACP-EC Council of Ministers shall be responsible for the establishment of all the documents necessary for the meetings of the Trade Committee.

When the deliberations of the Trade Committee are based on written documents, such documents shall be numbered and circulated as documents of the Trade Committee by its Secretariat.

Article 8

Correspondence

1. All correspondence addressed to the Trade Committee or to the Chairman thereof shall be forwarded to the Secretariat of the Trade Committee.

2. The Secretariat shall see to it that correspondence is forwarded to its addressees, and, in the case of documents referred to in Article 7, to other members of the Trade Committee. Correspondence circulated shall be sent to the Secretariat-General of the Commission of the European Communities, the Permanent Representations of the Member States of the European Union and the diplomatic missions of the representatives of the ACP States.

Article 9

Publicity

Unless otherwise decided, Trade Committee meetings shall not be public.

Article 10

Agenda for meetings

1. The Chairman shall draw up a provisional agenda for each meeting. The Secretariat of the Trade Committee shall forward it to the addressees not later than 15 days before the beginning of the meeting.

2. The provisional agenda shall include the items in respect of which the Chairman has received a request for inclusion in the agenda from either party not later than 21 days before the beginning of the meeting. The ACP-EC Subcommittee on Trade Cooperation may also present a request that items be included on the agenda. In this case, the Co-Chairmen of the said Subcommittee shall be invited to take part in the meeting.

3. In agreement with the parties, the time limits laid down may be shortened in order to take account of the requirements of a particular case.

4. The agenda shall be adopted by the Trade Committee at the beginning of each meeting.

Article 11

Minutes

1. Draft minutes of each meeting shall be drawn up as soon as possible jointly by the Secretariat.

2. As a general rule, the minutes shall show, in respect of each item on the agenda:

(a) the documentation submitted to the Trade Committee;

(b) statements the entry of which has been requested by a member of the Trade Committee;

3. The minutes shall include a list of members of the Trade Committee or their representatives who took part in the meeting.

4. The draft minutes shall be submitted to the Trade Committee for approval at its next meeting. The draft minutes may also be agreed in writing by the two parties. When the minutes have been approved, two equally authentic copies thereof shall be signed by the Secretariat and filed by the parties. A copy of the minutes shall be forwarded to each of the addressees referred to in Article 8.

Article 12

Recommendations

1. The Trade Committee shall make recommendations on all trade issues, including issues relating to multilateral trade negotiations, economic partnership agreements, cooperation in international forums and commodity issues, by mutual agreement between the parties.

2. Between meetings, the Trade Committee may make recommendations by written procedure if both parties so agree. A written procedure shall consist of an exchange of notes between the two co-secretaries of the Secretariat, acting in agreement with the parties.

3. Recommendations of the Trade Committee shall be entitled ‘recommendation’, followed by a serial number, the date of their adoption and a description of their subject.

4. Recommendations of the Trade Committee shall be authenticated by the Secretariat and by the Chairman.

5. Recommendations shall be forwarded to each of the addressees referred to in Article 8 as documents of the Trade Committee.

6. The Trade Committee shall make appropriate periodic reports to the ACP-EC Council of Ministers.

Article 13

Languages

Unless decided otherwise, the Trade Committee shall conduct its deliberations on the basis of documents drafted in the official languages of the parties.

Article 14

Expenses

Paragraph 1 of Protocol 1 to the Agreement, on the operating expenditure of the Joint Institutions, shall also apply to costs incurred by the Trade Committee.

Article 15

The present Decision annuls and replaces Decision No 4/2001 of 24 April 2001 of the ACP-EC Committee of Ambassadors concerning the adoption of the Rules of Procedure of the Joint ACP-EC Ministerial Trade Committee.

Done at Brussels, 8 March 2005.

For the ACP-EC Council of Ministers

The President

ASSELBORN