CELEX: 51991PC0387
Language: en
Date: 1991-10-18
Title: Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on the accession of the European Community to the FAO at the 26th session of the FAO Conference

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                      COM(91) 387 final
                                      Brussels, 18 October 1991
                        Proposal for a
                       COUNCIL DECISION
         on the accession of the European Community
    to the FAO at the 26th session of the FAO Conference
                (presented by the Commission)
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---                                      - 4 -
                            Explanatory Memorandum
1. The European Community currently has observer status at the FAO, whose
work largely relates to fields in which the Community is competent. The
 limitations of this status are such that the Commission has decided to
 initiate a campaign to obtain full membership. A communication to this
effect, accompanied by a decision, was sent to the Council on 16 February
1987 (SEC (86) 2201 final).
2. Discussions in the Council came to a head in April 1989 and the
Commission was authorized to initiate exploratory talks with the FAO
Secretariat. On 26 April 1989, the President of the Council wrote to the
Director-General of the FAO on behalf of the Community and its Member
States asking him to instruct the competent FAO bodies to examine the
possibility of the Community obtaining membership status in keeping with
its competence.
3. Similarly, on 30 June 1989 the FAO Council authorized the Director-
General to explore the possibility of allowing regional economic
integration organizations (REIOs), in particular the European Community, to
accede to the FAO, and the legal and financial implications of such
accession.
 ---pagebreak---                                      - 5 -
4. As a result of the exploratory talks between the Commission and the FAO
Secretariat, the Council decided unanimously on 22 October 1990 to send a
letter requesting the formal opening of accession negotiations.
5. The Council of the FAO replied favourably to the Community's initiative
and instructed the Director-General to follow up the talks and to prepare
draft amendments to the basic texts of the FAO to allow assess ion by t he
Community. The accession negotiations were formally initiated by
Mr Matutes, in close partnership with the President of the Council, in Rome
on 1 February 1991.
6. Accession by regional economic integration organizations was the main
item discussed at the 99th session of the FAO Council in Rome on 10-
21 June 1991. The report adopted by the CounciI concluded preparations for
accession by proposing amendments to the FAO's basic texts, to be put to
the Conference in November 1991. The absence of any political opposition to
the Community's candidature suggests that Member Nations of the FAO will
vote in favour. The FAO Council has entrusted the final phase of the
negotiations to a com it tee of FAO Member Nations, which met in Rome from
9-13 September 1991. The Committee's work enabled the final agreements to
be drawn up. However the Community will not be able to submit a formal
request to accede to the Organization until after the Conference has
adopted the final text of the amendments.
 ---pagebreak---                                     - 6 -
As for the procedure, the Community is unable to submit a request for
accession by the date required, that is one month before the opening of the
Conference, in time for inclusion on the agenda. Given this situation, to
allow the Conference to debate the possible request for accession, the
Community has decided to send a letter to the Director-General of the FAO
asking him to include two items on the Conference agenda for discussion:
the accession of the European Community and a derogation from Article XIX
of the General Rules of the Organization1.
In this situation, in order to align the decision-making processes of the
FAO and the Community, the Council needs to decide in advance to follow the
procedure leading to accession, while making the decision to submit a
formal request for accession conditional on the Community's achieving the
objectives it has set in the course of the negotiations.
7. At this point in the negotiations proper, the bulk of the questions
concerning the accession of REIOs has been settled. In the Commission's
opinion, the methods proposed for defining the criteria allowing REIOs to
apply for membership of the organization, the obligations resulting from
the declarations of competence to be submitted on accession, and the
recognition of and methods of exercising the REIOs' right to vote are
satisfactory and in accordance with the Community's general practice.
   The derogation from Article XIX of the General Rules will be put to the
   vote at a plenary meeting of the Conference, which will decide by a
   two-thirds majority of the votes cast in accordance with Rule XL I I .
 ---pagebreak---                                      - 7 -
One essential question remains open and has yet to be resolved to the
Community's satisfaction, namely that of speaking rights granted to REIOs
and their Member States, in discussions on matters in respect of which they
have concurrent competence. This is the only question which directly
concerns the Community and its Member States. The Community seeks to be
able to express its views concurrently with its Member States, while a
minority of Member Nations of the FAO are arguing for the strict
application of the division of competence to speaking rights, so that
either the Member Organization o_r_ its Member State exercises speaking
r ights.
