Agreement between the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation on the Security of Information
Date: 2003-03-14
Institutions: European Union, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Subjects: NATO, agreement (EU), confidentiality, data protection, exchange of information, information security, limited circulation

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Official Journal of the European Union

27.3.2003

AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANISATION
ON THE SECURITY OF INFORMATION

The European Union, hereafter the EU,

represented by the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, acting on the basis of Article 24 of the Treaty on
the European Union,

His Excellency Mr Georgios A. Papandreou, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic

and

the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, hereafter NATO,

represented by the Secretary-General of NATO,

the Rt. Hon. Lord Robertson of Port Ellen

Hereinafter referred to as the Parties,

Considering the ‘North Atlantic Treaty’ signed at Washington on 4 April 1949;

Considering the Treaty on the European Union done in Maastricht on 7 February 1992, as subsequently amended;

Considering the ‘Agreement between the Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty for the Security of Information’ done at
Brussels on 6 March 1997;

Considering that the Ministerial Meeting of the North Atlantic Council held in Florence on 24 May 2000 tasked the
Secretary-General of NATO to immediately initiate contacts with the EU and to prepare the ground for the future
security arrangements between the two Parties in anticipation of the envisaged consultations on this matter;

Considering that, following the decisions taken by the Heads of State and Government of NATO Member States at
Washington and subsequent Ministerial Meetings and by the European Council at Feira, Nice, Göteborg and Laeken,
NATO and the EU agree that consultations and cooperation will be developed on questions of common interest relating
to security, defence and crisis management, so that crises can be met with the most appropriate military response and
effective crisis management ensured;

Considering that the EU objectives in the field of military capabilities and those arising, for those countries concerned,
from NATO's defence capabilities initiative are mutually reinforcing;

Recognising that full and effective consultation and cooperation may require access to EU and NATO classified informa-
tion and material, as well as the exchange of classified information and related material between the EU and NATO;

Conscious that such access to and exchange of classified information and related material requires appropriate security
measures;

Noting the Interim Security Arrangement between the General Secretariat of the EU Council and the North Atlantic
Treaty Organisation through an Exchange of Letters between their respective Secretaries-General dated 26 July 2000,

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Article 3

The present Agreement applies to classified information or
material in any form either provided or exchanged between the
Parties.

Article 2

Classified information is defined as any information (namely,
knowledge that can be communicated in any form) or material
determined to require protection against unauthorised disclo-
sure and which has been so designated by a security classifica-
tion.

For the purposes of the implementation of the present Agree-
ment:

(a) ‘NATO’ shall mean the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation;

(b) ‘EU’ shall mean the Council of the European Union, the
Secretary-General/High Representative and the General
Secretariat of this Council, and the Commission of the
European Communities (hereafter ‘European Commission’).

Article 4

Each Party shall:

(a) protect and safeguard classified information or material
subject to the present Agreement provided or exchanged by
the other Party;

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(b) ensure that classified information or material subject to the
present Agreement provided or exchanged keeps
the
security classification given to it by the providing Party.
The receiving Party shall protect and safeguard the classified
information or material according to the provisions set out
in its own security regulations for information or material
holding an equivalent security classification, as specified in
the Security Arrangements to be established pursuant to
Articles 11 and 12;

(c) not use such information or material subject to the present
Agreement for purposes other than those established by the
originator and those for which the information is provided
or exchanged;

(d) not disclose such information or material subject to the
present Agreement to third parties, and to any EU institu-
tion or entity not mentioned in Article 3 or to States not
mentioned in Article 5(a), without the consent of the origi-
nator.

or above, provided or exchanged under the present Agree-
ment are appropriately security cleared before they are
granted access to such information and materials.

(b) The security clearance procedures shall be designed to
determine whether an individual may, taking into account
his or her loyalty,
trustworthiness and reliability, have
access to classified information or material.

Article 8

The Parties shall provide mutual assistance with regard to
security of classified information or material subject to the
present Agreement and matters of common security interest.
Reciprocal security consultations shall be conducted by the
authorities as defined in Article 11 to assess the effectiveness of
the Security Arrangements within their respective responsibility
to be established pursuant to Articles 11 and 12.

Article 5

Article 9

(a) Classified information or material disclosed or released, in
accordance with the principle of originator control, by one
Party, ‘the providing Party’, to the other Party, ‘the receiving
Party’, may be disclosed or released to States which are
members of NATO, and to other States which are members
of the EU and have subscribed to the ‘Partnership for Peace’
framework document and,
in that context, have a valid
security agreement with NATO that also meets the stan-
dards established pursuant to Articles 11 and 12.

(b) For release to recipients other than those mentioned in
Article 3 and Article 5(a), a decision on disclosure or
release of classified information or material will be made by
the receiving Party following the consent of the providing
Party, in accordance with the principle of originator control
as defined in the providing Party's Security Regulations.

(c) In implementing (a) and (b) above, no generic release is
permissible unless procedures have been established and
agreed between the Parties regarding certain categories of
information, relevant to their operational requirements.

