Council Regulation (EC) No 1943/2006 of 12 December 2006 amending Regulation (EC) No 876/2002 setting up the Galileo Joint Undertaking

22.12.2006 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 367/21
COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1943/2006
of 12 December 2006
amending Regulation (EC) No 876/2002 setting up the Galileo Joint Undertaking
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 171 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Having regard to the Opinion of the European Parliament (1),
Having regard to the Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (2),
Whereas:
(1) The Galileo Joint Undertaking was set up by Regulation (EC) No 876/2002 (3) of 21 May 2002, for the implementation of the development phase and for the preparation of the successive phases of the Galileo programme.
(2) Regulation (EC) No 876/2002 provides that the Galileo Joint Undertaking is established for a period of four years, corresponding to the development phase; this period was initially intended to cover the years 2002 to 2005 inclusive.
(3) However, as the Galileo programme currently stands, the development phase will not be completed before the end of 2008. And it seems as well pointless and costly to extend the Galileo Joint Undertaking beyond 2006, since the European GNSS (4) Supervisory Authority, set up by Regulation (EC) No 1321/2004 (5) of 12 July 2004, will be able to gradually take over during the course of 2006 and then complete all the activities currently being carried out by the Galileo Joint Undertaking.
(4) In order to enable the European GNSS Supervisory Authority to take over the activities of the Galileo Joint Undertaking in an optimum manner, it would, however, be desirable for the two structures to co-exist for a few months and for the European GNSS Supervisory Authority to be closely associated with the activities of the Galileo Joint Undertaking during this period.
(5) Therefore, it should be provided for the Galileo Joint Undertaking to cease operating on 31 December 2006.
(6) In addition, in order to correct the Statutes of the Galileo Joint Undertaking adopted by Regulation (EC) No 876/2002, which contain several erroneous or ambiguous provisions, those Statutes should be amended.
(7) The relevant amendment procedures have been followed in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 876/2002.
(8) Regulation (EC) No 876/2002 should be amended accordingly,