Proposal for a Council Decision on a Community Position concerning the Rules of procedure of the Interim Committee established by the Interim Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Croatia
Date: 2002-03-27
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Croatia, committee (EU), interim agreement (EU), rules of procedure, trade agreement

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Proposal for a Council Decision on a Community Position concerning the Rules of procedure of
the Interim Committee established by the Interim Agreement between the European Community
and the Republic of Croatia

(2002/C 203 E/05)

COM(2002) 161 final

(Submitted by the Commission on 27 March 2002)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

(3) Article 39 of the said Agreement provides that the Interim

Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,
second
subparagraph thereof,

in particular Article 300(2),

and

Having regard to Article 2(2) of Council Decision 2002/107/EC
of 28 January 2002 concerning the conclusion of the Interim
Agreement on trade and trade-related matters between the
European Community, of the one part and the Republic of
Croatia, of the other part (1),

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

(4) Article 41 of the said Agreement provides that the Interim
Committee may establish sub-committees; the designation,
composition and terms of reference of the subcommittees
should be laid down in the rules of procedure.

(5) The Community should determine the position to be taken
within the Interim Committee with regard to the adoption
of the rules of procedure,

Whereas:

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

(1) The Interim Agreement has been provisionally applied as
from 1 January 2002 and has definitely entered into force
on 1 March 2002.

(2) Article 38 of the said Agreement establishes an Interim
Committee which shall supervise the application and the
implementation of the Agreement.

Sole Article

The position to be adopted by the Community within the
Interim Committee established by Article 38 of the Interim
Agreement between the European Community and the
Republic of Croatia shall be based on the draft decision of
the Interim Committee annexed to the present Decision.

(1) OJ L 40, 12.2.2002, p. 9.

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of the Interim Committee between the European Community of the one part and the Republic of
Croatia of the other part

DECISION No 1/2002

of . . .

concerning the adoption of its Rules of procedure

(. . .)

THE INTERIM COMMITTEE,

Having regard to the Interim Agreement between the European
Community, of the one part, and the Republic of Croatia, of
the other part, and in particular Articles 38, 39, 40 and 41
thereof,

Whereas that Agreement entered into force on 1 March 2002,

HAS DECIDED TO ADOPT THE
PROCEDURE AND TO ESTABLISH THE
PROVIDED FOR UNDER THE RULES:

FOLLOWING RULES OF
SUBCOMMITTEES

Article 1

Chairmanship

The Interim Committee shall be presided over alternately for
periods of 12 months by a representative of the Commission of
the European Communities on behalf of
the European
Community, hereinafter referred to as the ‘Community’, and
a representative of
the Republic of
Croatia. However, the first period shall begin on the date of
the first Interim Committee meeting and end on 31 December
of the same year.

the Government of

Article 2

Meetings

The Interim Committee shall meet regularly once a year.
Special meetings of the Interim Committee may be held if
the Parties so agree, at the request of either Party.

Each meeting of the Interim Committee shall be held at a time
and place agreed by both Parties. The meetings are convened
by the Chairman.

Unless otherwise agreed the meetings of the Interim Committee
shall not be public.

Article 3

Delegations

Prior to each meeting, the Chairman shall be informed of the
intended composition of the delegation of each Party.

A representative of the European Investment Bank may attend
the meetings of the Interim Committee, as an observer, when
matters which concern the Bank appear on the agenda.

The Interim Committee may invite non-members to attend its
meetings
to provide information on particular
subjects.

in order

Article 4

Secretariat

An official of the Commission of the European Communities
and an official of the Republic of Croatia shall act jointly as
Secretaries of the Interim Committee.

Article 5

Correspondence

All correspondence to and from the Chairman of the Interim
Committee shall be forwarded to both Secretaries. The two
Secretaries
shall ensure that correspondence is circulated,
where appropriate, to their respective representatives in the
Interim Committee.

Article 6

Agenda of the meetings

The Chairman and the Secretaries

1.
provisional agenda for each meeting not
later
working days before the beginning of the meeting.

shall draw up a
than 15

for
later

The provisional agenda shall include the items in respect of
inclusion has been received by the
which a request
the
than 21 working days before
Secretaries not
beginning of
shall not be
written into the provisional agenda unless the supporting docu-
mentation has been forwarded to the Secretaries not later than
the date of dispatch of the agenda.

the meeting,

save that

items

The agenda shall be adopted by the Interim Committee at the
beginning of each meeting. Items other than those appearing
on the provisional agenda may be included in the agenda if the
two Parties so agree.

2.
The Chairman may, in agreement with the two Parties,
shorten the time limits specified in paragraph 1 in order to
take account of the requirements of a particular case.

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Article 7

Minutes

Unless otherwise decided, the Interim Committee shall base its
deliberations on documentation prepared in these languages.

Draft minutes of each meeting shall be drawn up by the two
Secretaries. They shall indicate the decisions and recommen-
dations taken and the conclusions adopted. The draft minutes
shall be submitted to the Interim Committee for approval.
When approved,
the
Chairman and the two Secretaries and one original copy
shall be filed by each of the Parties.

the minutes

signed by

shall be

Article 8

Deliberations

The Interim Committee shall take its decisions and recommen-
dations by common agreement of the Parties.

During the inter-sessional period, the Interim Committee may
take decisions or recommendations by written procedure if
both Parties so agree.

