2004/405/EC:Decision No 2/2004 of the Community/Switzerland Air Transport Committee of 22 April 2004 adopting its rules of procedure
Date: 2004-04-22
Institutions: EC–Switzerland Joint Committee
Subjects: agreement (EU), air transport, joint body (EU), rules of procedure

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DECISION No 2/2004 

OF THE COMMUNITY/SWITZERLAND AIR TRANSPORT COMMITTEE 

of 22 April 2004 

adopting its rules of procedure 
(2004/405/EC) 

THE COMMUNITY/SWITZERLAND AIR TRANSPORT COMMITTEE, 

Having regard to the Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation 
on Air Transport, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Agreement’, and in particular Article 21(3) thereof, 

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS: 

Sole Article 

The rules of procedure of the Joint Committee annexed to this decision are hereby adopted. 

Done at Brussels, 22April 2004. 

For the Joint Committee 
The Head of the Community Delegation 
Enrico Grillo PASQUARELLI 

The Head of the Swiss Delegation 
Dante MARTINELLI 

 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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ANNEX 

Rules of procedure of the Community/Switzerland Air Transport Committee 

Article 1 
Chair 

The Chair of the Committee shall be held in turn for a period of one calendar year by a 
representative  of  the  Commission  of  the  European  Communities,  on  behalf  of  the 
European  Community,  hereinafter  referred  to  as  "the  Community",  and  by  a 
representative of the Swiss Confederation. It shall be held by Switzerland during the year 
of entry into force of the Agreement. 

The head of delegation of the party which holds the Chair or, where appropriate, his or 
her alternate, shall be Chair of the Committee. 

Article 2 
Delegations 

Before  each  meeting,  the  heads  of  delegation  shall  inform  the  Chair  of  the  intended 
composition of their delegation. 

The Parties shall appoint the heads of delegation who, outside the meetings, are to be the 
contact persons for all matters relating to the Agreement. 

The Chair, in agreement with the other head of delegation, may invite persons who are 
not members of the delegations to take part in a meeting of the Committee in order to 
provide information on specific subjects. 

The  parties  shall  inform  each  other,  at  least  one  week  before  the  meeting,  of  the 
composition of their delegation. 

Article 3 
Secretariat 

A  representative  of  the  Commission  and  a  representative  of  the  Swiss  Confederation 
shall  jointly  provide  the  Secretariat  for  the  Committee.  The  Secretaries  shall  be 
designated  by  their  respective  head  of  delegation  and  shall  continue  to  perform  their 
duties until a new Secretary is appointed. Each party shall send the name and address of 
its Secretary to the other party. 

The  Secretaries  shall  be  responsible  for  communication  between  the  delegations, 
including  the  transmission  of  documents,  and  shall  supervise  the  duties  performed  by 
the Secretariat. 

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2. 

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2. 

3. 

4. 

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2. 

 
 
 
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3. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

The Secretariat to the Committee shall be under the direction of the party which holds 
the Chair. 

Article 4 
Meetings of the Committee 

The  Committee  shall  meet  at  least  once  a  year.  It  shall  be  convened  by  the  Chair.  The 
Chair may also convene the Committee at the request of the head of the other delegation. 

The  Chair  shall  draw  up  the  draft  agenda  and  fix  the  date  and  place  of  the  meeting  in 
agreement with the head of the other delegation. 

The  Chair  shall  send  the  notice  of  meeting,  together  with  the  draft  agenda  and  the 
documents for the meeting, to the head of the other delegation no later than 15 working 
days before the meeting. 

One of the two heads of delegation may ask the Chair to shorten the period indicated in 
paragraph 3 in order to take account of the urgency of a particular matter. 

Meetings  of  the  Committee  shall  not  be  public,  unless  decided  otherwise  by  the  Chair, 
with the agreement of the other head of delegation. 

