Annex III PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS WITH REGARD TO THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE COMMUNITY AND THE MEMBER STATES IN THE REVISED AGREEMENT

The European Community and the Member States shall be involved as Contracting Parties to the Revised Agreement in accordance with the following rules.

1. 1..

   Negotiations and preparatory work with regard to the UN/ECE work programme and to work preceding the adoption of Regulations or amendments to existing Regulations to which the Community accedes

   F1The contribution of the Union with regard to the priorities of the work programme shall be established as appropriate in accordance with the procedure laid down in Articles 218(3) and (4) TFEU in conjunction with Article 207(2) TFEU.

   Representatives of the Commission and Member States shall participate in the preparatory work of expert groups with the objective of facilitating the adoption of a proposal for a new UN/ECE Regulation or amending an existing UN/ECE Regulation. In the course of this preparatory work, Member State experts may advance technical opinions and may participate fully in the technical discussions only on the basis of their technical expertise without binding their national authorities or the Community.

   Following this preparatory phase, the Commission shall represent the Union in the Administrative Committee as set up by Article 1 of the Revised Agreement as spokesman for the Union, in conformity with Article 207 TFEU. The Community’s definitive position on the adoption of a new UN/ECE Regulation or the amendment of an existing UN/ECE Regulation shall be decided in accordance with Article 4 (2) of this Decision.

   At all stages of this procedure, the Commission shall inform the European Parliament, particularly with regard to the drawing up of the work programme and to the direction and results of preparatory work. The Commission shall in addition forward draft UN/ECE Regulations and amendments to the Parliament in good time.

2. 2..

   Adoption of the UN/ECE Regulations and of amendments to such existing Regulations

   The Commission shall exercise the right to vote for the Community within the bodies set up pursuant to the Revised Agreement. The Member States shall not vote except in cases where it has been decided that the Community is not, or will not be, bound by a UN/ECE Regulation.

   The Community institutions shall undertake to speed up their procedures as far as possible in order not to delay the vote within the ECE unnecessarily. For this purpose the Commission shall submit its proposal as soon as all of the essential components of the draft UN/ECE Regulation have been supplied.

3. 3..

   Amendments to the Revised Agreement

   Only the Community may put forward amendments to the Revised Agreement.

   The Member States shall align their position with that expressed by the Community with regard to the amendments tabled by other Contracting Parties in accordance with Article 13 of the Revised Agreement.

4. 4..

   Should a Member State become involved in a dispute settlement procedure within the meaning of Article 10 of the Revised Agreement, the position of the Member State on points of interpretation of the Agreement in this procedure shall be coordinated with the Commission after consultation with the other Member States.