EC/Czech Republic Europe agreement

This proposal for a decision sought the conclusion of a new association agreement between the European Community and the Czech Republic, following the partition of the former Czech and Slovak Federative Republic into two independent republics. The new agreement essentially retained the text of the old association agreement concluded in 1992, but with the following differences: - addition of a new paragraph requiring respect for 'human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities'; - addition of an article confirming that respect for democratic principles and human rights and the principles of free market economy constitute essential elements of the association; - adaptation of the previous agreement's non-exclusion clause and provision for the agreement to be suspended immediately in the event of 'special urgency'; - breakdown between the two new states of the quantitative trade concessions set in the old agreement; - adaptation of the rules of origin to take account of the existence of two republics and allow for the appropriate totals for the Visegrad countries; - addition of a new protocol on transit guaranteeing that dissolution of the former Czechoslovakia will not have undesirable repercussions on the provisions contained in this new agreement; - addition of a joint declaration clarifying the 'cases of special urgency' envisaged in the new agreement. �