Article 6

1. The agreements or conventions concluded or provisionally applied by the Community or in accordance with Article 24 or Article 38 of the EU Treaty, 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 original Treaties and in this Act, be binding on the new Member States.

2. The new Member States undertake to accede, under the conditions laid down in this Act, to the agreements or conventions concluded or provisionally applied by the present Member States and the Community, acting jointly, and to the agreements concluded by those States which are related to those agreements or conventions.

The accession of the new Member States to the agreements or conventions mentioned in paragraph 6 below, as well as the agreements with Belarus, China, Chile, Mercosur and Switzerland which have been concluded or signed by the Community and its Member States jointly 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. This procedure is without prejudice to the Community's own competences and does not affect the allocation of powers between the Community and the Member States as regards the conclusion of such agreements in the future or any other amendments not related to accession. The Commission shall negotiate these protocols on behalf of the Member States on the basis of negotiating directives approved by the Council, acting by unanimity, 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.

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

4. The new Member States accede by this Act 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.

5. The new Member States undertake to accede, under the conditions laid down in this Act, to the Agreement on the European Economic Area [2], in accordance with Article 128 of that Agreement.

6. As from the date of accession, and pending the conclusion of the necessary protocols referred to in paragraph 2, the new Member States shall apply the provisions of the Agreements concluded by the present Member States and, jointly, the Community with Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Egypt, FYROM, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, Romania, the Russian Federation, San Marino, South Africa, South Korea, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan as well as the provisions of other agreements concluded jointly by the present Member States and the Community before accession.

Any adjustments to these Agreements shall be the subject of protocols concluded with the co-contracting countries in conformity with the provisions of the second subparagraph of paragraph 2. Should the protocols not have been concluded by the date of accession, the Community and the Member States shall take, in the framework of their respective competences, the necessary measures to deal with that situation upon accession.

7. As from the date of accession, the new Member States shall apply the bilateral textile agreements and arrangements concluded by the Community with third countries.

The quantitative restrictions applied by the Community on imports of textile and clothing products shall be adjusted to take account of the accession of the new Member States to the Community. To that effect, amendments to the bilateral agreements and arrangements referred to above may be negotiated by the Community 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 Community 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 the new Member States to the Community.

8. The quantitative restrictions applied by the Community on imports of steel and steel products shall be adjusted on the basis of imports of new Member States 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 Community 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. As from the date of accession, fisheries agreements concluded by the new Member States with third countries shall be managed by the Community.

The rights and obligations resulting for the new Member States 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 acting by qualified majority 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, the new Member States shall withdraw from any free trade agreements with third countries, including the Central European Free Trade Agreement.

To the extent that agreements between one or more of the new Member States on the one hand, and one or more third countries on the other, are not compatible with the obligations arising from this Act, the new Member State shall take all appropriate steps to eliminate the incompatibilities established. If a new Member State 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. The new Member States accede by this Act and under the conditions laid down therein to the internal agreements concluded by the present Member States for the purpose of implementing the agreements or conventions referred to in paragraphs 2 and 4 to 6.

12. The new Member States shall take appropriate measures, where necessary, to adjust their position in relation to international organisations, and to those international agreements to which the Community 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 Community is also a party, unless their membership relates to matters other than fisheries.

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

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

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