Article 6

1. The agreements or conventions concluded or provisionally applied by the Union with one or more third States, with an international organisation or with a national of a third State, shall, under the conditions laid down in the Constitution and in this Protocol, be binding on Bulgaria and Romania.

2. Bulgaria and Romania undertake to accede, under the conditions laid down in this Protocol, to the agreements or conventions concluded or signed by the Union and the present Member States, acting jointly.

The accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the agreements or conventions concluded or signed by the Union and the present Member States acting jointly with particular third countries or international organisations shall be agreed by the conclusion of a protocol to such agreements or conventions between the Council, acting unanimously on behalf of the Member States, and the third country or countries or international organisation concerned. The Commission shall negotiate these protocols on behalf of the Member States on the basis of negotiating directives approved by the Council, acting unanimously, and in consultation with a committee comprised of the representatives of the Member States. It shall submit a draft of the protocols for conclusion to the Council.

This procedure is without prejudice to the exercise of the Union's own competences and does not affect the allocation of powers between the Union and the Member States as regards the conclusion of such agreements in the future or any other amendments not related to accession.

3. Upon acceding to the agreements and conventions referred to in paragraph 2 Bulgaria and Romania shall acquire the same rights and obligations under those agreements and conventions as the present Member States.

4. As from the date of accession, and pending the entry into force of the necessary protocols referred to in paragraph 2, Bulgaria and Romania shall apply the provisions of the agreements or conventions concluded jointly by the Union and the present Member States before accession, with the exception of the agreement on the free movement of persons concluded with Switzerland. This obligation also applies to those agreements or conventions which the Union and the present Member States have agreed to apply provisionally.

Pending the entry into force of the protocols referred to in paragraph 2, the Union and the Member States, acting jointly as appropriate in the framework of their respective competences, shall take any appropriate measure.

5. Bulgaria and Romania accede 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 [1], signed in Cotonou on 23 June 2000.

6. Bulgaria and Romania undertake to accede, under the conditions laid down in this Protocol, to the Agreement on the European Economic Area [2], in accordance with Article 128 of that Agreement.

7. As from the date of accession, Bulgaria and Romania shall apply the bilateral textile agreements and arrangements concluded by the Union with third countries.

The quantitative restrictions applied by the Union on imports of textile and clothing products shall be adjusted to take account of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Union. To that effect, amendments to the bilateral agreements and arrangements referred to above may be negotiated by the Union with the third countries concerned prior to the date of accession.

Should the amendments to the bilateral textile agreements and arrangements not have entered into force by the date of accession, the Union shall make the necessary adjustments to its rules for the import of textile and clothing products from third countries to take into account the accession of Bulgaria and Romania.

8. The quantitative restrictions applied by the Union on imports of steel and steel products shall be adjusted on the basis of imports of Bulgaria and Romania over recent years of steel products originating in the supplier countries concerned.

To that effect, the necessary amendments to the bilateral steel agreements and arrangements concluded by the Union with third countries shall be negotiated prior to the date of accession.

Should the amendments to the bilateral agreements and arrangements not have entered into force by the date of accession, the provisions of the first subparagraph shall apply.

9. Fisheries agreements concluded before accession by Bulgaria or Romania with third countries shall be managed by the Union.

The rights and obligations resulting for Bulgaria and Romania from those agreements shall not be affected during the period in which the provisions of those agreements are provisionally maintained.

As soon as possible, and in any event before the expiry of the agreements referred to in the first subparagraph, appropriate decisions for the continuation of fishing activities resulting from those agreements shall be adopted in each case by the Council on a proposal from the Commission, including the possibility of extending certain agreements for periods not exceeding one year.

10. With effect from the date of accession, Bulgaria and Romania shall withdraw from any free trade agreements with third countries, including the Central European Free Trade Agreement.

To the extent that agreements between Bulgaria, Romania or both those States on the one hand, and one or more third countries on the other, are not compatible with the obligations arising from this Protocol, Bulgaria and Romania shall take all appropriate steps to eliminate the incompatibilities established. If Bulgaria or Romania encounters difficulties in adjusting an agreement concluded with one or more third countries before accession, it shall, according to the terms of the agreement, withdraw from that agreement.

11. Bulgaria and Romania accede under the conditions laid down in this Protocol to the internal agreements concluded by the present Member States for the purpose of implementing the agreements or conventions referred to in paragraphs 2, 5 and 6.

12. Bulgaria and Romania shall take appropriate measures, where necessary, to adjust their position in relation to international organisations, and to those international agreements to which the Union or to which other Member States are also parties, to the rights and obligations arising from their accession to the Union.

They shall in particular withdraw at the date of accession or the earliest possible date thereafter from international fisheries agreements and organisations to which the Union is also a party, unless their membership relates to matters other than fisheries.

13. Where this Article refers to conventions and agreements concluded or signed by the Union, they include those referred to in Article IV-438 of the Constitution.

[1] OJ L 317, 15.12.2000, p. 3.

[2] OJ L 1, 3.1.1994, p. 3.

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