EN Official Journal of the European Union L 238/3

PROTOCOL

to the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement establishing a partnership between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Uzbekistan, 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, hereinafter referered to as the ‘Union’, and

THE EUROPEAN ATOMIC ENERGY COMMUNITY

of the one part,

AND

THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN

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 Republic of Uzbekistan, of the other part, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Agreement’, was signed in Florence on 21 June 1996,

WHEREAS the Treaty of the 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, its 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 Union and to the European Atomic Energy Community on 1 July 2013,

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

The Republic of Croatia shall accede to the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement establishing a partnership between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Uzbekistan, of the other part, signed in Florence on 21 June 1996. The Republic of Croatia shall also adopt and take note of, in the same manner as the other Member States, the texts of the Agreement and of the Joint Declarations, Declarations and Exchanges of Letters annexed to the Final Act signed on the same date, as well as the Protocols signed in 2004, 2008 and 2011, which are integral parts of the Agreement.

Article 2

In due time after the signature of this Protocol, the Union shall communicate the text of the Agreement in the Croatian language to the Member States and to the Republic of Uzbekistan. Subject to the entry into force of this Protocol, the text referred to in the first sentence of this Article shall become authentic under the same conditions as Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish and Uzbek texts 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, and the Parties shall notify one another of the completion of the procedures necessary for that purpose.

2. This Protocol shall enter into force on the first day of the month following the month during which the last notification provided for in paragraph 1 has been carried out.

3. Pending its entry into force, this Protocol shall apply provisionally with effect from 1 July 2013.

Article 5

This Protocol shall be 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 Uzbek languages, each text being equally authentic.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, duly empowered to this effect, have signed this Protocol.