EC/Turkey Customs Union: Community position in the Joint Commitee

OBJECTIVE: to lay down the procedure for adopting the Community's position in the EC-Turkey Customs Union Joint Committee. COMMUNITY MEASURE: Council Decision 97/833/EC laying down the procedure for adopting the Community's position in the Customs Union Joint Committee set up by Decision No 1/95 of the EC-Turkey Association Council on implementation of the final phase of the Customs Union. SUBSTANCE: The procedure is laid down by reference to the object and substance of the acts to be adopted by the Joint Committee. The Committee is required to act when the free trade guaranteed by the Customs Union is, or may be, affected by unilateral measures by either party. Thus the powers concerned are based on Article 113 of the Treaty on European Union. Community proposals will therefore, as a rule, be adopted by a qualified majority on a proposal from the Commission. However, a less cumbersome procedure, involving only the Commission, is to be adhered to when the position concerns the application by Turkey of legislation to transpose Community acts, if necessary by means of technical adjustments, or concerns the assessment of anticompetitive behaviour. The decision states that the Commission's annual report on the implementation of the Customs Union is also to be forwarded to the European Parliament and to contain information on decisions taken by the Joint Committee. ENTRY INTO FORCE: 11.12.1997.