Introductory text

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 207(4), in conjunction with Article 218(9) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

Whereas:

The Economic Partnership Agreement between the CARIFORUM States, of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part^f1 (‘the Agreement’), was signed on 15 October 2008, and has been applied provisionally since 29 December 2008.

Pursuant to Article 229(1) and (2) of the Agreement, the Joint CARIFORUM-EU Council (‘the Joint Council’) may adopt decisions that are binding on the Parties and the Signatory CARIFORUM States, which shall take all the measures necessary to implement them in accordance with internal rules of each Party and of each Signatory CARIFORUM State.

The Joint Council, at its fourth meeting on 17 November 2017, is to adopt a decision on the amendment of Annex IX to Protocol I of the Agreement (‘Annex IX’) that includes the list of Overseas Countries and Territories (‘OCTs’).

In light of the change of status of three territories, that amendment aims to update the list of OCTs set out in Annex IX and harmonise it with the one set out in the Annex II to the Treaty.

In the Joint Council, the Union is to be represented by the Commission in accordance with Article 17(1) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). The Member States are to support the position of the Union in accordance with Article 4(3) TEU.

It is appropriate to establish the position to be adopted on behalf of the Union in the Joint Council.

The position of the Union within the Joint Council should teherefore be based on the attached draft Decision,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: