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DECISION No 2/2004 
OF THE COMMUNITY/SWITZERLAND AIR TRANSPORT COMMITTEE 
  
 
of 22 April 2004 
adopting its rules of procedure 
(2004/405/EC) 
THE COMMUNITY/SWITZERLAND AIR TRANSPORT COMMITTEE, 
Having regard to the Agreement between the Eu ropean Community and the Swiss Confederation 
on Air Transport, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Agreement’, and in particul ar Article 21(3) thereof, 
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS: 
Sole Article 
The rules of procedure of the Joint Committee a nnexed to this decision are hereby adopted. 
Done at Brussels, 22April 2004. 
 For the Joint Committee 
 The Head of the Community Delegation 
 Enrico Grillo PASQUARELLI  
 
 The Head of the Swiss Delegation 
 Dante MARTINELLI   
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ANNEX  
 
Rules of procedure of the Community /Switzerland Air Transport Committee  
Article 1 
Chair 
1. The Chair of the Committee shall be held in turn for a period of one calendar year by a 
representative of the Commission of the European Communities, on behalf of the 
European Community, hereinafter referre d to as "the Community", and by a 
representative of the Swiss Confederation. It sh all be held by Switzerland during the year 
of entry into force of the Agreement. 
2. The head of delegation of the party which holds the Chair or, where appropriate, his or 
her alternate, shall be Chair of the Committee. 
Article 2 
Delegations 
1. Before each meeting, the heads of delega tion shall inform the Chair of the intended 
composition of their delegation. 
2. The Parties shall appoint the heads of delega tion who, outside the meetings, are to be the 
contact persons for all matters relating to the Agreement. 
3. The Chair, in agreement with the other he ad of delegation, may invite persons who are 
not members of the delegations to take part  in a meeting of the Committee in order to 
provide information on specific subjects. 
4. The parties shall inform each other, at least one week before the meeting, of the 
composition of their delegation. 
Article 3 
Secretariat 
1. A representative of the Commission and a representative of the Swiss Confederation 
shall jointly provide the Secretariat for the Committee. The Secretaries shall be 
designated by their respective head of dele gation and shall continue to perform their 
duties until a new Secretary is appointed. Each party shall send the name and address of its Secretary to the other party. 
2. The Secretaries shall be responsible fo r communication betwee n the delegations, 
including the transmission of documents, an d shall supervise the duties performed by 
the Secretariat. 
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3. The Secretariat to the Committee shall be under the direction of the party which holds 
the Chair. 
Article 4 
Meetings of the Committee 
1. The Committee shall meet at least once a ye ar. It shall be convened by the Chair. The 
Chair may also convene the Committee at the re quest of the head of the other delegation. 
2. The Chair shall draw up the draft agenda and fix the date and pl ace of the meeting in 
agreement with the head of the other delegation. 
3. The Chair shall send the notice of meetin g, together with the draft agenda and the 
documents for the meeting, to the head of the other delegation no later than 15 working days before the meeting. 
4. One of the two heads of delegation may ask the Chair to shorten the period indicated in 
paragraph 3 in order to take account of  the urgency of a particular matter. 
5. Meetings of the Committee shall not be pu blic, unless decided otherwise by the Chair, 
with the agreement of the other head of delegation. 
6. Depending on who holds the Chair, the Co mmittee shall meet in Brussels or Berne, 
unless the parties agree on another meeting place. 
7. By joint agreement between the Chair and th e other head of delegation, the meeting may 
also be held by telephone or video confer ence. In this case, the instruments of the 
Committee shall be adopted by written proced ure, in accordance with Article 7(5), 
mutatis mutandis . 
Article 5 
Agenda 
1. The Chair shall draw up the provisional agenda for each meeting. 
2. The heads of delegation may propose one or more additional items to be included in the 
agenda at the latest 24 hours before the meeting is due to begin. Any request for 
additional items to be included in the agen da must be duly substantiated and sent in 
writing to the Chair or to the head of the other delegation. 
3. At the beginning of the meet ing, the Chair and the other head  of delegation shall approve 
the agenda. 
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Article 6 
Working parties 
1. The composition and functioning of the work ing parties or groups of experts set up in 
accordance with Article 21(5) of  the Agreement shall be agreed, mutatis mutandis , in 
accordance with the rules a pplicable to the Committee. 
2. The working parties or groups of expe rts shall work under the authority of the 
Committee, to which they shall report afte r each of their meetings. They are not 
authorised to take decisions but may make recommendations for the Committee's 
attention. 
3. The Committee may decide to terminate or to amend the mandate of the working parties 
or groups of experts. 
Article 7 
Adoption of instruments 
1. The recommendations and decisions of  the Committee within the meaning of 
Article 21(1) of the Agreement shall be  adopted by consensus between the two 
delegations. They shall be entitled "reco mmendation" or "decision", followed by a 
sequential number, the date of adoption and an indication as to the subject. 
2. The decisions and recommendations of the Committee shall be covered by the signature 
of the Chair and the head of delegation of the party which does not hold the Chair. An 
original copy shall be kept by each of the parties. 
3. Each party may decide to publish any instrument adopted by the Committee. 
4. The instruments of the Committee may be adop ted by written procedure if the two heads 
of delegation so agree. 
5. The party which proposes use of the writte n procedure shall submit the draft instrument 
to the other party. The other party shall repl y indicating whether or not it accepts the 
draft, whether it proposes any changes to th e draft, and whether it requests additional 
time to consider it. If the draft is adopted, the Chair shall finalise the decision or the recommendation in accordance wi th paragraphs 1 and 2 above. 
Article 8 
Minutes 
1. The Secretariat shall draw up draft minutes of each meeting. The draft shall indicate the 
decisions taken, the recommendations made and the conclusions adopted. The minutes 
shall be signed by the Chair and by the head  of the other delegati on. An original copy 
shall be held by each party. 
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2. The draft minutes shall be drawn up within  ten working days of the end of the meeting 
and shall be submitted for the approval of th e Chair and the head of the other delegation 
by written procedure. If this procedure is no t completed, the minutes shall be adopted by 
the Committee at its next meeting. 
Article 9 
Confidentiality 
The Committee's deliberations shall be confidential. 
Article 10 
Expenses 
1. Each party shall bear any expenses it incurs relating to its participation in the meetings of 
the Committee and of the working parties or groups of experts. 
2. The Committee shall agree on the breakdow n of expenses relating to any missions 
assigned to experts. 
Article 11 
Correspondence 
All correspondence to or from the Chair of the Co mmittee shall be sent to the Secretariat of the 
Committee. The Secretariat shall send a copy of all correspondence concerning the Agreement to 
the heads of delegation and to the Swiss Mission to the European Communities.