EEA Agreement: arrangements for implementing the Agreement on the European Economic Area EEA

OBJECTIVE: to establish, inter alia, the procedure to be followed in order to establish the Community position in the EEA Joint Committee in cases of a simple extension of the acquis to the EFTA countries. COMMUNITY MEASURE: Council Regulation No 2894/94 concerning arrangements for implementing the EEA Agreement. SUBSTANCE: The decisions of the EEA Joint Committee are taken in agreement with the Community, of the one part, and the EFTA countries as a whole, of the other part. The procedure to be followed in order to establish the Community's position in the Committee is determined in accordance with the following criteria: . the Community's position with regard to the decisions of the EEA Joint Committee in cases of a simple extension of the Community acquis to the EEA with, where necessary, technical adjustments, is approved by the Commission, . the Community's position is approved in exceptional circumstances by the Council, after a simple consultation of Parliament, where the amendments do not involve technical adjustments. The Council thus acts with the majority provided for in the provision laid down as the legal base for the act, . with regard to decisions other than those concerning the extension of the acquis communautaire, the Community's position is approved by the Council acting with a majority, a qualified majority or unanimously depending on the type of decision to be taken. Finally, the Community's position concerning the extension of the so-called "interim" acquis (EC acquis adopted before 31 December 1993) is approved by the Council acting unanimously on a Commission proposal, after a simple consultation of the EP. The Community's position within the EEA Council is determined by the Council acting unanimously (unless it is called upon to deal with issues relating to Community acts). The Regulation also includes provisions concerning the implementing rules in the area of competition as well as the specific rules relating to the consultation of the Banking Advisory Committee and the Insurance Committee. Additional arrangements are also laid down with a view to determining the procedure to be followed in allocating interest rate and loan subsidies to beneficiary Member States from the financial mechanism provided for by the EEA Agreement. In this case, the Commission determines the proportion for each beneficiary region for a period of five years, mainly according to the level of economic development of the region in question and its population. ENTRY INTO FORCE: 1 December 1994. �