ANNEX

RECOMMENDATION No 1/93 OF THE EEC-EFTA JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE SIMPLIFICATION OF FORMALITIES IN TRADE IN GOODS of 23 September 1993 for the amendment of the Convention of 20 May 1987 on the simplification of formalities in trade in goods

THE JOINT COMMITTEE,

Having regard to the Convention of 20 May 1987 on the simplification of formalities in trade in goods, and in particular Article 11 (2) (a) thereof,

Whereas the said Convention contains the rules governing use of the single administrative document in trade between the European Community and the countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and between those countries themselves;

Whereas the Convention should be amended to allow for the accession of third countries,

HEREBY RECOMMENDS that the Contracting Parties to the Convention:

- amend it, with effect from 1 July 1994, along the lines set out in the proposal annexed to this recommendation,

- inform each other, by means of an exchange of letters, of their acceptance of this recommendation.

Done at Oslo, 23 September 1993.

For the Joint Committee

The Chairman

Jan SOLBERG

ANNEX TO THE ANNEX

Proposed amendment to the Convention between the European Economic Community and the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland, the Republic of Iceland, the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of Sweden and the Swiss Confederation on the simplification of formalities in trade in goods

The Convention between the European Economic Community and the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland, the Republic of Iceland, the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of Sweden and the Swiss Confederation on the simplification of formalities in trade in goods is hereby amended as follows:

A. Article 1 shall be replaced by the following text:

'Article 1

1. This Convention lays down the measures to simplify formalities in trade in goods between the Contracting Parties, in particular by introducing a single administrative document (hereinafter referred to as the single document) to be used for any procedure at export and import and for a common transit procedure (hereinafter referred to as transit), applicable to trade between the Contracting Parties regardless of the kind and origin of the goods.

2. For the purposes of this Convention, "third country" shall mean any country which is not a Contracting Party to this Convention.

3. From the date on which the accession of a new Contracting Party becomes effective in accordance with Article 11a, all references in this Convention to EFTA countries shall apply to that country mutatis mutandis, and solely for the purposes of this Convention.`

B. Article 11 (3) shall be replaced by the following text:

'3. The Joint Committee shall adopt, by decision, amendments to the Annexes to this Convention, facilities referred to in the last indent of Article 4 (3) and invitations to third countries within the meaning of Article 1 (2) to accede to this Convention in accordance with Article 11a. Such decisions, except invitations to third countries, shall be put into effect by the contracting parties in accordance with their own legislation.`

C. The following shall be added after Article 11 (4):

'5. Decisions of the Joint Committee referred to in paragraph 3 inviting a third country to accede to this Convention shall be sent to the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Communities, which shall communicate it to the third country concerned, together with a text of the Convention in force on that date.

6. From the date referred to in paragraph 5, the third country concerned may be represented on the Joint Committee, subcommittees and working parties by observers.`

D. The following title and Article shall be inserted after Article 11:

'Accession of third countries

Article 11a

1. Any third country may become a Contracting Party to this Convention if invited to do so by the depositary of the Convention following a decision of the Joint Committee.

2. A third country invited to become a Contracting Party to this Convention shall do so by lodging an instrument of accession with the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Communities. The said instrument shall be accompanied by a translation of the Convention into the official language(s) of the acceding country.

3. The accession shall become effective on the first day of the second month following the lodging of the instrument of accession.

4. The depositary shall notify all Contracting Parties of the date on which the instrument of accession was lodged and the date on which the accession will become effective.

5. Recommendations and decisions of the Joint Committee referred to in Article 11 (2) and (3) adopted between the date referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article and the date on which accession becomes effective shall also be communicated to the invited third country via the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Communities.

A declaration accepting such acts shall be inserted either in the instrument of accession or in a separate instrument lodged with the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Communities within six months of the communication. If the declaration is not lodged within that period the accession shall be considered void.`