Council Decision (EU) 2020/409 of 17 February 2020 on the accession of Solomon Islands to the Interim Partnership Agreement between the European Community, of the one part, and the Pacific States, of the other part
EU Decision 2020/409 · Adopted 17 February 2020 · Extends to United Kingdom
Council Decision (EU) 2020/409
of 17 February 2020
on the accession of Solomon Islands 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(3) and the first subparagraph of Article 207(4), 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 Parliamentf1,
Whereas:
(1)
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.
(2)
The Interim Partnership Agreement between the European Community, of the one part, and the Pacific States, of the other partf2 (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, Fiji and Samoa since 20 December 2009, 28 July 2014 and 31 December 2018, respectively.
(3)
Article 80 of the Interim Partnership Agreement lays down the provisions regarding the accession of other Pacific Island States.
(4)
On 4 June 2018, Solomon Islands submitted an accession request together with a market access offer to the Council.
(5)
The Commission has assessed Solomon Islands’ offer and, after amendments, found it acceptable. Accordingly, the Commission concluded negotiations with Solomon Islands on 23 October 2018.
(6)
In accordance with Article 76(3) of the Interim Partnership Agreement, the Union and Solomon Islands are to provisionally apply the Interim Partnership Agreement 10 days after notifying each other in writing of the completion of the procedures necessary for that purpose.
(7)
The accession of Solomon Islands to the Interim Partnership Agreement should be approved on behalf of the Union, subject to Solomon Islands’ deposit of the act of accession pursuant to Article 80(2) thereof,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Annotations to the whole text
Footnotes
- f1
-
The European Parliament gave its consent on 17 December 2019.
- f2