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

PURPOSE: to 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.

LEGISLATIVE ACT Council Decision 2009/825/EC concerning the conclusion of 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.

CONTENT: the Agreement on Maritime Transport between the European Union and China which was signed in Brussels on 6 December 2002 entered into force on 1 March 2008.

A 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 the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic to the European Union was signed in Beijing on 5 September 2005 and concluded pursuant to Council Decision 2008/144/EC. Bulgaria and Romania then acceded to the European Union on 1 January 2007.

In accordance with Article 6(2) of the 2005 Act of Accession, these two new Member States are to accede to the Agreement by way of a protocol between the Council and the People’s Republic of China.

This Decision aims to approve, on behalf of the Community, the 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.

The Protocol was signed by the parties in Brussels on 31 March 2009.