ANNEX 2Supplementary provisions
ANNEX 2 Rules of Procedure of the Joint Committee Article 1 General provisions 1. The Joint Committee established in accordance with Article 82 of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Cuba, of the other part (‘the Agreement’) shall assist the Joint Council in the performance of its duties and functions and perform the tasks provided for in the Agreement and assigned to it by the Joint Council. 2. The Joint Committee shall prepare the meetings and deliberations of the Joint Council, implement the decisions of the Joint Council where appropriate and, in general, ensure continuity of the relationship and the proper functioning of the Agreement. It shall consider any matter referred to it by the Joint Council as well as any other matter that may arise in the course of the day-to-day implementation of the Agreement. It shall submit proposals or any draft decisions or recommendations for adoption by the Joint Council. 3. In accordance with Article 82(1) of the Agreement, the Joint Committee shall be composed of representatives of the Parties, at senior official level, taking into consideration the specific issues to be addressed. 4. The Parties in these Rules of Procedure are those defined as in Article 84 of the Agreement. Article 2 Chairmanship The Joint Committee shall be chaired alternately, from one meeting to the next, by a representative of the European Union and a representative of the Republic of Cuba. The first Party to hold the Chairmanship is the Republic of Cuba. Article 3 Meetings 1. Unless otherwise agreed by the Parties, the Joint Committee shall meet regularly, at least once a year. Special sessions of the Joint Committee may be held if the Parties so agree, at the request of either Party. 2. Each meeting shall be convened by the Chair at a date and place agreed by the Parties. The notice concerning the convening of the meeting shall be issued by the Secretariat of the Joint Committee not later than 28 calendar days before the date of the meeting, unless the Parties agree otherwise. 3. Whenever possible, the regular meeting of the Joint Committee shall be convened in due time in advance of the regular meeting of the Joint Council. 4. By way of exception and if the Parties agree, the meetings of the Joint Committee may be held by any agreed technological means, such as video-conference. Article 4 Delegations Before each meeting, the Parties shall be informed, through the Secretariat, of the intended composition of the delegations attending the meeting on either side. Article 5 Secretariat An official of the European Union and an official of the Government of Cuba shall act jointly as Secretaries of the Joint Committee and shall execute secretarial tasks in a joint manner unless these Rules of Procedure provide otherwise, in a spirit of mutual trust and cooperation. Article 6 Correspondence 1. Correspondence addressed to the Joint Committee shall be directed to either Secretary, who in turn shall inform the other Secretary. 2. The Secretariat shall ensure that correspondence addressed to the Joint Committee is forwarded to the Chair and circulated, where appropriate, in accordance with Article 7. 3. Correspondence from the Chair shall be sent to the Parties by the Secretariat on behalf of the Chair. Such correspondence shall be circulated, where appropriate, in accordance with Article 7. Article 7 Documents 1. Documents shall be circulated through the Secretaries. 2. A Party shall transmit its documents to its Secretary. The Secretary shall transmit those documents to the Secretary of the other Party without undue delay. 3. Each Secretary shall circulate the documents to the responsible representatives of his or her Party, systematically including the Secretary of the other Party in copy. Article 8 Confidentiality Unless otherwise decided by the Parties, the meetings of the Joint Committee shall not be public. When a Party submits to the Joint Committee information designated as confidential, the other Party shall treat that information as such. Article 9 Agendas for the meetings 1. A provisional agenda for each meeting as well as draft operational conclusions as provided for in Article 10 shall be drawn up by the Secretariat on the basis of proposals made by the Parties. The provisional agenda shall include items in respect of which the Secretariat has received a request for inclusion in the agenda by a Party, supported by relevant documents, not later than 21 calendar days before the meeting. 2. The provisional agenda, together with the relevant documents, shall be circulated in accordance with Article 7, not later than 15 calendar days before the meeting date. 3. The agenda shall be adopted by the Joint Committee at the beginning of each meeting. Items other than those appearing on the provisional agenda may be placed on the agenda if the Parties so agree. 4. The Chair of the meeting of the Joint Committee may, on an ad hoc basis and subject to the agreement of the other Party, invite independent experts in a subject-area to attend its meetings in order to provide information on specific subjects. The Parties shall ensure that those observers or experts respect any confidentiality requirements. 5. The Chair of the meeting of the Joint Committee may reduce, in consultation with the Parties, the time limits specified in paragraphs 1 and 2 in order to take account of special circumstances. Article 10 Minutes and operational conclusions 1. Draft minutes of each meeting shall be drawn up jointly by the two Secretaries. 