THIRD ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL

to the Economic Partnership, Political Coordination and Cooperation Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the United Mexican States, 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 and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, hereinafter referred to as the ‘Member States’, and

THE EUROPEAN UNION, hereinafter referred to as the ‘Union’,

of the one part, and

THE UNITED MEXICAN STATES, hereinafter referred to as ‘Mexico’,

of the other part,

hereinafter jointly referred to as the ‘Parties’,

WHEREAS the Economic Partnership, Political Coordination and Cooperation Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the United Mexican States, of the other part, hereinafter referred to as the ‘Agreement’, was signed in Brussels on 8 December 1997 and entered into force on 1 October 2000;

WHEREAS the First Additional Protocol to the Agreement to take account of the accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic to the Union was signed in Mexico City on 2 April 2004 and in Brussels on 29 April 2004;

WHEREAS the Second Additional Protocol to the Agreement to take account of the accession of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania to the Union was signed in Mexico City on 29 November 2006;

WHEREAS the Treaty concerning the Accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union, hereinafter referred to as the ‘Treaty of Accession’, was signed in Brussels on 9 December 2011 and entered into force on 1 July 2013;

WHEREAS pursuant to Article 6(2) of the Act of Accession of the Republic of Croatia attached to the Treaty of Accession, the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the Agreement is to be agreed by the conclusion of a protocol to the Agreement;

WHEREAS in accordance with Article 55 of the Agreement, for the purposes of the Agreement, ‘the Parties’ means, on the one hand, the Community or its Member States or the Community and its Member States, in accordance with their respective areas of competence, as derived from the Treaty establishing the European Community and, on the other hand, Mexico;

WHEREAS in accordance with Article 56 of the Agreement, the Agreement applies to the territory in which the Treaty establishing the European Community is applied under the conditions laid down in that Treaty, on the one hand, and to the territory of Mexico, on the other;

WHEREAS in accordance with Article 59 of the Agreement, the Agreement was drawn up in duplicate in the Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish languages, each of these texts being equally authentic;

WHEREAS the Agreement was authenticated in the Czech, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Slovak and Slovenian language versions under the same conditions as the versions drawn up in the original languages of the Agreement;

WHEREAS the Agreement was authenticated in the Bulgarian and Romanian language versions under the same conditions as the versions drawn up in the original languages of the Agreement;

WHEREAS Article 5(3) of this Protocol provides for the provisional application of this Protocol by the Union and its Member States before they have completed their internal procedures required for its entry into force,

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1 The Republic of Croatia is hereby incorporated as a Party to the Economic Partnership, Political Coordination and Cooperation Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the United Mexican States, of the other part.

Article 2 1. After the signature of this Protocol, the Union shall transmit the Croatian language version of the Agreement to its Member States and to Mexico. 2. Subject to the entry into force 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 and Swedish language versions of the Agreement.

Article 3 This Protocol shall form an integral part of the Agreement.

Article 4 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 and Swedish languages, each of these texts being equally authentic.

Article 5 1. This Protocol shall be signed and approved by the Parties in accordance with their respective internal procedures. 2. This Protocol shall enter into force on the first day of the month following the date on which the Parties have notified each other of the completion of the internal procedures necessary for that purpose. 3. Notwithstanding paragraph 2, the Parties agree that, pending the completion of the internal procedures of the Union and its Member States for the entry into force of this Protocol, they shall apply the provisions of this Protocol from the first day of the month following the date on which the Union and its Member States give notification of the completion of their internal procedures necessary for that purpose and Mexico gives notification of the completion of its internal procedures necessary for the entry into force of this Protocol. 4. Notifications shall be sent to the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union who shall be the depositary of this Protocol. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, duly empowered to this effect, have signed this Protocol.