CELEX: 22004D0405
Language: en
Date: 2004-04-22 00:00:00
Title: 2004/405/EC:Decision No 2/2004 of the Community/Switzerland Air Transport Committee of 22 April 2004 adopting its rules of procedure

L 151/4                EN                 Official Journal of the European Union            30.4.2004
                                      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
1.        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.
2.        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
1.        Before each meeting, the heads of delegation shall inform the Chair of the intended
          composition of their delegation.
2.        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.
3.        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.
4.        The parties shall inform each other, at least one week before the meeting, of the
          composition of their delegation.
                                                  Article 3
                                                Secretariat
1.        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.
2.        The Secretaries shall be responsible for communication between the delegations,
          including the transmission of documents, and shall supervise the duties performed by
          the Secretariat.
 ---pagebreak--- L 151/6                EN                Official Journal of the European Union         30.4.2004
3.      The Secretariat to the Committee shall be under the direction of the party which holds
        the Chair.
                                              Article 4
                                     Meetings of the Committee
1.      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.
2.      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.
3.      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.
4.      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.
5.      Meetings of the Committee shall not be public, unless decided otherwise by the Chair,
        with the agreement of the other head of delegation.
6.      Depending on who holds the Chair, the Committee shall meet in Brussels or Berne,
        unless the parties agree on another meeting place.
7.      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
1.      The Chair shall draw up the provisional agenda for each meeting.
2.      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.
3.      At the beginning of the meeting, the Chair and the other head of delegation shall approve
        the agenda.
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                                                 Article 6
                                            Working parties
1.        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.
2.        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.
3.        The Committee may decide to terminate or to amend the mandate of the working parties
          or groups of experts.
                                                 Article 7
                                        Adoption of instruments
1.        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.
2.        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.
3.        Each party may decide to publish any instrument adopted by the Committee.
4.        The instruments of the Committee may be adopted by written procedure if the two heads
          of delegation so agree.
5.        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
1.        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.
 ---pagebreak--- L 151/8                 EN                Official Journal of the European Union            30.4.2004
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.       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.
2.       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.