DECISION No 1/2015 OF THE EU-GEORGIA GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE

of 25 November 2015

adopting its Rules of Procedure [2017/879]

THE EU-GEORGIA GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE,

Having regard to the Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, of the one part, and Georgia, of the other part (1) (‘the Agreement’), and in particular Article 179 thereof,

Whereas:

In accordance with Article 431 of the Agreement, parts of the Agreement have been applied provisionally as of 1 September 2014.

Pursuant to Article 179 of the Agreement, the Geographical Indications Subcommittee (‘GI Subcommittee’) is to monitor the development of the Agreement in the field of geographical indications and is to serve as a forum for cooperation and dialogue on geographical indications.

Pursuant to Article 179(2) of the Agreement, the GI Subcommittee is to determine its own rules of procedure,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The Rules of Procedure of the GI Subcommittee, as set out in the Annex, are hereby adopted.

Article 2

This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption.

(1) OJ L 261, 30.8.2014, p. 4.

ANNEX

RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE EU-GEORGIA GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE

Article 1

General provisions

1. The Geographical Indications Subcommittee (‘GI Subcommittee’), established in accordance with Article 179 of the Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, of the one part, and Georgia, of the other part (‘the Agreement’) shall assist the Association Committee in Trade configuration, as set out in Article 408(4) of the Agreement (‘the Association Committee in Trade configuration’), in the performance of its functions.

2. The GI Subcommittee shall perform its functions set out in Article 179 of the Agreement.

3. The GI Subcommittee shall be composed of representatives of the European Commission and of Georgia, responsible for matters relating to geographical indications.

4. The Parties shall each appoint a Head of Delegation who shall be the contact person for all matters relating to the GI Subcommittee.

5. The Heads of Delegation shall act as Chair of the GI Subcommittee in accordance with Article 2.

6. Each Head of Delegation may delegate all or any of the functions of Head of Delegation to a nominated deputy, in which case all references hereafter to the Head of Delegation apply equally to the nominated deputy.

7. The Parties in these Rules of Procedure shall be defined as provided for in Article 428 of the Agreement.

Article 2

Chairmanship

The Parties shall hold the chairmanship of the GI Subcommittee, alternately, for a period of 12 months. The first period shall begin on the date of the first Association Council meeting and end on 31 December of the same year.

Article 3

Meetings

1. Save as otherwise agreed by the Parties, the GI Subcommittee shall meet at the request of either Party, alternately in the Union and in Georgia, and in any case no later than 90 calendar days from the request.

2. Each meeting of the GI Subcommittee shall be convened by its Chair at a place and on a date agreed by the Parties. The notice of convening the meeting shall be issued by the Chair of the GI Subcommittee no later than 28 calendar days prior to the start of the meeting, unless the Parties agree otherwise.

3. Whenever possible, the regular meeting of the GI Subcommittee shall be convened in due time in advance of the regular meeting of the Association Committee in Trade configuration.

4. By way of exception, the meetings of the GI Subcommittee may be held by any technological means agreed by the Parties, including videoconference.

Article 4

Delegations

Before each meeting, the Parties shall be informed, by the Secretariat of the GI Subcommittee, of the intended composition of the delegation of each Party attending the meeting.

Article 5

Secretariat

1. An official of the European Commission and an official of Georgia shall act jointly as Secretaries of the GI Subcommittee, as appointed by the Heads of Delegations, and shall execute secretarial tasks in a joint manner, in a spirit of mutual trust and cooperation.

2. The Secretariat of the Association Committee in Trade configuration shall be informed of any decisions, reports and other agreed actions of the GI Subcommittee.

Article 6

Correspondence

1. Correspondence addressed to the GI Subcommittee shall be directed to the Secretary of either Party, who in turn will inform the other Secretary.

2. The Secretariat of the GI Subcommittee shall ensure that correspondence addressed to the GI Subcommittee is forwarded to the Chair of the GI Subcommittee and circulated, where appropriate, as documents referred to in Article 7.

3. Correspondence from the Chair shall be sent to the Parties by the Secretariat on behalf of the Chair. Such correspondence shall be circulated, where appropriate, as provided for in Article 7.

Article 7

Documents

1. Documents shall be circulated by the Secretaries of the GI Subcommittee.

2. A Party shall transmit its documents to its Secretary. The Secretary shall transmit those documents to the Secretary of the other Party.

3. The Secretary of the Union shall circulate the documents to the relevant representatives of the Union and shall systematically copy the Secretary of Georgia and the Secretaries of the Association Committee in Trade configuration in such correspondence.

4. The Secretary of Georgia shall circulate the documents to the relevant representatives of Georgia and shall systematically copy the Secretary of the Union and the Secretaries of the Association Committee in Trade configuration in such correspondence.

Article 8

Confidentiality

Unless otherwise decided by the Parties, the meetings of the GI Subcommittee shall not be public. When a Party submits information designated as confidential to the GI Subcommittee, the other Party shall treat that information as such.

