Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

No C 317 / 8 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 28 . 11 . 95

AGREEMENT

for scientific and technological cooperation between the European Community and Canada

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION on behalf of the European Community,

of the one part, and

THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA, of the other part,

hereinafter referred to as the ' Parties ';

Considering the importance of science and technology for their economic and social development ;

Recognizing that the European Community, hereinafter referred to as ' the Community ', and Canada, are
pursuing research and technological programmes in a number of areas of common interest, and that
mutual benefits may be derived if the Parties facilitate further cooperation ;

Noting that there has been active cooperation and information exchange in a number of scientific or
technological areas under the European Communities-Canada Framework Agreement for Commercial and
Economic Cooperation signed in 1976 ;

Having regard to the Declaration on European Community-Canada Relations adopted on 22 November

1990, and

Desiring to establish a formal basis for cooperation in scientific and technological research which will
extend and strengthen the conduct of cooperative activities in areas of common interest and encourage the
application of the results of such cooperation to their economic and social benefit,

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS :

Article 1 stemming from the joint research, and any other

information deemed necessary by the participants

Purpose engaged in cooperative activity, including, where

The purpose of this Agreement is to encourage and necessary, the Parties themselves ;
facilitate cooperation between the Community and
Canada in fields of common interest where the Parties
are supporting research and development activities to
advance science and / or technology relevant to those ( c ) ' intellectual property ' shall have the meaning defined
fields of interest . in Article 2 of the Convention the World

Article 1

Purpose

( c ) ' intellectual property ' shall have the meaning defined

in Article 2 of the Convention establishing the World
Intellectual Property Organization, done at
Stockholm, 14 July 1967 ;

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Agreement :

( d ) ' joint research ' means research that is financially

supported by either or by both Parties and that
involves collaboration by participants from both the
Community and Canada ;

( a ) ' cooperative activity ' means any activity carried on

under this Agreement, and includes joint research ;

( e ) ' participant ' means any person, legal entity,
university, research institute or any other body or
( b ) ' information ' means scientific or technical data, undertaking participating in a cooperative activity,
results or methods of research and development including the Parties themselves .

28.11.95 | EN 1 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 317 / 9

Article 3

Article 3 research institutions, and other bodies or under ­

takings, in research projects of the Community or

Principles Canada, in accordance with the procedures in

force for each Party ;
Cooperation shall be conducted on the basis of the
following principles :

Principles

2 . shared use of research facilities ;
( a ) mutual benefit ;

( b ) timely exchange of information which may affect the

actions of participants in cooperative activities ;

( c ) within the framework of applicable laws and regu ­

lations, effective protection of intellectual property
and equitable sharing of intellectual property rights,
as set out in the Annex, which forms an integral part
of this Agreement ;

( d ) balanced realization of economic and social benefits

by the Community and Canada in view of the
contributions made to cooperative activities by the
respective participants and / or Parties .

Article 4

Areas of cooperation

( a ) Cooperation may be pursued in the following areas :

3 . visits and exchanges of scientists, engineers or

other appropriate personnel for the purposes of
participating in seminars, symposia and
workshops relevant to cooperation under this
Agreement ;

4 . exchange of information on practices, laws, regu ­

lations and programmes relevant to cooperation
under this Agreement ;

5 . other activities as may be mutually determined by

the Joint Science and Technology Cooperation
Committee in accordance with the applicable
policies and programmes of the Parties .

( b ) Joint research projects shall proceed under this

Agreement only after the participants in a project

have concluded a Joint Technology Management
Plan, as indicated in the Annex to this Agreement .

1 . agriculture, including fisheries ;
Article 6

2 . medical and health research ;

3 . non-nuclear energy ;

4 . environment, including earth observation ;

5 . forestry ;

6 . information technologies ;

7 . communication technologies ;

8 . telematics for economic and social development ;

9 . mineral processing ;

( b ) Other areas may be added to this list upon review

and recommendation by the Joint Science and Tech ­
nology Cooperation Committee and subject to
decisions in accordance with procedures in force for
each Party .

Article 5

Modalities of cooperation

( a ) Cooperation may include the following activities :

1 . participation of persons and legal entities,
including the Parties themselves, universities,

Joint Science and Technology Cooperation Committee

( JSTCC )

( a ) This Agreement shall be administered by a Joint

Science and Technology Cooperation Committee
composed of representatives of each Party .

