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Brussels, 12.4.2006

SEC(2006) 476 final

Draft

DECISION OF THE EEA JOINT COMMITTEE

amending Protocol 31 to the EEA Agreement, on cooperation in specific fields outside the four freedoms

- Draft common position of the Community - (presented by the Commission)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1. Protocol 31 to the EEA Agreement contains specific provisions on the cooperation between the Community and the EEA EFTA States outside the four freedoms.

2. The attached draft Decision of the EEA Joint Committee aims to modify Protocol 31 to extend cooperation, beyond 31 December 2005, in the field of the implementation and development of the internal market for a further year (2006) and concerns:

- Budget line 02.03.01: Implementation and development of the internal market.

3. Article 1.3(b) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2894/94 concerning the arrangements for implementing the EEA Agreement envisages that the Council establish the Community position for such Decisions on a proposal from the Commission.

4. The draft decision of the EEA Joint Committee is submitted for the approval of the Council, after which the Commission will put forward the position of the Community in the EEA Joint Committee at the earliest possible occasion.

Draft

DECISION OF THE EEA JOINT COMMITTEE

amending Protocol 31 to the EEA Agreement, on cooperation in specific fields outside the four freedoms

THE EEA JOINT COMMITTEE,

Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, as amended by the Protocol adjusting the Agreement on the European Economic Area, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Agreement’, and in particular Articles 86 and 98 thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Protocol 31 to the Agreement was amended by Decision of the EEA Joint Committee No …/… of …[1].

(2) It is appropriate to continue the cooperation of the Contracting Parties to the Agreement in the implementation and development of the Internal Market.

(3) Protocol 31 to the Agreement should therefore be amended in order to allow for this cooperation to continue beyond 31 December 2005,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Article 7 of Protocol 31 to the Agreement shall be amended as follows:

1. The words ‘years 2004 and 2005’ in paragraph 6 shall be replaced by the words ‘years 2004, 2005 and 2006’.

2. The following paragraph shall be inserted after paragraph 6:

‘7. The EFTA States shall, as from 1 January 2006, participate in the Community actions related to the following budget line, entered in the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2006:

- Budget line 02.03.01 : “Implementation and development of the internal market”.’

3. The words “paragraphs 5 and 6” in paragraphs 3 and 4 shall be replaced by the words “paragraphs 5, 6 and 7”.

Article 2

This Decision shall enter into force on the day following the last notification to the EEA Joint Committee under Article 103(1) of the Agreement *.

It shall apply from 1 January 2006.

Article 3

This Decision shall be published in the EEA Section of, and in the EEA Supplement to, the Official Journal of the European Union .

Done at Brussels,

For the EEA Joint Committee

The President

The Secretaries to the EEA Joint Committee

[1] OJ L …

* [No constitutional requirements indicated.] [Constitutional requirements indicated.]