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EC/China Agreement on maritime transport: accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU. Protocol

2008/0133(CNS)

PURPOSE: to sign and conclude a Protocol amending the Agreement on Maritime Transport between the European Union and China to take account of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.

CONTENT: Bulgaria and Romania acceded to the European Union on 1 January 2007.

Under Article 6(2) of the Act concerning the Accession of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania and the adjustment of the Treaties on which the European Union is founded, the accession of the two new Member States to the Agreement on Maritime Transport between the European Union and China signed in Brussels on 6 December 2002 and entered into force on 1 March 2008 shall be agreed by the conclusion of a Protocol to this Agreement.

Article 6(2) provides for a simplified procedure, as this Protocol is to be concluded by the Council of the European Union, acting unanimously on behalf of the Member States, and China.

Consequently, the Commission has negotiated this Protocol on behalf of the European Community and its Member States on the basis of negotiating directives adopted by the Council on 23 October 2006, and in consultation with a committee of the representatives of the Member States. The draft Protocol was initialled by the Commission and the Chinese representatives in Beijing on 28 February 2008.

The Protocol provides for the necessary technical and linguistic adaptations of the Agreement that ensue from the accession of the two new Member States.

It should be noted that in accordance with the applicable procedures, the Council presented a draft decision accompanying the Protocol, stipulating that the Protocol amending the Agreement on Maritime Transport between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Government of the People's Republic of China, of the other part, to take account of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union, was signed in Brussels on 31 March 2009.

As a consequence, the constitutional and institutional procedures have been completed and the Protocol should now be approved.