Article 9

Agendas for the meetings

1. A provisional agenda for each meeting as well as draft operational conclusions as provided for in Article 10 shall be drawn up by the Secretariat of the GI Subcommittee on the basis of proposals made by the Parties. The provisional agenda shall include items in respect of which the Secretariat has received a request for inclusion in the agenda by a Party, supported by relevant documents, no later than 21 calendar days before the date of the meeting.

2. The provisional agenda, together with the relevant documents, shall be circulated as provided for in Article 7 no later than 15 calendar days before the beginning of the meeting.

3. The agenda shall be adopted by the Chair and the other Head of Delegation 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 Chair of the GI Subcommittee may, upon agreement of the other Party, invite representatives of other bodies of the Parties or independent experts in a subject area on an ad hoc basis to attend its meetings in order to provide information on specific subjects. The Parties shall ensure that those observers or experts respect any confidentiality requirements.

5. The Chair of the GI Subcommittee may reduce the time limits specified in paragraphs 1 and 2, in consultation with the Parties, in order to take account of special circumstances.

Article 10

Minutes and operational conclusions

1. Draft minutes of each meeting shall be drawn up jointly by the Secretaries of the GI Subcommittee.

2. The minutes shall, as a general rule, include in respect of each item on the agenda:

(a) a list of the participants in the meeting, a list of officials accompanying them and a list of any observers or experts who attended the meeting;

(b) documentation submitted to the GI Subcommittee;

(c) statements which the GI Subcommittee has asked to be entered in the minutes; and

(d) operational conclusions of the meeting, if necessary, as provided for in paragraph 4.

3. The draft minutes shall be submitted to the GI Subcommittee for approval. They shall be approved within 28 calendar days after each GI Subcommittee meeting. A copy shall be sent to each of the addressees referred to in Article 7.

4. Draft operational conclusions of each meeting shall be drawn up by the Secretary of the GI Subcommittee of the Party holding the chairmanship of the GI Subcommittee, and circulated to the Parties together with the agenda, no later than 15 calendar days before the beginning of the meeting. That draft shall be updated as the meeting proceeds so that at the end of the meeting, unless agreed otherwise by the Parties, the GI Subcommittee adopts the operational conclusions, reflecting the follow-up actions agreed by the Parties. Once agreed, the operational conclusions shall be attached to the minutes and their implementation shall be reviewed during any subsequent meeting of the GI Subcommittee. To that end the GI Subcommittee shall adopt a template, allowing for each action to be tracked against a specific deadline.

Article 11

Decisions

1. The GI Subcommittee shall have the power to adopt decisions in the cases provided for in Article 179(3) of the Agreement. Those decisions shall be adopted by consensus between the Parties after completion of the respective internal procedures for their adoption. They shall be binding upon the Parties, which shall take appropriate measures to implement them.

2. Each decision shall be signed by the Chair of the GI Subcommittee and authenticated by the Secretaries of the GI Subcommittee. Without prejudice to paragraph 4, the Chair shall sign those documents during the meeting in which the relevant decision is adopted.

3. The GI Subcommittee may take decisions or adopt reports by written procedure, after completion of the respective internal procedures, if the Parties so agree. The written procedure shall consist of an exchange of notes between the Secretaries, acting in agreement with the Parties. For that purpose, the text of the proposal shall be circulated pursuant to Article 7, with a time limit of no less than 21 calendar days within which any reservations or amendments shall be made known. The Chair may reduce that time limit, in consultation with the Parties, in order to take account of special circumstances. Once the text is agreed, the decision or the report shall be signed by the Chair and authenticated by the Secretaries.

4. The acts of the GI Subcommittee shall be entitled ‘Decision’ or ‘Report’ respectively. Each decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption unless the decision provides otherwise.

5. The decisions shall be circulated to the Parties.

6. Each Party may decide on the publication of the decisions of the GI Subcommittee in its respective official publication.

Article 12

Reports

The GI Subcommittee shall report to the Association Committee in Trade configuration on its activities at each regular meeting of the latter.

Article 13

Languages

1. The working languages of the GI Subcommittee shall be English and Georgian.

2. Unless otherwise decided, the GI Subcommittee shall base its deliberations on documentation prepared in those languages.

Article 14

Expenses

1. Each Party shall meet any expenses it incurs as a result of participating in the meetings of the GI Subcommittee, both with regard to staff, travel and subsistence expenditure and with regards 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 interpreting at meetings and translation of documents into or from English and Georgian as referred to in Article 13(1) shall be borne by the Party hosting the meeting.

Interpreting and translation into or from other languages shall be borne directly by the requesting Party.

Article 15

Amendment of Rules of Procedure

These Rules of Procedure may be amended by a decision of the GI Subcommittee in accordance with Article 179(2) of the Agreement.