( b ) The functions of the JSTCC shall be to :

1 . promote and review the activities envisaged under

the Agreement ;

2 . make recommendations pursuant to Article 4 ( b );

3 . authorize activities falling under Article 5 ( a . 5 ) as

being cooperation to which this Agreement
applies ;

4 . advise the Parties on ways to enhance cooperation

consistent with the principles set out in this
Agreement ;

5 . provide a report annually to the Parties on the

level, status and effectiveness of cooperation
undertaken under this Agreement ;

6 . review the efficient and effective functioning of

the Agreement .

No C 317 / 10 fENl Official Journal of the European Communities 28 . 11 . 95

( c ) The JSTCC shall meet approximately once a year,

meetings being held alternately in the Community
and Canada . Other meetings may be held as
mutually agreed .

( d ) Decisions of the JSTCC shall be reached by
consensus . Minutes, comprising a record of the
decisions and principal points discussed, shall be
taken at each meeting . These minutes shall be agreed
by those persons selected from each side to jointly
chair the meetings . The JSTCC annual report shall
be made available to the Joint Cooperation
Committee established under the 1976 European
Communities-Canada Framework Agreement for
Commercial and Economic Cooperation and appro ­
priate Ministers of each Party .

Article 7

Funding

( a ) Cooperative activities shall be subject to the avail ­

ability of funds and to the applicable laws and regu ­
lations, policies and programs of the Community and
Canada .

Framework Agreement for Commercial and
Economic Cooperation governing existing science
and technology collaboration .

( b ) The Parties shall endeavour to bring under the terms

of this Agreement those existing arrangements for
scientific and technological cooperation between the
Community and Canada that fall under the scope of
Article 4 .

( c ) Subject to paragraph 10 ( a ), this Agreement is
without prejudice to other existing Agreements or

arrangements between the Parties or any Agreement
or arrangement between the Parties and third parties .

Article 11

Territorial application

This Agreement shall apply, on the one hand to the terri ­
tories in which the Treaty establishing the European
Community is applied and under the conditions laid
down in that Treaty and, on the other hand to the
territory of Canada .

( b ) Costs incurred by participants in cooperative
activities subject to this Agreement shall not require
any transfer of funds from one Party to the other . Article 12

Entry into force and termination

Article 8

Entry of personnel and equipment

Each Party shall take all reasonable steps and use its best
efforts, within existing laws and regulations, to facilitate
entry to and exit from its territory of personnel, material
and equipment of the participant(s ) engaged in or used
in cooperative activities under this Agreement .

Article 9

Dissemination and utilization of information

The dissemination and utilization of information, and
the management, allocation and exercise of intellectual
property rights, resulting from joint research under this
Agreement, shall be subject to the requirements of the
Annex to this Agreement .

( a ) This Agreement shall enter into force on the date on

which the Parties have notified each other in writing
that their legal requirements for entry into force of
this Agreement have been fulfilled .

( b ) This Agreement may be amended by agreement of

the Parties . Amendments shall enter into force on the

date on which the Parties have notified each other in
writing that their legal requirements have been
fulfilled .

( c ) This Agreement may be terminated at any time by

either Party upon 12 months written notice . The
expiration or termination of this Agreement shall not
affect the validity or duration of any arrangements
made under it, or any specific rights and obligations
that have accrued in compliance with the Annex .

Article 10 Article 13

Other agreements and transitional provisions

( a ) This Agreement shall supersede and replace those

provisions of the European Communities-Canada

This Agreement is drawn up in duplicate in the Danish,

Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian,
Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish languages, each of
these texts being equally authentic .

28.11.95 1 EN I Official Journal of the European Communities No C 317 / 11

Hecho en Halifax, el diecisiete de junio de mil novecientos noventa y cinco .

Udfærdiget i Halifax den syttende juni nitten hundrede og femoghalvfems .

Geschehen zu Halifax am siebzehnten Juni neunzehnhundertfünfundneunzig .

Έγινε στο Χάλιφαξ, στις δέκα εφτά Ιουνίου χίλια εννιακόσια ενενήντα πέντε .

