Establishment
1. An Agency in the field of defence capabilities development, research, acquisition and armaments (‘European Defence Agency’ or the ‘Agency’), as originally established by Joint Action 2004/551/CFSP, shall hereby continue in accordance with the following provisions.
2. The Agency shall act under the Council's authority, in support of the CFSP and the CSDP, within the single institutional framework of the Union, and without prejudice to the responsibilities of the Union institutions and the Council bodies. The Agency's mission shall be without prejudice to other competences of the Union, in full respect of Article 40 TEU.
3. The Agency shall be open to participation by all Member States wishing to be part of it. Member States already participating in the Agency at the time of the adoption of this Decision shall continue as participating Member States.
4. Any Member State wishing to participate in the Agency after the entry into force of this Decision or wishing to withdraw from the Agency shall notify its intention to the Council and inform the HR. Any necessary technical and financial arrangements for such participation or withdrawal shall be determined by the Steering Board referred to in Article 8.
5. The Agency shall have its seat in Brussels.
Mission
1. The mission of the Agency is to support the Council and the Member States in their effort to improve the Union's defence capabilities in the field of crisis management and to sustain the CSDP as it currently stands and as it develops in the future.
2. The Agency shall identify operational requirements, promote measures to satisfy those requirements, contribute to identifying and, where appropriate, implementing any measure needed to strengthen the industrial and technological base of the defence sector, participate in defining a European capabilities and armaments policy, and assist the Council in evaluating the improvement of military capabilities.
3. The Agency's mission shall be without prejudice to the competences of Member States in defence matters.
Definitions
For the purpose of this Decision, the following definitions apply:
(a)
‘participating Member State’ means a Member State which participates in the Agency;
(b)
‘contributing Member States’ means the participating Member States which contribute to a particular project or programme of the Agency.
Political supervision and reporting arrangements to the Council
1. The Agency shall operate under the authority and the political supervision of the Council, to which it shall provide reports and from which it shall receive guidelines or guidance in relation to the work of the Agency, notably with regard to its three-year Planning Framework.
2. The Agency shall report regularly to the Council on its activities, and shall in particular:
(a)
submit to the Council in November each year a report on the Agency's activities for that year;
(b)
subject to a Council decision on the establishment of permanent structured cooperation, submit to the Council at least once a year information on the Agency's contribution to the assessment activities in the context of permanent structured cooperation, referred to in point (f)(ii) of Article 5(3).
The Agency shall provide the Council in good time with information on important matters to be submitted to the Steering Board for decision.
3. The Council, acting by unanimity, and with advice of the PSC or other competent Council bodies as appropriate, shall issue guidelines or guidance in relation to the work of the Agency, notably with regard to its three-year Planning Framework.
4. The Agency may make recommendations to the Council and to the Commission, as necessary, for the implementation of its mission.
Functions and tasks
1. In fulfilling its functions and tasks, the Agency shall respect other competences of the Union and those of the Union institutions.
2. The Agency's fulfilment of its functions and tasks shall be without prejudice to the competences of Member States in defence matters.
3. The Agency, subject to the authority of the Council, shall:
(a)
contribute to identifying the Member States' military capability objectives and evaluating observance of the capability commitments given by the Member States, in particular by:
(i)
identifying, in association with the competent Council bodies, including the EUMC, and utilising, inter alia, the Capability Development Mechanism (CDM) and any successor, the Union's future defence capability requirements;
(ii)
coordinating the implementation of the Capability Development Plan (CDP) and any successor thereto;
(iii)
evaluating, against criteria to be agreed by the Member States, the capability commitments given by the Member States, inter alia, through the CDP process and the CDM and any successor thereto;
(b)
promote the harmonisation of operational needs and the adoption of effective, compatible procurement methods, in particular by:
(i)
promoting and coordinating harmonisation of military requirements;
(ii)
promoting cost-effective and efficient procurement by identifying and disseminating best practice;
(iii)
providing appraisals on financial priorities for capabilities development and acquisition;
(c)
propose multilateral projects to fulfil the objectives in terms of military capabilities, ensure coordination of the programmes implemented by the Member States and management of specific cooperation programmes, in particular by:
(i)
promoting and proposing new multilateral cooperative projects;
(ii)
identifying and proposing collaborative activities in the operational domain;
(iii)
working for coordination of existing programmes implemented by Member States;
(iv)
taking, at the request of Member States, responsibility for managing specific programmes;
(v)
preparing, at the request of Member States, programmes to be managed by OCCAR or through other arrangements, as appropriate;
(d)
support defence technology research, and coordinate and plan joint research activities and the study of technical solutions meeting future operational needs, in particular by:
(i)
promoting, in liaison with the Union's research activities where appropriate, research aimed at fulfilling future security and defence capability requirements and thereby strengthening Europe's industrial and technological potential in this domain;
(ii)
promoting more effectively targeted joint defence R&T;
(iii)
catalysing defence R&T through studies and projects;
(iv)
managing defence R&T contracts;
(v)
working in liaison with the Commission to maximise complementarity and synergy between defence and civil or security-related research programmes;
(e)
contribute to identifying and, if necessary, implementing any useful measure for strengthening the industrial and technological base of the defence sector and for improving the effectiveness of military expenditure, in particular by:
(i)
contributing to the creation of an internationally competitive European defence equipment market, without prejudice to the internal market rules and the competences of the Commission in this field;
(ii)
developing relevant policies and strategies in consultation with the Commission and, as appropriate, industry;
(iii)
pursuing, in consultation with the Commission, EU-wide development and harmonisation of relevant procedures, within the tasks of the Agency;
(f)
subject to a Council decision on the establishment of permanent structured cooperation, support that cooperation in particular by:
(i)
facilitating major joint or European capability development initiatives;
(ii)
contributing to the regular assessment of participating Member States' contributions with regard to capabilities, in particular contributions made in accordance with the criteria to be established, inter alia, on the basis of Article 2 of Protocol No 10, and reporting thereon at least once a year;
(g)
pursue coherence with other Union policies in so far as they have implications for defence capabilities;
(h)
foster deeper defence cooperation between participating Member States, in line with the Policy Framework for systematic and long-term defence cooperation;
(i)
provide support to CSDP operations, taking into account EU crisis management procedures.
Legal personality
The Agency shall have the legal personality necessary to perform its functions and attain its objectives. Member States shall ensure that the Agency enjoys the most extensive legal capacity accorded to legal persons under their laws. The Agency may, in particular, acquire or dispose of movable and immovable property and be a party to legal proceedings. The Agency shall have the capacity to conclude contracts with private or public entities or organisations.
