ANNEX I

RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE JOINT CARIFORUM-EU COUNCIL

set up by the Economic Partnership Agreement between the CARIFORUM States, of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part

Article 1

Composition and Chair

1. The Joint CARIFORUM-EU Council (hereinafter the ‘Joint Council’) is composed as provided for in Article 228(1) of the Agreement.

2. The representative of the CARIFORUM States acting collectively, provided for in Article 228(2) of the Agreement shall be referred to as the ‘CARIFORUM High Representative’. The designation of the CARIFORUM High Representative and any change thereto shall be notified to the Chairperson of the Joint Council.

3. Reference to ‘the Parties’ in the Rules of Procedure shall be in accordance with the definition provided for in Article 233(3) of the Agreement.

4. The Joint Council shall be chaired, at least at Ministerial level, alternately for periods of 12 months, by a representative of the Council of the European Union and a representative of the European Commission on behalf of the EU Party, and by a representative of the CARIFORUM States. However, the period of the first Chair shall begin on the date of the first meeting of the Joint Council and shall end on 31 December of the following year. The Chair shall be held first by a representative of the CARIFORUM States.

Article 2

Representation

1. In accordance with Article 228(5) of the Agreement, the members of the Joint Council may arrange to be represented.

2. A member wishing to be represented by an alternate representative shall notify the Chairperson of the Joint Council of the name of his or her alternate representative before the meeting at which he or she is to be so represented. The alternate representative of a member of the Joint Council shall exercise all the rights of that member.

Article 3

Observers

1. The Joint Council may decide to admit observers on a permanent basis.

2. The Joint Council may decide to invite additional observers on an ad hoc basis.

3. The Joint Council may decide to invite representatives of the CARIFORUM-EU Parliamentary Committee and of the CARIFORUM-EU Consultative Committee to inform the Joint Council of the work undertaken in the respective Committees.

Article 4

Meetings

1. The Joint Council shall meet at regular intervals, not exceeding a period of two years, and shall hold extraordinary meetings whenever circumstances so require, if the Parties so agree.

2. Each session of the Joint Council shall be held at a date and place agreed by both Parties.

3. The meetings of the Joint Council shall be convened by the Secretary of the Joint Council by a notice issued no later than 35 days prior to the start of the session, except where an extraordinary meeting is called.

Article 5

Delegations

The members of the Joint Council may be accompanied by officials. Before each meeting, the Chairperson of the Joint Council shall be informed of the intended composition of the delegations of the Signatory CARIFORUM States, the EU Party and of any observers.

Article 6

Secretariat

The General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union and a CARIFORUM State shall act alternately for periods of 12 months as Secretary of the Joint Council. These periods shall coincide with the holding of the Chair by the EU Party and the CARIFORUM States respectively.

Article 7

Documents

Where the deliberations of the Joint Council are based on written supporting documents, such documents shall be numbered and circulated by the Secretary as documents of the Joint Council.

Article 8

Correspondence

1. All correspondence addressed to the Joint Council shall be directed to the Secretary of the Joint Council.

2. The Secretary shall ensure that correspondence addressed to the Joint Council is forwarded to the Chairperson of the Council and circulated, where appropriate as documents referred to in Article 7, to the other members of the Joint Council. Correspondence circulated shall be sent to the Secretariat-General of the European Commission, the Permanent Representations of the Member States of the European Union in Brussels, the CARIFORUM Coordinator and the Coordinators of each Signatory CARIFORUM State provided for under Article 234(1) of the Agreement.

3. Correspondence from the Chairperson of the Joint Council shall be sent to the recipients by the Secretary and circulated, where appropriate as documents referred to in Article 7, to the other members of the Joint Council through the addressees provided for in paragraph 2 of this Article.

Article 9

Agenda for the meetings

1. A provisional agenda for each meeting shall be drawn up by the Secretary of the Joint Council on the basis of proposals made by the Parties and the Signatory CARIFORUM States. It shall be forwarded, together with the relevant documents, by the Secretary of the Joint Council to the addressees referred to in Article 8(2) no later than 21 days before the beginning of the meeting.