In the Commission's opinion, there is reason to believe that the majority
of Member Nations of the FAO will be able to accept an amendment along the
lines of the compromise proposed by the Commission, which provides that on
matters in respect of which the Member Organization and its Member States
have concurrent competence, both may participate in discussions, on the
understanding that the Organization and its Member States will take care as
far as possible to limit interventions by both on the same agenda item. If
the Conference accepted an amendment to this end, the outcome of the
negotiations would be fair and appropriate.
8. Accordingly, the Commission proposes that the Council decide:
         that at the 26th session of the Conference, to be held in Rome from
         8-28 November 1991, the Community will apply for accession to the
         FAO after the Conference has adopted the appropriate amendments and
 ---pagebreak---                                  - 8 -
      in as far as these amendments are acceptable to the Community, in
      particular as regards speaking rights for the Community and its
     Member States in discussions on matters in which both the Community
      and its Member States are competent.
      in as far as these conditions are met, the Council adopts the
      attached proposal for a decision 1 and the President of the Council
     will submit an application for membership and a formal instrument
     whereby the Community accepts the obligations of the Constitution
     of the FAO (Annex 1 ) .
      the President of the Council will at the same time submit a
     declaration of competence by the Community, specifying the matters
      in respect of which the Member States have transferred their
     competence to it and the matters in respect of which the Member
     Organization and its Member States have concurrent competence
      (Annex 2 ) .
      the President of the Council will submit the Community's request
      for accession to the FAO to the Conference with the support of all
      the Member States of the Community.
The Council should request consultation with the European Parliament on
this proposal according to the urgent procedure agreed by the
institutions, explaining to the European Parliament the reasons
compelling recourse to this procedure.
 ---pagebreak---                                        - 9 -
      proposal for a Council Decision on the accession of the European
Community to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAQ)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the EEC, and in particular
Articles 43, 1 1 3 a n d 235 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,
Whereas following exploratory talks with the FAO Secretariat, the Community
and the FAO examined the possibility of regional economic integration
organizations acceding to the FAO;
Whereas on 22 October 1990, the Council decided to initiate negotiations
with a view to the Community's accession to the FAO;
Whereas the negotiations were initiated by the Commission, in close
partnership with the President of the Council, on 1 February 1991 in Rome;
Whereas on essential points the outcome of the negotiations is fair and
appropriate for the Community and its Member States, and the Constitution
and the General Rules of the FAO have been amended in accordance with this
outcome;
Whereas in view of the above the Community may accede to the FAO,
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
                                    Sole Art icle
1. The Community shall, at the 26th session of the FAO Conference, submit a
   request for accession to the FAO, accompanied by a formal instrument
   according to which it accepts the obligations of the Constitution as in
 ---pagebreak---                                    - 10 -
   force at the time of admission (Annex 1) and a declaration of competence
   (Annex 2 ) .
2. The President of the Council shall be responsible for completing the
   necessary procedures to this end.
 ---pagebreak---                                    - 11 -
                                                                  ANNEX 1
Sir,
I have the honour to inform you that the European Community has decided to
request admission as a member to the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations. I would therefore ask you to submit this request, in
accordance with the relevant sections of the General Rules of the
Organization, to the Conference.
The European Community formally accepts the obligations attached to
membership of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,
as laid down by the Constitution of the Organization, and solemnly
undertakes to fulfil the obligations in force at the time of its admission
in all loyalty and conscience.
Yours faithfully,
                                        H.P. Van den Broek
                                        President-in-Office of the Counci
                                        of the European Communities
The Director-General
Food and Agriculture Organization
   of the United Nations
Viale del le Terme di Caracal la
Rome
ITALY
 ---pagebreak---                                     - 12 -
                           INSTRUMENT OF ACCEPTANCE
The European Community formally accepts the obligations attached to
membership of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,
as defined in the Constitution of the Organization, and solemnly undertakes
to fulfil the obligations in force at the time of its admission in all
loyalty and conscience.