Depending  on  who  holds  the  Chair,  the  Committee  shall  meet  in  Brussels  or  Berne, 
unless the parties agree on another meeting place. 

By joint agreement between the Chair and the other head of delegation, the meeting may 
also  be  held  by  telephone  or  video  conference.  In  this  case,  the  instruments  of  the 
Committee  shall  be  adopted  by  written  procedure,  in  accordance  with  Article 7(5), 
mutatis mutandis. 

Article 5 
Agenda 

The Chair shall draw up the provisional agenda for each meeting. 

The heads of delegation may propose one or more additional items to be included in the 
agenda  at  the  latest  24 hours  before  the  meeting  is  due  to  begin.  Any  request  for 
additional  items  to  be  included  in  the  agenda  must  be  duly  substantiated  and  sent  in 
writing to the Chair or to the head of the other delegation. 

At the beginning of the meeting, the Chair and the other head of delegation shall approve 
the agenda. 

 
 
 
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1. 

2. 

3. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

1. 

Article 6 
Working parties 

The composition and functioning of the working parties or groups of experts set up in 
accordance  with  Article 21(5)  of  the  Agreement  shall  be  agreed,  mutatis  mutandis,  in 
accordance with the rules applicable to the Committee. 

The  working  parties  or  groups  of  experts  shall  work  under  the  authority  of  the 
Committee,  to  which  they  shall  report  after  each  of  their  meetings.  They  are  not 
authorised  to  take  decisions  but  may  make  recommendations  for  the  Committee's 
attention. 

The Committee may decide to terminate or to amend the mandate of the working parties 
or groups of experts. 

Article 7 
Adoption of instruments 

The  recommendations  and  decisions  of  the  Committee  within  the  meaning  of 
Article 21(1)  of  the  Agreement  shall  be  adopted  by  consensus  between  the  two 
delegations.  They  shall  be  entitled  "recommendation"  or  "decision",  followed  by  a 
sequential number, the date of adoption and an indication as to the subject. 

The decisions and recommendations of the Committee shall be covered by the signature 
of the Chair and the head of delegation of the party which does not hold the Chair. An 
original copy shall be kept by each of the parties. 

Each party may decide to publish any instrument adopted by the Committee. 

The instruments of the Committee may be adopted by written procedure if the two heads 
of delegation so agree. 

The party which proposes use of the written procedure shall submit the draft instrument 
to  the  other  party.  The  other  party  shall  reply  indicating  whether  or  not  it  accepts  the 
draft,  whether  it  proposes  any  changes  to  the  draft,  and  whether  it  requests  additional 
time  to  consider  it.  If  the  draft  is  adopted,  the  Chair  shall  finalise  the  decision  or  the 
recommendation in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2 above. 

Article 8 
Minutes 

The Secretariat shall draw up draft minutes of each meeting. The draft shall indicate the 
decisions taken, the recommendations made and the conclusions adopted. The minutes 
shall  be  signed  by  the  Chair  and  by  the  head  of  the  other  delegation.  An  original  copy 
shall be held by each party. 

 
 
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2. 

The draft minutes shall be drawn up within ten working days of the end of the meeting 
and shall be submitted for the approval of the Chair and the head of the other delegation 
by written procedure. If this procedure is not completed, the minutes shall be adopted by 
the Committee at its next meeting. 

Article 9 
Confidentiality 

The Committee's deliberations shall be confidential. 

Article 10 
Expenses 

1. 

2. 

Each party shall bear any expenses it incurs relating to its participation in the meetings of 
the Committee and of the working parties or groups of experts. 

The  Committee  shall  agree  on  the  breakdown  of  expenses  relating  to  any  missions 
assigned to experts. 

Article 11 
Correspondence 

All correspondence to or from the Chair of the Committee shall be sent to the Secretariat of the 
Committee. The Secretariat shall send a copy of all correspondence concerning the Agreement to 
the heads of delegation and to the Swiss Mission to the European Communities.