Decision 2021/689 - Conclusion of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the United Kingdom and of the Agreement with the United Kingdom concerning security procedures for exchanging and protecting classified information - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 149/2

On 29 December 2020, the Council adopted Decision (EU) 2020/2252 (2) on the signing, on behalf of the Union, and on provisional application of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the other part (the ‘Trade and Cooperation Agreement’) and of the Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning security procedures for exchanging and protecting classified information (the ‘Security of Information Agreement’). The Trade and Cooperation Agreement and the Security of Information Agreement (the ‘Agreements’) were signed on 30 December 2020, subject to their conclusion at a later date.

The Trade and Cooperation Agreement establishes the basis for a broad relationship between the Union and the United Kingdom involving reciprocal rights and obligations, common actions and special procedures. The Security of Information Agreement is a supplementing agreement to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, intrinsically linked to the latter in particular with regard to the dates of entry into application and termination. The decision on the conclusion of the Agreements should therefore be based on the legal basis providing for the establishment of an association allowing the Union to enter into commitments in all areas covered by the Treaties.

In view of the exceptional and unique character of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which is a comprehensive agreement with a country that has withdrawn from the Union, the Council is hereby deciding to make use of the possibility for the Union to exercise its external competence with regard to the United Kingdom.

It is appropriate to define the arrangements for the Union’s representation in the Partnership Council and the Committees established by the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The Commission, as provided for in Article 17(1) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), is to represent the Union and to express the Union’s positions as established by the Council in accordance with the Treaties. The Council is to exercise its policymaking and coordinating functions as provided for in Article 16(1) TEU by establishing the positions to be taken on the Union’s behalf in the Partnership Council and the Committees established by the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Furthermore, where the Partnership Council or the Committees established by the Trade and Cooperation Agreement are called upon to adopt acts having legal effects, the positions to be taken on the Union’s behalf in those bodies are to be established in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 218(9) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Similarly, where the Commission carries out annual consultations related to fisheries, it should do so on the basis of positions to be taken on the Union’s behalf, which are to be established by the Council in accordance with the relevant Treaty provisions.

Each Member State should be allowed to send one representative to accompany the Commission representative, as part of the Union delegation, in meetings of the Partnership Council and of other joint bodies established under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

The European Parliament is to be immediately and fully informed, as provided for in Article 218(10) TFEU, in order to allow it to exercise fully its prerogatives in accordance with the Treaties.

With a view to enabling the Union to take rapid and effective action to protect its interests in accordance with the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, and until a specific legislative act regulating the adoption of remedial measures under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement is adopted and enters into force in the Union, the Commission should be empowered to take remedial measures, such as the suspension of obligations under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement or any supplementing agreement, in cases of breaches of certain provisions of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement or non-fulfilment of certain conditions, in particular with regard to trade in goods, the level playing field, road transport, aviation safety, fisheries and Union programmes, as specified in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, as well as to take remedial measures, rebalancing measures and countermeasures. The Commission should fully inform the Council in a timely manner of its intention to adopt such measures with a view to allowing a meaningful exchange of views in the Council. The Commission should take the utmost account of the views expressed. One or more Member States may request the Commission to adopt such measures. If the Commission does not respond positively to such a request, it should inform the Council in a timely manner of its reasons.

In order to allow the Union to react in a timely manner where relevant conditions are no longer met, the Commission should be empowered to take certain decisions suspending benefits granted to the United Kingdom under the Annex on Organic Products and the Annex on Medicinal Products to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The Commission should fully inform the Council in a timely manner of its intention to adopt such measures with a view to allowing a meaningful exchange of views in the Council. The Commission should take the utmost account of the views expressed. One or more Member States may request the Commission to adopt such measures. If the Commission does not respond positively to such a request, it should inform the Council in a timely manner of its reasons.

Whenever the Union is required to act in order to comply with the Agreements, such action is to be taken in accordance with the Treaties, while respecting the limits of the powers conferred upon each Union institution. It is therefore for the Commission to provide the United Kingdom with the information or notifications required in the Agreements, except where the Agreements refer to other specific institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union and to consult the United Kingdom on specific matters. It is also for the Commission to represent the Union before the arbitration tribunal where a dispute has been submitted to arbitration in accordance with the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. In compliance with the duty of sincere cooperation referred to in Article 4(3) TEU, the Commission is to consult the Council beforehand, for example by submitting to it the main points of the intended Union submissions to the arbitration tribunal and taking the utmost account of comments made by the Council.

The Trade and Cooperation Agreement does not exclude the possibility for Member States to enter into bilateral arrangements or agreements with the United Kingdom concerning specific matters covered by the Trade and Cooperation Agreement in the areas of air transport, administrative cooperation in the field of customs and VAT and social security under certain conditions.

It is therefore necessary to set out a framework to be followed by the Member States where they decide to enter into bilateral arrangements or agreements with the United Kingdom in the areas of air transport, administrative cooperation in the field of customs and VAT and social security, including the conditions and procedure for Member States to negotiate and conclude such bilateral arrangements or agreements, in such a way as to ensure that they are compatible with the purpose of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and with Union law and take into account the internal market and broader Union interests. In addition, Member States which intend to negotiate and conclude bilateral agreements with the United Kingdom in areas not covered by the Trade and Cooperation Agreement should, in full respect of the principle of sincere cooperation, inform the Commission of their intentions and of the progress of the negotiations.