                                         H.P. Van den Broek
                                         President-in-Office of the Council
                                         of the European Communities
The Director-General
Food and Agriculture Organization
   of the United Nations
Viale del le Terme di Caracal la
Rome
ITALY
 ---pagebreak---                                       13 -
                                                  ANNEX 2
            DECLARATION OF COMPETENCE BY THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY
                        IN RESPECT OF MATTERS COVERED
                       BY THE CONSTITUTION OF THE FAO
                        (Pursuant to Rule XLIV of the
                     General Rules of the Organization)
Rule XLIV of the General Rules of the FAO stipulates that at the time of
their admission, regional economic intégrât ion organizations shall submit a
declaration specifying the matters covered by the Constitution in respect
of which competence has been transferred to them by their Member States.
The European Community was founded by the Treaties of Paris and Rome,
signed respectively on 18 April 1951 and 25 March 1957. Following
ratification by the signatory States, these Treaties entered into force on
25 July 1952 and 1 January 1958. 1
   The Treaty of Paris establishing the European Coal and Steel Community
   was registered with the Secretariat of the United Nations on
   15 March 1957 under No 3729; the Treaties of Rome establishing the
   European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community
   (Euratom) were registered in 21 April 1958 and 24 April 1958
   respectively under No 4300 and 4301.
   The present members of the Community are: Belgium, Denmark, Germany,
   Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,
   Portugal and the United Kingdom.
   The Constitution of the FAO applies, in respect of matters transferred
   to the European Economic Community, to the territories in which the
   Treaty establishing the latter is applicable, under the conditions laid
   down in that Treaty. This declaration is not valid for those
   territories of the Member States in which the Treaty is not applicable.
 ---pagebreak---                                      - 14 -
 In accordance with the aforementioned Rule, this declaration specifies the
Community's competence in matters covered by the Constitution.
The exercise of competence which the Member States has transferred to the
Community pursuant to the Treaties is, by its nature, liable to continuous
change. The Community therefore reserves the right to make further
declarations later.
I• The European Community has exclusive competence in:
    (a)  all matters relating to commercial policy, in accordance with
         Article 113 of the EEC Treaty. The common commercial policy
         comprises not only the traditional instruments in this field
         (tariff measures, trade protection and promotion, the conclusion of
         trade agreements, etc.) but also any new instrument introduced at
          international level to regulate trade (e.g. support measures for
         specific products, agreements on the recognition of technical
         standards, e t c . ) 1 .
    (b)  all matters concerning fisheries, which are aimed at protecting the
         fishing grounds and conserving the biological resources of the sea,
          in accordance with Article 102 of the 1972 Treaty of Accession.
1   Opinion 1/78 of the Court of Justice, [1979] ECR 2871.
 ---pagebreak---                                     - 15 -
11.The Community also has competence in the following matters which come
under the FAO's fields of activity:
   (a)  Agricultural policy (Articles 38 to 47 of the EEC Treaty),
         including the harmonization of standards of animal and plant
        health;
   (b)  The approximation of provisions laid down by law, regulation or
        administrative action by the Member States (Articles 100 and 100a
        EEC);
   (c)  Policy on research and technological development (Articles 130f to
        130q of the EEC Treaty);
   (d)  Environmental policy (Articles 130r to 130t of the EEC Treaty);
   (e)  Development policy (Articles 131 to 136a and Article 235 of the EEC
        Treaty) ;
   (f)  Other Community policies (e.g. transport, economic, and social
        policy) which may marginally concern the activities of the FAO.
In the sectors listed under II, the distribution of competence between the
Community and the Member States is fixed as follows:
    (a) Agr[cultural policy
   1.   The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is very broad in its
        conception. It covers both agriculture and trade in agricultural
        products (products of first-stage processing as well as products of
        the soil, of stockfarming and of fisheries). It encompasses all
        aspects of agricultural life (productivity, income, prices,
        consumers, finance, technical progress, stabilization of prices,
        availability of supplies, structural policy, vocational training,
        and research).
 ---pagebreak---                                    - 16 -
  2.   However, the CAP only covers the products listed in Annex II of the
       Treaty. There are therefore a limited number of products which,
        although they fall within the general definition of agricultural
       products, are not listed (e.g. wool, hides and furs, some fruits
        and foreign plants such as maté). These products do not come within
        the Community's competence unless such competence has expressly
       been transferred by an act adopted outside the Articles of the
       Treaty relating to the CAP. This is the case for cotton (cf.
