EC/Ukraine Partnership and Cooperation Agreement

OBJECTIVE: conclusion of a partnership and cooperation agreement between the European Communities and their Member States and Ukraine. COMMUNITY MEASURE: Council and Commission Decision 98/149/EC, ECSC, Euratom on the conclusion of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and Ukraine, of the other part. SUBSTANCE: this is an agreement covering areas of competence of the Community and the Member States. - Term of the agreement: it is concluded for an initial period of 10 years and will be automatically renewed year-by-year unless one of the two parties objects. - Democratic clause: the agreement is based on respect for human rights and democratic principles and on the Helsinki Final Act and the Charter of Paris. - A political dialogue is established between the parties seeking essentially to strengthen the economic and political links between the Union and Ukraine and to deal with international issues. - Areas of cooperation: the agreement provides for the establishment in future of a free trade area (the parties will consider in 1998 whether the situation allows for the opening of negotiations for this purpose) and strengthens cooperation in all of the following areas: .trade in goods; .conditions concerning the employment of nationals of each of the parties; .establishment and operation of companies; .cross-border supply of services; .current payments and capital; .competition; .protection of intellectual, industrial and commercial property; .legislative cooperation; .economic and industrial cooperation (strengthening of commercial links, investment promotion and protection, public procurement); .cultural cooperation and tourism; .scientific and technological cooperation, energy, transport, telecommunications, space, etc.; .cooperation in the field of education and training; .cooperation in the area of environment, agriculture and the agro-industrial sector, consumer protection; .cooperation in the civil nuclear sector (in particular with regard to dealing with the problems resulting from the Chernobyl disaster); .cooperation in the field of drugs and money laundering; .social cooperation (protection of the health of workers); .financial cooperation: it takes the form of grants under the TACIS programme. - The agreement establishes the institutional framework for its implementation by providing a three-fold structure: a Cooperation Council at ministerial level (also responsible for matters of political dialogue), a cooperation committee, consisting of representatives at senior civil servant level and a parliamentary committee (comprising members of the European Parliament and the Ukrainian Parliament). ENTRY INTO FORCE OF THE AGREEMENT: the agreement signed by the Community of Twelve and Ukraine on 14 June 1994 will enter into force on 1 March 1998 (NB: as the procedures extending this agreement to Austria, Sweden and Finland - see file AVC96090 - have not yet been concluded, the protocol extending this agreement to these three countries will enter into force at a later date). �