The decisions and recommendations of the Interim Committee
within the meaning of Article 39 of the Interim Agreement
shall be entitled respectively ‘Decision’ and ‘Recommendation’
and followed by a serial number, by the date of their adoption
and by a description of their subject.

The decisions and recommendations of the Interim Committee
shall be signed by the chairman and authenticated by the two
secretaries.

The decisions
taken by the Interim Committee shall be
published by the Parties in their respective official publications.
Each Party may decide on the publication of any other act
adopted by the Interim Committee.

Article 9

Languages

The official languages of the Interim Committee shall be the
official languages of the two Parties.

Article 10

Expenses

The Community and the Republic of Croatia shall each defray
the expenses they incur by reason of their participation in the
meetings of the Interim Committee and of sub-committees,
both in respect of staff, travelling and subsistence expenditure
and of postal and telecommunications costs.

Expenditure in connection with interpretation at meetings,
translation and reproduction of documents shall be borne by
the Community, with the
in
connection with interpretation or translation into or from
Croatian, which shall be borne by the Republic of Croatia.

exception of

expenditure

Other expenditure relating to the material organisation of
meetings shall be borne by the Party which hosts the meetings.

Article 11

Subcommittees

subcommittees,

terms of
including their
The
reference, hereby established in accordance with Article 41 of
the Interim Agreement, are listed in the Annex to this Decision.

respective

The subcommittees shall be composed of representatives of
both Parties. They will be chaired alternately by the two
Parties according to the rules of the Interim Committee. They
will meet whenever circumstances require, on request of either
Party.

Subcommittees shall work under the authority of the Interim
Committee to which they shall report after each one of their
meetings. They shall not take decisions but may make recom-
mendations to the Interim Committee.

The Interim Committee may decide to abolish any existing
subcommittees, modify their terms of reference or establish
new subcommittees to assist it in carrying out its duties.

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ANNEX

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL MATTERS

Terms of reference

1. The general objectives of the subcommittee are the review of economic developments and policies as well as the
monitoring and joint analysis of economic, technical and financial cooperation in accordance with Articles 33 and
34 of the Interim Agreement, with a view to contributing to the economic development of the Republic of Croatia
and strengthening the economic links between the Republic of Croatia and the European Community.

2. The subcommittee shall deal in particular with the following specific subjects:

— Macroeconomic developments and policies in the European Community and the Republic of Croatia;

— Structural reforms including financial sector reform;

— Facilitation of the movement of capital and its progressive liberalisation;

— Statistical system.

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES

Terms of reference

1. The general objective of the subcommittee is to deal with agricultural, processed agricultural and fishery products.
The subcommittee shall monitor the implementation of the obligations of the Parties in these sectors and conduct a
joint analysis of the co-operation in agriculture in accordance with Articles 11 to 18, Annexes III, IV and V and
Protocol 3 of the Interim Agreement as well as the Wine protocol.

2. The subcommittee shall deal, in particular, with the following subjects:

— Examination of problems related to the development of the agricultural sector and agricultural policy, as well as

rural development in the Republic of Croatia and in the European Community;

— Processed agricultural products;

— Fisheries;

— Veterinary and phytosanitary matters and the examination of the possibilities of developing cooperation in this

area.

SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNAL MARKET

Terms of reference

1. The general objective of the subcommittee is the review of the legislative reform in the Republic of Croatia. The
subcommittee will establish the priorities,
identify the policies, monitor and analyse the approximation of the
Croatian legislation to Community legislation in accordance with Article 69 of the Stabilisation and Association
Agreement and Articles 35 and 36 of the Interim Agreement.

2. The subcommittee shall deal with the gradual approximation of the Croatian legislation with the Community acquis

in the sectors linked to the internal market and in particular in the following specific areas:

— Competition and State aid;

— Intellectual, industrial and commercial property rights;

— Public procurement;

— Company law;

— Accounting;

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— Data protection;

— Standardisation, certification, conformity assessment and market surveillance;

— Consumer protection.

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRADE, STEEL AND IRON PRODUCTS, CUSTOMS AND TAXATION

Terms of reference

1. The objectives of the subcommittee are the discussion and monitoring of all the questions related to the commercial
policy as well as to the cooperation in customs matters, in accordance with Articles 2 to 10 and 19 to 31, Annexes I
and II and Protocols 1, 2, 4 and 5 of the Interim Agreement.

2. The subcommittee shall deal in particular with the following issues:

— Free movement of goods: monitoring of the implementation of the obligations of the Parties and discussion of
any difficulties which might arise in the commercial regime for industrial products, including textiles and steel
and iron products;

— Trade related aspects of intellectual, industrial and commercial property rights;

— Trade related aspects of Public procurement;

— Trade related aspects of standardisation, certification, conformity assessment and market surveillance;

— Customs cooperation and discussion of all the questions related to the implementation of the rules of origin;

— Exchange of information on the compatibility and developments in the field of taxation.

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT

Terms of reference

1. The objective of the subcommittee is to monitor the implementation of the obligations of the Parties in the transport

sector in accordance with Protocol 6 of the Interim Agreement.

2. The subcommittee shall deal in particular with the following issues:

— Discussion of any questions which might arise in the implementation of the agreement with regard to freedom of

transit;

— Establishment of a system of ecopoints in accordance with Article 2 of Protocol 6 of the Interim Agreement.