AGREEMENT between the Member States of the European Coal and Steel Community and the Republic of Tunisia (78/800/ECSC)

THE KINGDOM OF BELGIUM,

THE KINGDOM OF DENMARK,

THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY,

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC,

IRELAND,

THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC,

THE GRAND DUCHY OF LUXEMBOURG,

THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS and

THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND,

being Member States of the European Coal and Steel Community (hereinafter called "the Member States"), of the one part, and

THE REPUBLIC OF TUNISIA,

of the other part,

WHEREAS the European Economic Community and the Republic of Tunisia are concluding a Cooperation Agreement concerning the sectors covered by that Community,

PURSUING the same objectives and desiring to find like solutions for the sector covered by the European Coal and Steel Community,

HAVE DECIDED, in pursuit of these objectives and considering that no provision of this Agreement may be interpreted as exempting the Contracting Parties from the obligations which are incumbent upon them under other international agreements,

TO CONCLUDE THIS AGREEMENT:

Article 1

This Agreement shall apply to the products covered by the European Coal and Steel Community which are specified in the Annex.

TITLE I Trade cooperation

Article 2

The object of the Agreement is to promote trade between the Contracting Parties, taking account of their respective levels of development and of the need to ensure a better balance in their trade, with a view to increasing the rate of growth of Tunisia's trade and improving the conditions of access for its products to the Community market.

Article 3

1. Products originating in Tunisia shall be imported into the Community free of quantitative restrictions and measures having equivalent effect, and of customs duties and charges having equivalent effect.

2. The new Member States shall apply the provisions of paragraph 1, it being understood that in no case may they apply more favourable treatment to Tunisia than to the Community as originally constituted.

Article 4

Articles 25 to 38 of the Cooperation Agreement signed this same day shall apply mutatis mutandis to this Agreement.

Article 5

1. If the offers made by Tunisian undertakings are likely to be detrimental to the functioning of the common market and if any such detriment is attributable to a difference in the conditions of competition as regards prices, Member States may take appropriate measures under the conditions and in accordance with the procedures laid down in paragraph 2.

2. The Contracting Parties shall provide the Joint Committee with all relevant information and shall give it the assistance it requires in order to examine the case and, where necessary, to consider appropriate measures.

If Tunisia fails to put an end to the practice objected to within the period fixed by the Joint Committee, or in the absence of agreement in the Joint Committee within one month of the date on which the matter is referred to it, the Member States may adopt the safeguard measures they consider necessary to avoid, or put an end to, any detriment to the functioning of the common market ; in particular they may withdraw tariff concessions.

Article 6

The Agreement shall not modify the provisions of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community or the powers and jurisdiction deriving therefrom.

TITLE II General and final provisions

Article 7

1. A Joint Committee is hereby established, which shall be responsible for the administration of the Agreement and shall ensure its proper implementation. For this purpose, it shall make recommendations and take decisions in the cases provided for in the Agreement.

The decisions taken shall be binding on the Contracting Parties which, in accordance with their own rules, shall take such measures as are required to implement them.

2. For the purpose of the proper implementation of the Agreement, the Contracting Parties shall exchange information and, at the request of either Party, shall hold consultations within the Joint Committee.

3. The Joint Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

Article 8

1. The Joint Committee shall be composed of representatives of the Community on the one hand and of representatives of the Republic of Tunisia on the other.

2. The Joint Committee shall act by mutual agreement between the Community and Tunisia.

Article 9

1. The office of Chairman of the Joint Committee shall be held alternately by each of the Contracting Parties, in accordance with detailed rules to be laid down in its rules of procedure.

2. The chairman shall convene meetings of the Joint Committee at least once a year in order to review the general functioning of the Agreement.

The Joint Committee shall, in addition, meet whenever necessary, at the request of either Contracting Party, in accordance with the conditions to be laid down in its rules of procedure.

3. The Joint Committee may decide to set up any working party that can assist it in carrying out its duties.

Article 10

Articles 48 to 56 of the Cooperation Agreement shall apply mutatis mutandis to this Agreement.

Article 11

This Agreement shall apply, on the one hand, to the territories to which the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community applies under the conditions laid down in that Treaty and, on the other, to the territory of the Republic of Tunisia.

Article 12

This Agreement is drawn up in duplicate in the Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian and Arabic languages, each of these texts being equally authentic.

Article 13

This Agreement shall be subject to ratification, acceptance or approval by the Contracting Parties in accordance with their own procedures. They shall notify each other when the procedures necessary to this end have been completed.

This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the second month following the date on which the notifications provided for in the first paragraph have been carried out.

Udfærdiget i Tunis, den femogtyvende april nitten hundrede og seksoghalvfjerds.

Geschehen zu Tunis am fünfundzwanzigsten April neunzehnhundertsechsundsiebzig.

Done at Tunis this twenty-fifth day of April in the year one thousand nine hundred and seventy-six.

Fait à Tunis, le vingt-cinq avril mil neuf cent soixante-seize.

Fatto a Tunisi, addì venticinque aprile millenovecentosettantasei.

Gedaan te Tunis, de vijfentwintigste april negentienhonderdzesenzeventig. >PIC FILE= "T0007889">

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ANNEX List of products referred to in Article 1 of the Agreement

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