Considerations on COM(2022)176 - EU position in EPA Committee established under the Economic Partnership Agreement with Ghana, regarding the adoption of Rules of Procedure for Dispute Settlement

Please note

This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.

 
dossier COM(2022)176 - EU position in EPA Committee established under the Economic Partnership Agreement with Ghana, regarding the adoption of ...
document COM(2022)176 EN
date April 22, 2022
 
(1) The European Union and its Member States signed the stepping stone Economic Partnership Agreement (‘EPA’) between Ghana, of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part, on 28 July 2016 3 (‘the Agreement’). The Agreement is provisionally applied between the EU and its Member States, of the one part, and Ghana, of the other part, from 15 December 2016 4 .

(2) Pursuant to Article 73(3) of the Agreement, the EPA Committee is responsible for the administration in all fields covered by that Agreement and the achievement of all tasks mentioned in that Agreement.

(3) Pursuant to Article 59, dispute settlement procedures shall be governed by the Rules of Procedure, which shall be adopted by the EPA Committee within three months after its establishment.

(4) Pursuant to Article 64(2) a Code of Conduct is annexed to the Rules of Procedure. The function of the Code of Conduct is to set out guiding principles, rights and obligations with which arbitrators must comply. It is appropriate that the Code of Conduct for arbitrators is applicable to mediators, mutatis mutandis.

(5) The EPA Committee is to adopt a decision with regard to the Rules of Procedure for Dispute Settlement in the second half of 2022.

(6) It is appropriate to establish the position to be taken on the Union's behalf in the EPA Committee, as the envisaged EPA Committee decision will establish legally binding rules governing Dispute Settlement.