Done at Halifax on the seventeenth day of June in the year one thousand nine hundred and
ninety-five .

Fait à Halifax, le dix-sept juin mil neuf cent quatre-vingt-quinze .

Fatto a Halifax, addì diciassette giugno millenovecentonovantacinque .

Gedaan te Halifax, de zeventiende juni negentienhonderd vijfennegentig .

Feito em Halifax, em dezassete de Junho de mil novecentos e noventa e cinco .

Tehty Halifaxissa seitsemäntenätoista päivänä kesäkuuta vuonna tuhatyhdeksänsataayhdeksän ­
kymmentäviisi .

Utfärdat i Halifax den sjuttonde juni nittonhundranittiofem .

No C 317 / 12 [ EN Official Journal of the European Communities 28 . 11 . 95

Por la Comunidad Europea

For Det Europæiske Fællesskab

Für die Europäische Gemeinschaft

rta την Ευρωπαϊκή Κοινότητα

For the European Community

Pour la Communauté européenne

Per la Comunità europea

Voor de Europese Gemeenschap

Pela Comunidade Europeia

Euroopan yhteisön puolesta

På Europeiska gemenskapens vägnar

Por el Gobierno de Canadá

For Canadas regering

Für die Regierung Kanadas

Για την Κυβέρνηση του Καναδά

For the Government of Canada

Pour Ie gouvernement du Canada

Per il governo del Canada

Voor de Regering van Canada

Pelo Governo do Canadá

Kanadan hallituksen puolesta

På Canadas regerings vägnar

28.11.95 [ EN I Official Journal of the European Communities No C 317 / 13

ANNEX

ANNEX ON THE DISSEMINATION AND UTILIZATION OF INFORMATION AND

MANAGEMENT, ALLOCATION AND EXERCISE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

I. OWNERSHIP, ALLOCATION AND EXERCISE OF RIGHTS

1 . All research carried out pursuant to this Agreement shall be ' joint research '. The participants

performing the joint research shall develop Joint Technology Management Plans ( JTMPs ) which
shall contain, as a minimum, principles in respect of the ownership and use, including publication,
of information and intellectual property ( IP ) to be created in the course of the joint research (').
The JTMPs may be reviewed by the Parties and shall be approved by the responsible funding
agency or department of the Party involved in financing the research, before the conclusion of any
specific research and development cooperation contracts to which they refer . The JTMPs shall be
developed taking into account the aims of the joint research, the relative contributions of the
participants, the advantages and disadvantages of licensing by territory or for fields of use,
requirements imposed by applicable laws, the need for dispute settlement procedures and other
factors deemed appropriate by the participants . The rights and obligations concerning the research
and information generated by visiting researchers in respect of IP shall also be addressed in the
JTMPs .

2 . Information or IP created in the course of joint research and not addressed in a JTMP shall be

allocated following the procedures set out in 1.1 according to the principles set out in that JTMP . In
case of disagreement, which cannot be resolved by the agreed dispute resolution procedure, such
unallocated information or IP shall be owned jointly by all the participants involved in the joint
research from which the information or IP results, and each participant to whom this provision
applies shall have the right to use such information or IP for his / her own commercial exploitation
with no geographical limitation .

3 . In accordance with applicable laws, each Party shall ensure that the other Party and its participants

may have the rights to IP allocated to them in accordance with the principles set out in Section I of
this Annex .

4 . While maintaining the conditions of competition in areas affected by the Agreement, each Party

shall endeavour to ensure that rights acquired pursuant to the Agreement, and arrangements made
under it, are exercised in such a way as to encourage in particular :

( i ) the dissemination and use of information created, disclosed, or otherwise made available, under

the Agreement ;

( ii ) the adoption and implementation of international standards .

II . COPYRIGHT WORKS

Copyright belonging to the Parties or to their participants shall be accorded treatment consistent with
the Berne Convention ( Paris Act 1971 ).

III . SCIENTIFIC LITERARY WORKS

Without prejudice to Section IV, unless otherwise agreed in the JTMP, any publication of results of

the joint research shall be made jointly by the participants . In addition to the foregoing general rule,
the following procedure shall apply :

1 . In the case of publication by a Party or public bodies of that Party of scientific and technical

journals, articles, reports, books, including video and software, arising from joint research pursuant
to the Agreement, the other Party shall be entitled, with written permission from the publisher, to a
worldwide, non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free licence to translate, reproduce, adapt, transmit

and publicly distribute such works .