Article 6

Each of the entities of the Parties, as defined in Article 3 of the
present Agreement, shall have a security organisation and
security programmes, based upon such basic principles and
minimum standards of security which shall be implemented in
the security systems of the Parties to be established pursuant to
Articles 11 and 12, to ensure that an equivalent level of protec-
tion is applied to classified information or material subject to
the present Agreement.

(a) For the purpose of the present Agreement

(i) as regards the EU:

all correspondence shall be sent to the Council at the
following address:
Council of the European Union
Chief Registry Officer
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, 175
B-1048 Brussels.

All correspondence shall be forwarded by the Chief
Registry Officer of the Council to the Member States
and to the Commission subject to paragraph (b) and in
accordance with Article 5(a).

(ii) as regards NATO:

to the Secretary-
all correspondence shall be sent
General acting in the name of
the North Atlantic
Council at the following address (or such addresses as
may be notified to the other Party):
NATO Headquarters
B-1110 Brussels.

that Party may,

(b) Exceptionally, correspondence from one Party which is
only accessible to specific competent officials, organs or
services of
for operational reasons, be
addressed and only be accessible to specific competent offi-
cials, organs or services of the other Party specifically desig-
nated as recipients, taking into account their competencies
and according to the need to know principle. Such corre-
spondence will be accessible to the Member States of the
two organisations defined in Article 5(a), if they so request.
As far as the European Union is concerned, this correspon-
dence shall be transmitted through the Chief Registry
Officer of the Council.

Article 7

Article 10

(a) The Parties shall ensure that all persons of their respective
organisation who,
in the conduct of their official duties
require access, or whose duties or functions may afford
access, to information or material classified CONFIDENTIAL

The Secretaries-General of the Council of the European Union,
of the European Commission and of NATO shall oversee the
implementation of the present Agreement.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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Article 11

In order to implement the present Agreement:

(a) the EU Council General Secretariat Security Office (herein-
after ‘GSC Security Office’), under the direction and on
behalf of the Secretary-General of the EU Council, acting in
the name of the EU Council and under its authority is
responsible for developing Security Arrangements for the
protection and safeguarding of classified information or
material provided to or exchanged with the EU under the
present Agreement;

(b) the European Commission Security Office, acting under the
authority of the member of the Commission responsible for
security matters,
is responsible for developing Security
Arrangements for the protection within the Commission of
classified information subject to the present Agreement;

(c) the NATO Office of Security (NOS), under the direction
and on behalf of the Secretary-General of NATO and the
Chairman, NATO Military Committee, acting in the name
the North Atlantic Council and the NATO Military
of
Committee and under their authority,
is responsible for
developing Security Arrangements for the protection and
safeguarding of classified information or material provided
to or exchanged with NATO under the present Agreement.

Article 12

For the preparation of their Security Arrangements, the GSC
Security Office, the European Commission Security Office and
the NATO ‘Office of Security’ shall agree on standards of the
reciprocal security protection for classified information and
material subject to this Agreement. At NATO, these standards
shall be subject to approval by the NATO Security Committee.
At the EU, these standards shall be subject to the approval by
the Council Security Committee.

Article 13

The Authorities defined in Article 11 shall establish procedures
to be followed in the case of proven or suspected compromise
of classified information or material subject
to the present
Agreement.

Article 14

Prior to the provision or exchange of classified information or
material subject to the present Agreement between the Parties,
the responsible security authorities defined in Article 11 must

agree that the receiving Party is able to protect and safeguard
the information or material subject to the present Agreement
in a way consistent with the arrangements to be established
pursuant to Articles 11 and 12.

Article 15

The present Agreement in no way prevents the Parties from
making other Agreements with third Parties relating to the
provision or exchange of classified information or material
subject to the present Agreement provided that they do not
conflict with the provisions of the present Agreement.

Article 16

The present Agreement shall enter into force on the date on
which the Parties have signed it.

The present Agreement may be reviewed for consideration of
possible amendments at the request of either Party.

Any amendment to the present Agreement shall only be made
in writing and shall be signed by each of the Parties to the
present Agreement.

Article 17

The present Agreement may be denounced by one Party by
written notice of denunciation given to the other Party. Such
denunciation shall take effect six months after receipt of notifi-
cation by the other Party, but shall not affect obligations
already contracted under the provisions of the present Agree-
In particular, all classified information or material
ment.
provided or exchanged pursuant to the present Agreement shall
continue to be protected in accordance with the provisions set
forth herein.

Article 18

The present Agreement
Interim Security
Arrangement concluded between the General Secretariat of the
Council of the EU and NATO through an Exchange of Letters
dated 26 July 2000.

supersedes

the

In witness whereof
authorised, have signed the present Agreement.

the undersigned,

respectively

duly

Done at Athens, this

day of

2003 in two copies each in both the English and

French languages, each text being equally authoritative.

For the European Union

For the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

Georgios A. PAPANDREOU

George ROBERTSON