It is recalled that, in accordance with Article 774(3) of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, and in line with the declaration of the European Council and of the European Commission on the territorial scope of future agreements included in the minutes of the European Council meeting of 25 November 2018, the Trade and Cooperation Agreement neither applies to Gibraltar nor has any effects in that territory. As foreseen in that declaration, ‘this does not preclude the possibility to have separate agreements between the Union and the United Kingdom in respect of Gibraltar’ and, ‘without prejudice to the competences of the Union and in full respect of the territorial integrity of its Member States as guaranteed by Article 4(2) of the Treaty on European Union, those separate agreements will require a prior agreement of the Kingdom of Spain’.

The exercise of Union competence through the Trade and Cooperation Agreement is without prejudice to the respective competences of the Union and of the Member States in relation to any ongoing or future negotiations for, or signature or conclusion of, international agreements with any other third country, or in relation to any future negotiations for, or signature or conclusion of, any supplementing agreements referred to in Article 2 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

Due to the very late completion of the negotiations of the Agreements, it was not possible to proceed to the final legal-linguistic revision of the texts of the Agreements before their signature. Therefore, immediately after the signature of the Agreements, the Parties started the final legal-linguistic revision of the texts of the Agreements in all 24 authentic languages. By exchange of diplomatic notes, the Parties established those revised texts of the Agreements in all such languages as authentic and definitive. Those authentic and definitive texts replaced ab initio the signed versions of the Agreements and are attached to this Decision.

The conclusion of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement as regards matters falling under the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (the ‘Euratom Treaty’) is subject to a separate procedure.

The Agreements should be approved,

the suspension of the relevant preferential treatment of the product(s) concerned as set out in Article 34 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement;

the application of remedial measures and the suspension of obligations as set out in Article 374 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement;

the application of rebalancing measures and countermeasures as set out in Article 411 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement;

the application of remedial measures as set out in Article 469 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement;

compensatory measures and the suspension of obligations as set out in Article 501 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement;

the application of remedial measures and the suspension of obligations as set out in Article 506 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement;

the suspension or termination of the participation of the United Kingdom in Union programmes as set out in Articles 718 and 719 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement;

an offer or acceptance of temporary compensation or the suspension of obligations in the context of compliance following an arbitration or panel of experts procedure under Article 749 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, except as provided in Regulation (EU) No 654/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council; (5)

the safeguard measures and rebalancing measures as set out in Article 773 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement;

the safeguard measures as set out in Article 448 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement;

the suspension of acceptance obligations as set out in Article 457 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

confirm or suspend the recognition of equivalence following the reassessment of equivalence to be carried out by 31 December 2023 in accordance with Article 3(3) of Annex 14 to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement;

suspend the recognition of equivalence in accordance with Article 3(5) and (6) of Annex 14 to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement;

accept official Good Manufacturing Practice documents issued by an authority of the United Kingdom for manufacturing facilities located outside the territory of the issuing authority and to determine the terms and conditions under which the Union accepts those official Good Manufacturing Practice documents in accordance with Article 5(3) and (4) of Annex 12 to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement;

adopt any necessary implementing arrangements for the exchange of official Good Manufacturing Practice documents with an authority of the United Kingdom under Article 6 of Annex 12 to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and for the exchange of information with an authority of the United Kingdom regarding inspections of manufacturing facilities under Article 7 of that Annex;

suspend recognition of inspections or acceptance of official Good Manufacturing Practice documents issued by the United Kingdom and notify the United Kingdom of its intention to apply Article 9 of Annex 12 to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and enter into consultations with the United Kingdom in accordance with Article 8(3) of that Annex;

suspend totally or partially, for all or some of the products listed in Appendix C to Annex 12 to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the recognition of inspections or acceptance of official Good Manufacturing Practice documents of the other Party in accordance with Article 9(1) of that Annex.

those arrangements shall be entered into solely for the purpose laid down in Article 419(4) of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and in accordance with its terms, and shall not govern any other matters whether or not such matters fall within the scope of Title I of Heading Two of Part Two of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement;

those arrangements shall not discriminate between Union air carriers.

those arrangements shall be entered into solely for the purpose laid down in Article 419(9) of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and in accordance with its terms, and shall not govern any other matters whether or not such matters fall within the scope of Title I of Heading Two of Part Two of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement;

those arrangements shall not discriminate between Union air carriers.

the envisaged agreement shall be compatible with, and shall not undermine, the functioning of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement or of the internal market;

the envisaged agreement shall be compatible with Union law, and shall not put at risk the attainment of an objective of the Union’s external action in the area concerned or otherwise be prejudicial to the Union’s interests;

the envisaged agreement shall comply with the principle of non-discrimination on grounds of nationality enshrined in the TFEU.