2. The minutes shall, as a general rule, indicate in respect of each item on the agenda: (a) a list of participants, a list of accompanying officials and a list of any observers or experts who attended the meeting; (b) the documentation submitted to the Joint Committee; (c) statements which the Joint Committee has asked to be entered in the minutes; and (d) operational conclusions from the meeting. 3. The draft minutes shall be submitted to the Joint Committee for approval. The Joint Committee shall approve the minutes at its next meeting or, alternatively, in writing. 4. Draft operational conclusions of each meeting shall be drawn up by the Secretary of the Party holding the Chairmanship, and circulated to the Parties together with the agenda, normally not later than 15 calendar days before the meeting. That draft shall be updated as the meeting proceeds so that at the end of the meeting, unless agreed otherwise by the Parties, the Joint Committee adopts the operational conclusions, reflecting follow-up action to be taken by the Parties. Once agreed, the operational conclusions shall be attached to the minutes and their implementation shall be reviewed in any subsequent meeting of the Joint Committee. To that end, the Joint Committee shall adopt a template, allowing for each action point to be tracked against a specific deadline. Article 11 Decisions and recommendations 1. In the specific cases where the Agreement confers the power to take decisions or where such power has been delegated to it by the Joint Council, the Joint Committee shall take decisions. It shall also make recommendations to the Joint Council. Decisions and recommendations shall be made by mutual agreement between the Parties and on completion of the respective internal procedures. Each decision or recommendation shall be signed by the Chair. 2. The Joint Committee may take decisions or make recommendations by written procedure if the Parties so agree. The written procedure shall consist of an exchange of notes between the two Secretaries, acting in agreement with the Parties. For this purpose, the text of the proposal shall be circulated in accordance with Article 7, with a time limit of no less than 21 calendar days, within which any comments or objections shall be made known. The Chair of the Joint Committee may, in consultation with the Parties, reduce that time limit, in order to take account of special circumstances. Once the text is agreed, the decision or recommendation shall be signed by the Chair. 3. The acts of the Joint Committee shall be entitled ‘Decision’ or ‘Recommendation’, as appropriate, followed by a serial number, the year of their adoption and a description of their subject-matter. Each decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption unless it provides otherwise. 4. The decisions and recommendations shall be circulated to the Parties. 5. Each Party may decide on the publication of the decisions and recommendations of the Joint Committee in its respective official publication. Article 12 Reports The Joint Committee shall report to the Joint Council on its activities and those of its subcommittees at each regular meeting of the Joint Council. Article 13 Languages 1. The official languages of the Joint Committee shall be the official languages of the Joint Council. 2. The working languages of the Joint Committee shall be English and Spanish. Unless decided otherwise, the Joint Committee shall base its deliberations on documentation prepared in those languages. Article 14 Expenses 1. Each Party shall meet any expenses it incurs as a result of participating in the meetings of the Joint Committee, with regard to both staff, travel and subsistence expenditure and postal and telecommunications expenditure. 2. Expenditure in connection with the organisation of meetings, the reproduction of documents and interpreting at meetings and translation of documents into or from English and Spanish shall be borne by the Party hosting the meeting. Interpreting and translation into or from other languages shall be borne directly by the requesting Party. Article 15 Amendment of Rules of Procedure These Rules of Procedure may be amended by a decision of the Joint Council in accordance with Article 11 of the Rules of Procedure of the Joint Council. Article 16 Subcommittees 1. In accordance with Article 83(1) of the Agreement, the Joint Committee may decide to create a subcommittee in specific areas necessary for the implementation of the Agreement to assist it in the performance of its duties. The Joint Committee may decide to abolish any such subcommittee, and define or amend its rules of procedure. Unless decided otherwise, those subcommittees shall work under the authority of the Joint Committee, to which they shall report after each of their meetings. 2. Unless provided otherwise by the Agreement or agreed in the Joint Council, these Rules of Procedure shall be applied mutatis mutandis to any subcommittee established by the Agreement or under paragraph 1. 3. The meetings of the subcommittees may be held as and when the need arises in person, either in Brussels or in Cuba, or, for example, by videoconference. The subcommittees shall be the platform for monitoring progress on approximation in specific areas, discussing certain issues and challenges arising from that process and formulating recommendations and operational conclusions. 4. The Secretariat of the Joint Committee shall be in copy for all relevant correspondence, documents and communications pertaining to the work of a subcommittee. 5. Unless agreed otherwise by the Parties within the Joint Council, the subcommittees shall only have the power to make recommendations to the Joint Committee.