2. The provisional agenda shall include items for which the Secretary has received a request for inclusion in the agenda, together with the relevant documents, no later than 28 days before the beginning of the meeting.

3. The agenda shall be adopted by the Joint Council at the beginning of each meeting. Items other than those appearing on the provisional agenda may be placed on the agenda if the Parties so agree.

4. The Chairperson of the Joint Council may, in agreement with the Parties, invite experts to attend its meetings in order to provide information on specific subjects.

5. With the agreement of the Parties, the Secretary may abridge the time limits specified in paragraphs 1 and 2 in order to take account of the requirements of a particular case.

Article 10

Minutes

1. Draft minutes of each meeting shall be drawn up by the Secretary, normally within a month of the meeting.

2. The minutes shall, as a general rule, summarise each item on the agenda, specifying where applicable:

(a) all documents submitted to the Joint Council;

(b) any statement that a member of the Joint Council has asked to be entered; and

(c) the decisions taken, recommendations made, statements agreed upon and conclusions adopted on specific items.

3. The minutes shall also include a list of members of the Joint Council or their alternate representatives who took part in the meeting, a list of the members of the delegations accompanying them and a list of any observers to the meeting.

4. The minutes shall be approved in writing by both Parties within three months of the date of the meeting. Once approved, two copies of the minutes shall be signed by the Secretary and each of the Parties shall receive one original of these authentic documents. Copies of the signed minutes shall be forwarded to each of the addressees referred to in Article 8(2).

Article 11

Decisions and recommendations

1. The Joint Council shall adopt decisions and recommendations by agreement, as provided for in Article 229 of the Agreement.

2. The Joint Council may decide to submit any general matter of an ACP-EU interest arising under the Agreement to the ACP-EU Council of Ministers as defined in Article 15 of the Cotonou Agreement.

3. In the period between meetings, the Joint Council may adopt decisions or recommendations by written procedure if both Parties so agree. The written procedure shall consist of an exchange of notes between the Parties. The CARIFORUM High Representative shall have the power to exchange such notes and to confirm the agreement of the Signatory CARIFORUM States on any decision, after receiving the individual Signatory CARIFORUM States’ confirmation of their agreement on any decision, as necessary.

4. Decisions and recommendations of the Joint Council within the meaning of Article 229 of the Agreement shall be entitled ‘Decision’ or ‘Recommendation’ respectively, and shall be followed by a serial number, their date of adoption and a description of their subject-matter. Each decision shall provide for the date of its entry into force.

5. Decisions and recommendations adopted by the Joint Council shall be authenticated by a representative of the European Commission on behalf of the EU Party, and by the CARIFORUM High Representative on behalf of the CARIFORUM States.

6. Decisions and recommendations shall be forwarded to each of the addressees referred to in Article 8(2) as documents of the Joint Council.

Article 12

Publicity

1. Unless otherwise decided, meetings of the Joint Council shall not be public.

2. Each Party or Signatory CARIFORUM State may decide on the publication of the decisions and recommendations of the Joint Council in its respective official publication.

Article 13

Languages

1. The working languages of the Joint Council shall be the official languages common to the Parties, namely, English, Spanish, French and Dutch.

2. The Joint Council shall base its deliberations and adopt decisions and recommendations on documentation and proposals prepared in one of the languages referred to in paragraph 1.

Article 14

Expenses

1. Each Party shall meet any expenses it incurs as a result of participating in the meetings of the Joint Council, both with regard to staff, travel and subsistence expenditure and with regard to postal and telecommunications expenditure.

2. Expenditure in connection with the organisation of meetings and reproduction of documents shall be borne by the Party hosting the meeting.

3. Expenditure in connection with the provision of interpretation services at meetings, and translation of documents into, or from, any of the working languages of the Joint Council, shall be borne by the Party hosting the meeting. Expenditure associated with the provision of interpretation services regarding other official languages of the institutions of the European Union, and translation of documents into, or from, those languages shall be borne by the EU Party.