EN Official Journal of the European Union L 373/3

PROTOCOL

to the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement establishing a partnership between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Russian Federation, of the other part, to take account of the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union

THE KINGDOM OF BELGIUM,

THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA,

THE CZECH REPUBLIC,

THE KINGDOM OF DENMARK,

THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY,

THE REPUBLIC OF ESTONIA,

IRELAND,

THE HELLENIC REPUBLIC,

THE KINGDOM OF SPAIN,

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC,

THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA,

THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC,

THE REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS,

THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA,

THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA,

THE GRAND DUCHY OF LUXEMBOURG,

HUNGARY,

THE REPUBLIC OF MALTA,

THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS,

THE REPUBLIC OF AUSTRIA,

THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND,

THE PORTUGUESE REPUBLIC,

ROMANIA,

THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA,

THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC,

THE REPUBLIC OF FINLAND,

THE KINGDOM OF SWEDEN,

THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND

Contracting Parties to the Treaty on European Union, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, hereinafter referred to as the ‘Member States’,

THE EUROPEAN UNION, hereafter referred to as ‘the Union’, and

THE EUROPEAN ATOMIC ENERGY COMMUNITY

of the one part, and

THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

of the other part,

hereinafter referred to together as ‘the Parties’,

WHEREAS the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement establishing a partnership between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Russian Federation, of the other part, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Agreement’, was signed in Corfu on 24 June 1994;

WHEREAS the Treaty of Accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union was signed in Brussels on 9 December 2011;

WHEREAS, pursuant to Article 6(2) of the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Republic of Croatia and the adjustments to the Treaty on European Union, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, the Republic of Croatia's accession to the Agreement is to be agreed by the conclusion of a protocol to the Agreement;

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union on 1 July 2013;

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

The Republic of Croatia hereby accedes to the Agreement. The Republic of Croatia shall adopt and take note of, in the same manner as the other Member States, the texts of the Agreement, the Joint Declarations, Declarations and Exchanges of Letters annexed to the Final Act signed on the same date and the Protocol to the Agreement of 21 May 1997 which entered into force on 1 December 2000, the Protocol to the Agreement of 27 April 2004 which entered into force on 1 March 2005, and the Protocol to the Agreement of 23 April 2007 which entered into force on 1 May 2008.

Article 2

After the signature of this Protocol, the Union shall communicate the Croatian language version of the Agreement, the Final Act and all documents annexed to it as well as the Protocols to the Agreement of 21 May 1997, 27 April 2004 and 23 April 2007 to the Member States and to the Russian Federation. As from the date of provisional application of this Protocol, the Croatian language version shall become authentic under the same conditions as the Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish and Russian language versions of the Agreement.

Article 3

This Protocol shall form an integral part of the Agreement.

Article 4

1. This Protocol shall be approved by the Parties, in accordance with their own procedures. The Parties shall notify each other of the completion of the procedures necessary for that purpose. The instruments of approval shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union.

2. This Protocol shall enter into force on the first day of the first month following the date of deposit of the last instrument of approval.

3. This Protocol shall apply provisionally after 15 days from the date of its signature.

4. This Protocol shall apply to the relations between the Parties within the framework of the Agreement as of the date of accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union.

Article 5

This Protocol is drawn up in duplicate in the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish and Russian languages, each of these texts being equally authentic.