4. The Stabilisation and Association Council may decide to set up other special committees or bodies that can assist it in carrying out its duties. In its Rules of Procedure, the Stabilisation and Association Council shall determine the composition and duties of such committees or bodies and how they shall function.
Article 121. The Stabilisation and Association Committee May Create Subcommittees
Before the end of the first year after the date of entry into force of this Agreement, the Stabilisation and Association Committee shall set up the necessary subcommittees for the adequate implementation of this Agreement. When deciding on the setting up of subcommittees and defining their terms of reference, the Stabilisation and Association Committee shall take due account of the importance of adequately handling migration-related issues, notably as regards the implementation of provisions under Articles 80 and 81 of this Agreement and the monitoring of the EU Action Plan for Albania and the neighbouring region.
Article 122.
A Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee is hereby established. It shall be a forum for Members of the Albanian Parliament and the European Parliament to meet and exchange views. It shall meet at intervals that it shall itself determine.
The Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee shall consist of members of the European Parliament, on the one hand, and of members of the Parliament of Albania, on the other.
The Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee shall establish its Rules of Procedure.
The Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee shall be chaired in turn by the European Parliament and the Parliament of Albania, in accordance with the provisions to be laid down in its Rules of Procedure.
Article 123.
Within the scope of this Agreement, each Party undertakes to ensure that natural and legal persons of the other Party have access free of discrimination in relation to its own nationals to the competent courts and administrative organs of the Parties to defend their individual rights and their property rights.
Article 124.
Nothing in this Agreement shall prevent a Party from taking any measures:
(a) Which it considers necessary to prevent the disclosure of information contrary to its essential security interests;
(b) Which relate to the production of, or trade in, arms, munitions or war materials or to research, development or production indispensable for defence purposes, provided that such measures do not impair the conditions of competition in respect of products not intended for specifically military purposes;
(c) Which it considers essential to its own security in the event of serious internal disturbances affecting the maintenance of law and order, in time of war or serious international tension constituting threat of war or in order to carry out obligations it has accepted for the purpose of maintaining peace and international security.
Article 125.
1. In the fields covered by this Agreement and without prejudice to any special provisions contained therein:
- The arrangements applied by Albania in respect of the Community shall not give rise to any discrimination between the Member States, their nationals, companies or firms;
- The arrangements applied by the Community in respect of Albania shall not give rise to any discrimination between Albanian nationals, companies or firms.
2. The provisions of paragraph 1 shall be without prejudice to the right of the Parties to apply the relevant provisions of their fiscal legislation to taxpayers who are not in identical situations as regards their place of residence.
Article 126.
1. The Parties shall take any general or specific measures required to fulfil their obligations under this Agreement. They shall see to it that the objectives set out in this Agreement are attained.
2. If either Party considers that the other Party has failed to fulfil an obligation under this Agreement, it may take appropriate measures. Before so doing, except in cases of special urgency, it shall supply the Stabilisation and Association Council with all relevant information required for a thorough examination of the situation with a view to seeking a solution acceptable to the Parties.
3. In the selection of measures, priority must be given to those which least disturb the functioning of this Agreement. These measures shall be notified immediately to the Stabilisation and Association Council and shall be the subject of consultations within the Stabilisation and Association Council if the other Party so requests.
Article 127.
The Parties agree to consult promptly through appropriate channels at the request of either Party to discuss any matter concerning the interpretation or implementation of this Agreement and other relevant aspects of the relations between the Parties.
The provisions of this Article shall in no way affect and are without prejudice to Articles 31, 37, 38, 39 and 43.
Article 128.
This Agreement shall not, until equivalent rights for individuals and economic operators have been achieved under this Agreement, affect rights ensured to them through existing Agreements binding one or more Member States, on the one hand, and Albania, on the other.
Article 129.
Annexes I to V and Protocols 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 shall form an integral part of this Agreement.
The Framework Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Albania on the general principles for the participation the Republic of Albania in Community Programmes, signed on 22 November 2004, and the Annex thereto shall form an integral part of this Agreement. The review provided for in Article 8 of that Framework Agreement shall be carried out within the Stabilisation and Association Council, which shall have the power to amend, if necessary, the Framework Agreement.
Article 130.
This Agreement is concluded for an unlimited period.
Either Party may denounce this Agreement by notifying the other Party. This Agreement shall terminate six months after the date of such notification.
Article 131.
For the purposes of this Agreement, the term "Parties" shall mean the Community, or its Member States, or the Community and its Member States, in accordance with their respective powers, of the one part, and Albania, of the other part.
Article 132.
This Agreement shall apply, on the one hand, to the territories in which the Treaties establishing the European Community and the European Atomic Energy Community are applied and under the conditions laid down in those Treaties, and to the territory of Albania on the other.
Article 133.
The Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union shall be the depository of this Agreement.
Article 134.
This Agreement is drawn up in duplicate in each of the official languages of the Parties, each of these texts being equally authentic.
Article 135.
The Parties shall ratify or approve this Agreement in accordance with their own procedures.
The instruments of ratification or approval shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union. This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the second month following the date of the deposit of the last instrument of ratification or approval.
Article 136. Interim Agreement
In the event that, pending the completion of the procedures necessary for the entry into force of this Agreement, the provisions of certain parts of this Agreement, in particular those relating to the free movement of goods as well as the relevant provisions on transport, are put into effect by means of Interim Agreements between the Community and Albania, the Parties agree that, in such circumstances for the purpose of the provisions of Title IV, Articles 40, 71, 72, 73 and 74 of this Agreement, Protocols 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6, and relevant provisions of Protocol 5, hereto, the terms "date of entry into force of this Agreement" mean the date of entry into force of the relevant Interim Agreement in relation to obligations contained in the abovementioned provisions.
Article 137.
From the date of its entry into force, this Agreement shall replace the Agreement between the European Economic Community and the Republic of Albania on trade and commercial and economic cooperation, signed at Brussels on 11 May 1992. This shall not affect any right, obligation or legal situation of the parties created through the execution of that Agreement.
Conclusion
Done at Luxembourg on the twelfth day of June in the year two thousand and six.
For the Kingdom of Belgium
This signature binds the German-speaking Community, the Flemish Community, the French Community, the Walloon Region, the Flemish Region and the Brussels-Capital Region.
For the Czech Republic
For the Federal Republic of Germany
For the Republic of Estonia
For The Hellenic Republic,
For The Kingdom Of Spain,
For The French Republic,
For Ireland,
For The Italian Republic,
For The Republic Of Cyprus,
For The Republic Of Latvia,
For The Republic Of Lithuania,
For The Grand Duchy Of Luxembourg,
For The Republic Of Hungary,
For The Republic Of Malta,
For The Kingdom Of The Netherlands,
For The Republic Of Austria,
For The Republic Of Poland,
For The Portuguese Republic,
For The Republic Of Slovenia,
For The Slovak Republic,
For The Republic Of Finland,
For The Kingdom Of Sweden,
For The United Kingdom Of Great Britain And Northern Ireland,
For the European Communities.