Council Decision (EU) 2018/1908 of 6 December 2018 on the accession of Samoa to the Interim Partnership Agreement between the European Community, of the one part, and the Pacific States, of the other part

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 207, in conjunction with point (a) (v) of the second subparagraph of Article 218(6) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

Having regard to the consent of the European Parliament,

Whereas:

On 12 June 2002, the Council authorised the Commission to open negotiations for Economic Partnership Agreements with the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States.

The Interim Partnership Agreement between the European Community, of the one part, and the Pacific States, of the other part^f1 (the ‘Interim Partnership Agreement’), which establishes a framework for an Economic Partnership Agreement, was signed in London on 30 July 2009. The Interim Partnership Agreement has been provisionally applied by Papua New Guinea and by Fiji since 20 December 2009 and 28 July 2014, respectively.

Article 80 of the Interim Partnership Agreement lays down the provisions regarding the accession of the other Pacific Island States.

On 5 February 2018, Samoa submitted an accession request together with a market access offer to the Council.

The Commission has assessed Samoa's offer and found it acceptable. Accordingly, it concluded negotiations with Samoa on 23 April 2018.

Article 76(3) of the Interim Partnership Agreement makes it possible for the Union and Samoa to provisionally apply the Interim Partnership Agreement by notifying each other in writing of the completion of the procedures necessary for this purpose.

The accession of Samoa to the Interim Partnership Agreement should be approved on behalf of the Union, subject to Samoa's deposit of the act of accession pursuant to Article 80(2) thereof,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: