Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union within the Cooperation Committee set up by the Agreement on Partnership and Cooperation establishing a partnership between the European Communities and their Members States, of one part, and the Russian Federation of the other part, of 24 June 1994 as regards the establishment of a list of conciliators
Date: 2012-10-17
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Russia, appointment of members, cooperation agreement (EU), import (EU), international commercial arbitration, motor vehicle industry, originating product, protocol to an agreement, trade dispute, wood industry

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 17.10.2012  
COM(2012) 593 final 

2012/0287 (NLE) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL DECISION 

on the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union within the Cooperation 
Committee set up by the Agreement on Partnership and Cooperation establishing a 
partnership between the European Communities and their Members States, of one part, 
and the Russian Federation of the other part, of 24 June 1994 as regards the 
establishment of a list of conciliators  

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 

In the context of the process of the accession of the Russian Federation to the World Trade 
Organisation,  the  European  Union  and  the  Russian  Federation  negotiated  and  signed  a 
bilateral  Agreement,  in  the  form  of  an  Exchange  of  Letters  and  a  protocol  on  technical 
modalities relating to the administration of tariff rate quotas applying to exports of wood from 
the  Russian  Federation  to  the  Union  (hereinafter  referred  to  as  the  "Protocol")  and  an 
Agreement  on  trade  in  parts  and  components  of  motor  vehicles  between  the  Union  and  the 
Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the "Agreement"). 

Article 25 of the Protocol and Article 12 of the Agreement provide for the application of the 
dispute  settlement  procedures  established  in  the  Decision  to  the  Cooperation  Council 
established  by 
the  European 
the  Partnership  and  Cooperation  Agreement  between 
Communities,  and  their  Member  States,  of  the  one  part,  and  the  Russian  Federation,  of  the 
other  part,  of  24  July  1994  (hereinafter  referred  to  as  the  "Partnership  Agreement"),  to 
establish rules of procedure for the settlement of disputes under that Agreement, adopted on 7 
April  2004  (hereinafter  referred  to  as  the  "Decision  of  the  Cooperation  Council  on  Dispute 
Settlement"). 

Paragraph 1 of Article 4 of that Decision provides for the establishment by the Parties in the 
framework of the Cooperation Committee established under the Partnership Agreement, of an 
indicative list of conciliators for the settlement of disputes. 

In order to ensure the effective operation of the dispute settlement mechanisms provided for 
in  Article  25  of  the  Protocol  and  Article  12  of  the  Agreement,  the  Commission  and  the 
Government of the Russian Federation agreed on the names of 15 individuals to be placed on 
the  list  of  conciliators  as  provided  in  the  Decision  of  the  Cooperation  Council  on  Dispute 
Settlement.  

2. 

RESULTS OF CONSULTATIONS WITH THE INTERESTED PARTIES AND 
IMPACT ASSESSMENTS 

The attached proposal constitutes the proposal for a legal  instrument approving the position 
that the European Union will be taking in the Cooperation Committee on the above issue. 

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2012/0287 (NLE) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL DECISION 

on the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union within the Cooperation 
Committee set up by the Agreement on Partnership and Cooperation establishing a 
partnership between the European Communities and their Members States, of one part, 
and the Russian Federation of the other part, of 24 June 1994 as regards the 
establishment of a list of conciliators  

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union,  and  in  particular 
Article 207(4) in conjunction with Article 218(9) thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

Pursuant  to  Article  4  of  the  Decision  of  the  Cooperation  Council  established  by  the 
Agreement  on  Partnership  and  Cooperation  establishing  a  partnership  between  the 
European  Communities  and  their  Member  States,  of  one  part,  and  the  Russian 
Federation of the other part, of 24 June 19941, to establish rules of procedure for the 
settlement  of  disputes  under  that  Agreement  adopted  on  7  April  2004  (hereinafter 
referred  to  as  the  "Decision  of  the  Cooperation  Council  on  Dispute  Settlement")  an 
indicative list of up to 15 individuals to serve as conciliators is to be established by the 
Cooperation Committee. 

The  Protocol  between  the  European  Union  and  the  Government  of  the  Russian 
Federation  on  technical  modalities  pursuant  to  the  Agreement  in  the  form  of  an 
Exchange of Letters between the European Union and the Government of the Russian 
Federation  relating  to  the  administration  of  tariff  rate  quotas  applying  to  export  of 
wood from the Russian Federation2 to the European Union (hereinafter referred to as 
the "Protocol") is provisionally applied from the date of the accession of Russia to the 
World Trade Organisation, pending its entry into force.. 

The  Agreement  between  the  European  Union  and  the  Government  of  the  Russian 
Federation on trade in parts and components of motor vehicles between the European 
Union  and  the  Russian  Federation3  (hereinafter  referred  to  as  "the  Agreement")  is 
provisionally  applied  from  the  date  of  the  accession  of  Russia  to  the  World  Trade 
Organisation, pending its entry into force. 

1 
2 
3 

OJ L 327, 28.11.1997, p. 3. 
OJ L 57, 29.2.2012, p. 3. 
OJ L 57, 29.2.2012, p. 15. 

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(4) 

(5) 

(6) 

Pursuant to Article 25 of the Protocol and Article 12 of the Agreement, disputes may 
be  submitted  to  a  conciliation  panel  pursuant  to  Article  3  of  the  Decision  of  the 
Cooperation Council on Dispute Settlement. 

The  Commission  and  the  Government  of  the  Russian  Federation  have  agreed  on  the 
names of 15 individuals to be placed on the indicative list of conciliators. 

Accordingly, it is necessary to establish the position to be taken on behalf of the Union 
in the Cooperation Committee, 

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:  

The position to be taken by the European Union in the Cooperation Committee shall be based 
on the draft Decision of that body attached to this Decision. 

Article 1 

After  its  adoption,  the  Decision  of  the  Cooperation  Committee  shall  be  published  in  the 
Official Journal of the European Union.  

Article 2 

Article 3 

This Decision shall enter into force on the day of its adoption. 

Done at Brussels,  

For the Council 
The President 

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ANNEX I 

DRAFT DECISION No 1 OF THE EU-RUSSIA COOPERATION COMMITTEE 

of ….. 2012 

on the establishment of a list of conciliators referred to in Article 4 of the Decision of the 
Cooperation Council on Dispute Settlement of 7 April 2004 

THE COOPERATION COMMITTEE, 

Having  regard  to,  Article  4  of  the  Decision  of  the  Cooperation  Council  established  by  the 
Agreement on Partnership and Cooperation establishing a partnership between the European 
Communities and their Member States, of one part, and the Russian Federation, of the other 
part,  to  establish  rules  of  procedure  for  the  settlement  of  disputes  under  that  Agreement, 
adopted on 7 April 2004, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

Pursuant to Article 4 of the Decision of the Cooperation Council established by the 
Agreement  on  Partnership  and  Cooperation  establishing  a  partnership  between  the 
European  Communities  and  their  Member  States,  of  one  part,  and  the  Russian 
Federation,  of  the  other  part,  to  establish  rules  of  procedure  for  the  settlement  of 
disputes under that Agreement, adopted on 7 April 2004, the Cooperation Committee 
shall establish an indicative list of up to 15 individuals who are willing and able to 
serve as conciliators. 

Article  12  of  the  Agreement  on  trade  in  parts  and  components  of  motor  vehicles 
between  the  European  Union  and  the  Russian  Federation,  signed  in  Geneva  on  16 
December  2011,  and  Article  25  of  the  Protocol  on  technical  modalities  pursuant  to 
the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Union 
and the Government of the Russian Federation relating to the administration of tariff 
rate quotas applying to export of wood from the Russian Federation to the European 
Union,  both  signed  by  the  European  Union  and  the  Government  of  the  Russian 
Federation in Geneva on 16 December 2011, provide that disputes may be submitted 
to  a  conciliation  panel  pursuant  to  Article  3  of  the  Decision  of  the  Cooperation 
Council on Dispute Settlement 

(3) 

The Parties have agreed on a list of 15 names, 

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: 

The list of 15 conciliators is set out in the Annex to this Decision. 

Article 1 

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Article 2 

This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption. 

Done on ……….. 

For the European Union 

For the Russian Federation 

For the Cooperation Committee 

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Annex 

List of conciliators 

Conciliators proposed by the EU: 

Bourgeois, Jacques. 

Ehlermann, Claus –Dieter. 

Kuijper, Pieter Jan. 

Sacerdoti, Giorgio. 

Torrent, Ramon. 

Conciliators proposed by the Russian Federation: 

Komarov, Alexander 

Makovsky, Alexander 

Martynov, Anatoly 

Shumilov, Vladimir 

Velyaminov, Georgy 

Chairpersons: 

Luzius Wasescha (Switzerland) 

Crawford Falconer (New Zealand) 

Christan Haberli (Switzerland) 

Paul Richard O'Connor (Australia) 

Helge Seland (Norway)  

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