EN
17.4.2023
Official Journal of the European Union
L 102/61
ACTS ADOPTED BY BODIES CREATED BY INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS DECISION No 1/2023 OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE ESTABLISHED BY THE AGREEMENT ON THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE EUROPEAN ATOMIC ENERGY COMMUNITY of 24 March 2023 laying down arrangements relating to the Windsor Framework [2023/819]
THE JOINT COMMITTEE,
Having regard to the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community (1) (‘the Withdrawal Agreement’), and in particular Article 164(5)(d) thereof, Article 5(2) of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland (‘the Protocol’), as well as Article 164(5)(c) of the Withdrawal Agreement and the fifth paragraph of Article 8 of the Protocol, Whereas: (1)
Pursuant to Article 166(2) of the Withdrawal Agreement, the decisions adopted by the Joint Committee established under Article 164(1) thereof (‘the Joint Committee’) are binding on the Union and the United Kingdom.
The Union and the United Kingdom are to implement such decisions, which have the same legal effect as the Withdrawal Agreement.
(2)
Under Article 182 of the Withdrawal Agreement, the Protocol forms an integral part of that Agreement.
(3)
Article 164(5)(d) of the Withdrawal Agreement empowers the Joint Committee to adopt decisions amending the Withdrawal Agreement, provided that such amendments are necessary to correct errors, to address omissions or other deficiencies, or to address situations unforeseen when the Agreement was signed, and provided that such decisions do not amend essential elements of that Agreement.
(4)
The Union and the United Kingdom have made a Joint Declaration in the Joint Committee to the effect that, wherever relevant in their dealings under the Withdrawal Agreement, they will, consistent with the requirements of legal certainty, refer to the Protocol as amended as the ‘Windsor Framework’, and that they may in the same way refer to the Protocol as amended in their domestic legislation.
(5)
The Union and United Kingdom recall their shared commitment that the Good Friday or Belfast Agreement of 10 April 1998 between the Government of the United Kingdom, the Government of Ireland and the other participants in the multi-party negotiations (‘the 1998 Agreement’), which is annexed to the British-Irish Agreement of the same date, including its subsequent implementation agreements and arrangements, should be protected in all its parts.
(6)
Having regard to the specific circumstances of Northern Ireland, facilitations referred to in Article 6(2) of the Protocol should include specific arrangements for the movement of goods within the United Kingdom’s internal market, consistent with Northern Ireland’s position as part of the customs territory of the United Kingdom in accordance with the Protocol, where the goods are destined for final consumption or final use in Northern Ireland and where the necessary safeguards are in place to protect the integrity of the Union’s internal market and customs union.
(1) OJ L 29, 31.1.2020, p. 7.