Considerations on COM(2020)254 - Conclusion of the agreement amending the Interim Partnership Agreement with the Pacific States to take account of the accession of Samoa

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dossier COM(2020)254 - Conclusion of the agreement amending the Interim Partnership Agreement with the Pacific States to take account of the ...
document COM(2020)254 EN
date June 22, 2020
 
(1) On 12 June 2002, the Council authorised the Commission to open negotiations for Economic Partnership Agreements with the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States 4 .

(2) The Interim Partnership Agreement between the European Community, of the one part, and the Pacific States, of the other part 5 (the ʻAgreementʼ), which establishes a framework for an Economic Partnership Agreement, signed in London on 30 July 2009, has been provisionally applied by Papua New Guinea and the Republic of Fiji since 20 December 2009 and 28 July 2014, respectively.

(3) Article 80 of the Agreement lays down the provisions regarding the accession of the other Pacific States. By Decision (EU) 2018/1908 of 6 December 2018 6 , the Council approved the accession of the Independent State of Samoa to the Agreement. The Independent State of Samoa acceded to the Agreement on 21 December 2018 and has provisionally applied it since 31 December 2018.

(4) Following the accession of the Independent State of Samoa, for the sake of legal certainty it is necessary to modify the Agreement in order to list this country as a Party to the Agreement. Similar technical modifications will need to be made to the Agreement each time another Pacific Island State accedes to the Agreement.

(5) Article 68 of the Agreement establishes a Trade Committee that shall deal with all matters necessary for the implementation of the Agreement. It is necessary to empower the Trade Committee to decide on any technical modification to the Agreement that might be necessary following the accession of another Pacific Island State.

(6) The Agreement should be amended accordingly.