EN Official Journal of the European Union L 348/3

PROTOCOL

to the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, 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’, represented by the Council of the European Union, and

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

of the one part,

and

THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIET NAM, hereinafter referred to as ‘Viet Nam’,

of the other part,

hereinafter jointly referred to as ‘the Contracting Parties’ for the purposes of this Protocol,

HAVING REGARD TO the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union on 1 July 2013,

WHEREAS the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, of the other part, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Agreement’, was signed in Brussels on 27 June 2012;

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;

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

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

The Republic of Croatia hereby accedes as a Party to the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, of the other part, signed in Brussels on 27 June 2012, and shall respectively adopt and take note, in the same manner as the other Member States of the European Union, of the texts of the Agreement, as well as of the Declarations thereto.

Article 2

In due time after the initialling of this Protocol, the European Union shall communicate to its Member States and to the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam the Croatian language version of the Agreement. Subject to the entry into force of this Protocol, the language version referred to in the first sentence of this Article 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 Vietnamese 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 European Union, by the Council of the European Union on behalf of the Member States and by Viet Nam in accordance with their own procedures. The Contracting 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 month following the date of the deposit of the last instrument of approval, but not before the date of entry into force of the Agreement.

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 Vietnamese languages, each of these texts being equally authentic.

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