EC/Morocco agreement: scientific and technological cooperation

PURPOSE : to conclude an Agreement on scientific and technological cooperation with Morocco. LEGISLATIVE ACT : Council Decision 2004/126/EC on the conclusion of the Agreement on scientific and technological cooperation between the European Community and the Kingdom of Morocco. CONTENT : This Decision approves the Agreement on scientific and technological cooperation with the Kingdom of Morocco, which was signed on behalf of the Community on 26 June 2003 in Thessaloniki. The main objective is to stimulate cooperation between the European Community and Morocco in the areas covered by the RTD framework programmes: - the agreement is designed to enable the Community and Morocco to profit, on the basis of the principle of mutual benefit, from the scientific and technical progress achieved under their respective research programmes, by means of participation by the Moroccan scientific community and Moroccan industry in Community research projects and independent participation, without funding, by bodies established in the Community in Moroccan projects; - the beneficiaries in the EC and Morocco will be the scientific communities, industry and the general public, thanks to the direct and indirect effects of cooperation. More specifically, this Agreement will enable legal entities of the Kingdom of Morocco to participate in all the indirect activities of the specific programmes SP1 and SP2 of the 6th Framework Programme in accordance with the participation rules decided upon by the Council and the European Parliament. The Agreement is based on the following principles: - mutual benefit; - non-discrimination; - effective protection of intellectual property; - equitable sharing of intellectual property rights. It also provides for the organisation and extension of scientific and technological cooperation between the European Union and Morocco through appropriate ways and means. The coordination and promotion of the activities covered by this Agreement will be the responsibility of the EC-Morocco Joint Scientific and Technical Cooperation Committee composed of representatives of both parties. This Joint Committee will monitor the implementation and evaluate the impact of the agreement, and propose any appropriate measure aimed at improving and developing scientific and technological cooperation. Moreover, the dissemination and the utilisation of the information and the management, allocation and exercise of intellectual property rights arising from the joint research carried out under the Agreement will be subject to the conditions set out in Annex II to the Agreement ("Intellectual property rights"), which is an integral part of the Agreement. ENTRY INTO FORCE : the Decision enters into force on 22.12.2003. The Agreement enters into force when the parties have completed the requisite formalities to this effect.