       Protocol No 4 of the 1980 Treaty of Accession).
  3.    In addition, the Community has not up to now exercised its
       competence for a very small number of agricultural products
        (potatoes, agricultural alcohol, bananas, coffee, 2 and cork). The
       Member States retain competence in agricultural policy for these
       products.
  4.   The Community has fully exercised its competence in agricultural
       policy with regard to productivity, incomes, prices and structural
       policy; it therefore has exclusive competence to discuss these
       matters in external relations. On the other hand, where vocational
        training, research and finance are concerned, Community legislation
        is not comprehensive and the Member States retain partial
       competence which may be determined when these matters are discussed
       within the FAO.
  5.   Forestry is not part of the CAP, but the Community has adopted a
       number of measures in this area 3 for which it is competent
       externally.
2 The Community is however a contracting party to the International Coffee
  Agreement (under its commercial policy).
3 These relate to agricultural policy (structural policy), environmental
  policy or commercial policy (trade in wood).
 ---pagebreak---                                 - 17 -
(b)  The approximation of provisions laid down by law, regulation or
     administrative action
     For the purposes of the FAO, only competence in respect of food
     products and machines, equipment and tools intended for
     agricultural and food production is relevant. Even in this limited
     area it is impossible to list all the Community measures in force.
     The Community and its Member States will therefore indicate their
     respective competence, in accordance with the General Rules of the
     FAO, when these matters arise on the agenda of an FAO meeting.
(c). Policy on research and technological development
     The Community's competence under the terms of Articles 130f to 130q
     of the Treaty is of the same kind as its competence in agricultural
     research (Article 41 EEC): it mainly covers basic research
     (universities, research institutes) and both research and
     technological development relating to the food industries. Here,
     the Community has wide competence:
     in promoting Community cooperation with third countries and
     international organizations in research, technological development
     and demonstration (Article 130g);
     in providing for Community cooperation with third countries or
     international organizations via international agreements with
     regard to research, technological development and demonstration
     (Article 130n).
 ---pagebreak---                                 - 18 -
    This competence is exercised by the Council on a proposal from the
    Commission on a case-by-case basis and will be indicated within the
    FAO when the time comes. In as far as the Community does not
    exercise its competence in this area, the Member States will retain
    competence.
(d) Env i ronmentaI POIicy
     In environmental matters the situation is the same. The Community
    has adopted a large number of legislative acts and under Article
    130r(5) of the EEC Treaty has express competence to cooperate with
    third countries and international organizations, which may be laid
    down in international agreements. Its competence is exercised case
    by case, with the participation of the Member States where the
     latter have retained competence for part of the matter in question.
(e) Development policy
    No common development policy exists under the Treaty beyond the
    relevant aspects of the common commercial policy (tariff measures
    in favour of developing countries and other support measures for
    certain products coming from developing countries, e.g. sugar) and
    the association of the overseas countries and territories (Articles
    131 to 136 of the EEC Treaty and Council Decision 86/283/EEC,
    OJ No L 175 of 1 July 1986). Nonetheless the Community has a policy
    of development aid, in addition to that of the Member States,
    through the the Lomé Convention (the association agreement with the
    countries known as the ACP) and numerous cooperation agreements
    with the countries of the Mediterranean basin, Asia and Latin
    America. It has also approved numerous food aid, humanitarian and
    technical programmes and campaigns. These acts form the basis of
    its competence in the field of development.
 ---pagebreak---                                   - 19 -
(f) Other pQliçies
    It is possible that, from time to time, other Community policies
    will enter into consideration as areas of Community competence
    within the FAO. This may in particular be the case with economic
    policy (particularly conjunctural policy, under Article 103 E E C ) ,
    transport policy (Articles 74 to 84 EEC) and social policy (working
    conditions in agriculture; equality between men and women, see
    Articles 117 to 128 E E C ) .
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---                                                                      ISSN 0254-1475
                                                              COM (91) 387 final
                                                      DOCUMENTS
EN                                                                              03
                                Catalogue number : CB-CO-91-443-EN-C
                                                             ISBN 92-77-76464-3
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