(') The indicative features of such JTMPs are set out in Appendix .

No C 317 / 14 fEN | Official Journal of the European Communities 28 . 11 . 95

2 . The Parties shall endeavour to disseminate literary works of a scientific character arising from joint

research pursuant to the Agreement and published by independent publishers as widely as possible .

3 . All copies of a copyright work to be publicly distributed and prepared under this provision shall

indicate the names of the author(s ) of the work unless an author or authors expressly declines or
decline to be named . Copies shall also bear a clearly visible acknowledgement of the cooperative
support of the Parties .

IV . UNDISCLOSED INFORMATION

A. Documentary undisclosed information

1 . Each Party or its participants shall identify at the earliest possible moment, and preferably in the

JTMP, the information that it wishes to remain undisclosed in relation to this Agreement, taking

into account, among other things, the following criteria :

— secrecy of the information in the sense that the information is not, as a body or in the

precise configuration or assembly of its components, generally known among or readily
accessible by lawful means to experts in the field,

— the actual or potential commercial value of the information by virtue of its secrecy,

— previous protection of the information in the sense that it has been subject to steps that were

reasonable under the circumstances by the person lawfully in control, to maintain its secrecy .

2 . Participants shall not normally be required to provide undisclosed information to the Parties .

Should the Parties become aware of such information, they shall respect the privileged nature
thereof, and it shall not be further disclosed by, within, or between the Parties, without the
written consent of the participant(s ) to whom the information belongs . These limitations shall
automatically terminate when such information is disclosed by the owner, without restriction, to
experts in the field .

3 . Each Party shall ensure that undisclosed information, communicated between them under the

Agreement, and its ensuant privileged nature is readily recognizable as such by the other Party,
for example, by means of an appropriate marking or restrictive legend . This also applies to any
reproduction of the said information, in whole or in part .

4 . Undisclosed information communicated under the Agreement, and received from the other

Party, may be disseminated by the receiving Party to persons within or employed by the
receiving Party and other concerned departments or agencies of the receiving Party authorized
for the specific purposes of the joint research underway, provided that any undisclosed
information so disseminated shall be pursuant to a written agreement of confidentiality and shall
be readily recognizable as such, as set out above .

5 . With the prior written consent of the Party providing undisclosed information under the

Agreement, the receiving Party may disseminate such undisclosed information more widely than
otherwise permitted in paragraph 3 . The Parties shall cooperate in developing procedures for
requesting and obtaining prior written consent for such wider dissemination, and each Party will
grant such approval to the extent permitted by its domestic policies, regulations and laws .

28 . 11 . 95 LMJ Official Journal of the European Communities No C 317 / 15

B. Non-documentary undisclosed information

Non-documentary undisclosed or other confidential or privileged information provided in seminars
and other meetings arranged under the Agreement, or information arising from the attachment of
staff, use of facilities, or joint projects, shall be treated by the Parties or their participants according
to the principles specified in point A, provided, however, that the recipient of such undisclosed or
other confidential or privileged information has been made aware in advance and in written form
of the confidential character of the information to be communicated .

C. Control

Each Party shall make its best efforts to ensure that undisclosed information received by it under
the Agreement shall be controlled as provided therein . If one of the Parties becomes aware that it
will be, or may reasonably be expected to become, unable to meet the non-dissemination provisions
of points A and B, it shall immediately inform the Party likely to be affected by the dissemination .
The Parties involved shall thereafter consult to define an appropriate course of action .

Appendix

Indicative features of a joint technology management plan ( JTMP )

The JTMP is a specific contract to be concluded between the participants in joint research defining their
respective rights and obligations . With respect to intellectual property rights, the JTMP will normally
address, inter alia : ownership, protection, user rights for research and development purposes, exploitation
and dissemination, including arrangements for joint publication, the rights and obligations of visiting
researchers and dispute settlement procedures . The JTMP may also address foreground and background
information, the rules governing disclosure of undisclosed information, licensing and deliverables .