Attachment

THE EUROPEAN UNION, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Union’,

of the one part, and

THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATION FOR INTERNATIONAL CARRIAGE BY RAIL, hereinafter referred to as ‘OTIF’,

of the other part,

Together hereinafter referred to as ‘the Contracting Parties’,

HAVING REGARD to the Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF) of 9 May 1980, as amended by the Vilnius Protocol of 3 June 1999 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Convention’), and in particular Article 38 thereof,

HAVING REGARD to the responsibilities which the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) confers on the Union in certain areas covered by the Convention,

RECALLING that following the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009, the Union has replaced and succeeded the European Community and from that date exercises all rights and assumes all obligations of the European Community,

WHEREAS the Convention establishes an Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF), the headquarters of which are at Bern,

WHEREAS the purpose of the Union’s accession to the Convention is to assist OTIF in pursuing its objective of promoting, improving and facilitating international rail transport in both technical and legal respects,

WHEREAS by virtue of Article 3 of the Convention, the obligations arising out of the Convention with regard to international cooperation do not take precedence, for Parties to the Convention which are also Member States of the Union or States party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, over their obligations as Member States of the Union or States party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area,

WHEREAS a disconnection clause is necessary for those parts of the Convention which fall within the competence of the Union, in order to indicate that Member States of the Union cannot invoke and apply the rights and obligations deriving from the Convention directly among themselves,

WHEREAS the Convention applies fully between the Union and its Member States on the one hand, and the other Parties to the Convention, on the other hand,

WHEREAS the Union’s accession to the Convention requires the rules for applying the provisions of the Convention to the Union and its Member States to be clearly established,

WHEREAS the conditions of the Union’s accession to the Convention must allow the Union to exercise within the framework of the Convention the competences conferred on it by its Member States,

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS: