on the signing, on behalf of the European Union and its Member States, of the Protocol amending the Air Transport Agreement between the United States of America and the European Community and its Member States signed on April 25 and 30, 2007 as amended by the Protocol to amend the Air Transport Agreement between the United States of America and the European Community and its Member States, signed on April 25 and 30, 2007, signed by the United States of America and the European Union and its Member States on 24 June 2010, to take account of the accession to the European Union of the Republic of Croatia

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1.CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL

•Reasons for and objectives of the proposal

Under Article 6 (2) of the Act of Accession, Croatia has under taken to accede to the agreements concluded or signed by the Union and the Member States with third countries. Among those agreements is the Air Transport Agreement between the United States of America and the European Community and its Member States (“the EU-US ATA”). That provision further provides that the accession of Croatia to those agreements shall be agreed by the conclusion of a protocol to the agreements between the Council, acting unanimously on behalf of the Member States, and the third countries concerned. Moreover, the Commission shall negotiate those protocols on behalf of the Member States. The Commission has accordingly negotiated a protocol amending the EU-US ATA to provide for the accession of Croatia to that agreement. The objective of the present proposal is to obtain a Council decision, based on Article 218 (5) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (the “TFEU”) and Article 6 (2) of the Act of Accession, authorising the signing of the protocol on behalf of the Union and the Member States and its provisional application by them in accordance with Article 4 thereof, subject to its conclusion at a later date.

•General context

The undertaking by Croatia under Article 6 (2) of the Act of Accession applies also to the Air Transport Agreement between the United States of America, the European Union and its Member States, Iceland and Norway, which extends the scope of the EU-US ATA to the latter countries, and the Ancillary Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, Iceland and Norway, which governs the relationship between those parties under the aforementioned agreement.

The Commission has consequently negotiated protocols amending also those agreements to provide for the accession of Croatia to them. Proposals for Council decisions on the signing and provisional application as well as for the conclusion of those protocols are presented in parallel with the present proposal, as is the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion of the protocol amending the EU-US ATA.

•Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area

The EU-US ATA was the first comprehensive air transport agreement with a key aviation partner of the Union. It is the most important air transport agreement in the world, providing more than 80 million seats per year, and as such a cornerstone of the Union’s external aviation policy. The protocol will enable Croatia to benefit from the EU-US ATA.

•Consistency with existing provisions in the area of the proposal

The protocol enables Croatia to fulfil its obligation under Article 6 (2) of the Act of Accession to accede to the EU-US ATA.

2.LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY

•Legal basis

Article 100 (2) in conjunction with Article 218 (5) of the TFEU, and Article 6 (2), second subparagraph, of the Act of Accession.

•Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence)