1. The EFTA States declare their readiness to provide technical and financial assistance to Egypt, in accordance with their national policy objectives, in order to:
(a) facilitate the implementation of the overall objectives of this Agreement, in particular to enhance trading and investment opportunities arising from this Agreement; and
(b) support Egypt's own efforts to achieve sustainable economic and social development.
2. Assistance shall focus on sectors affected by the process of liberalisation and restructuring of the Egyptian economy as well as on sectors likely to bring the economies of the EFTA States and Egypt closer together, particularly those generating growth and employment.
Article 35. Methods and Means
1. Assistance to Egypt shall be provided bilaterally or through EFTA programmes or a combination of the two.
2. Parties shall co-operate with the objective of identifying and employing the most effective methods and means for the implementation of this Chapter, including by taking into consideration efforts of relevant international organisations.
3. With a view to fostering sustainable development efforts, Parties shall also cooperate, through the implementation of this Chapter, on methods and means of assistance, to agree on environmental aspects that could be taken into consideration.
4. Means of assistance may include:
(a) exchange of information, transfer of expertise and training;
(b) grants, preferential loans, development funds or other financial means;
(c) implementation of joint actions such as seminars and workshops; and
(d) technical and administrative assistance.
Article 36. Fields of Co-operation
Assistance may cover any field jointly identified by the Parties that may serve to enhance Egypt's capacities to benefit from increased international trade and investment, including in particular:
(a) trade promotion, trade facilitation, and promotion of market opportunities;
(b) customs and origin matters;
(c) fish and aquaculture;
(d) technical regulations and sanitary and phytosanitary measures, including standardisation and certification;
(e) trade and investment statistics;
(f) regulatory assistance and implementation of laws in areas such as intellectual property and public procurement; and
(g) local enterprise development.
Chapter VIII. Institutional and Procedural Provisions
Article 37. The Joint Committee
1. The implementation of this Agreement shall be supervised and administered by a Joint Committee, which is hereby established. Each Party shall be represented in the Joint Committee by its competent authority.
2. For the purpose of the proper implementation of this Agreement, the Parties shall exchange information and, at the request of any Party, shall hold consultations within the Joint Committee. The Joint Committee shall keep under review the possibility of further removal of the obstacles to trade between the EFTA States and Egypt.
3. The Joint Committee may take decisions in the cases provided for in this Agreement. On other matters the Joint Committee may make recommendations.
4. The Joint Committee shall meet upon request of any Party whenever necessary, but at least every two years.
Article 38. Procedures of the Joint Committee
1. The Joint Committee shall act by common agreement.
2. If a representative of a Party in the Joint Committee has accepted a decision subject to the fulfilment of constitutional requirements, the decision shall enter into force, if no later date is contained therein, on the date the lifting of the reservation is notified.
3. For the purpose of this Agreement the Joint Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.
4. The Joint Committee may decide to set up such sub-committees and working parties, as it considers necessary to assist it in accomplishing its tasks.
Article 39. Fulfilment of Obligations and Consultations
1. The Parties shall take all necessary measures to ensure the achievement of the objectives and the fulfilment of their obligations under this Agreement. Should any divergence with respect to the interpretation and application of this Agreement arise, the Parties shall make every effort through co-operation and consultations to arrive at a mutually satisfactory resolution.
2. Any Party may request in writing consultations with another Party regarding any actual or proposed measure or any other matter that it considers might affect the operation of this Agreement. The Party requesting consultations shall at the same time notify the other Parties in writing thereof and supply all relevant information.
3. The consultations shall take place in the Joint Committee if any of the Parties so request within ten days from the receipt of the notification referred to in paragraph 2, with a view to finding a commonly acceptable solution.
Article 40. Provisional Re-balancing Measures
1. If any Party to this Agreement considers that another Party has failed to fulfil an obligation under this Agreement and the Joint Committee has failed to arrive at a commonly acceptable solution within three months, the Party concerned may take such provisional re-balancing measures as are appropriate and strictly necessary to remedy the imbalance. Priority shall be given to such measures as will least disturb the functioning of this Agreement. The measures taken shall be notified immediately to the Parties and to the Joint Committee, which shall hold regular consultations with a view to their abolition. The measures shall be abolished when conditions no longer justify their maintenance, or, if the dispute is submitted to arbitration, when an arbitral award has been rendered and complied with.
2. Measures according to paragraph 1 may be taken without prior consultations in the Joint Committee in cases of a material breach of this Agreement by another Party. A material breach shall consist of the repudiation of this Agreement not sanctioned by the general rules of international law or a grave violation of an essential element of this Agreement, creating an environment not conducive for consultations or where a delay would be detrimental to the objectives of this Agreement.
Article 41. Arbitration
1. Disputes between the Parties, relating to the interpretation of rights and obligations under this Agreement, which have not been settled through direct consultations or in the Joint Committee within 90 days from the date of the receipt of the request for consultations, may be referred to arbitration by any Party to the dispute by means of a written notification addressed to the other Party to the dispute. A copy of this notification shall be communicated to Egypt or the EFTA Secretariat, as the case may be. Where more than one Party requests the submission to an arbitral tribunal of a dispute with the same Party relating to the same question a single arbitral tribunal should be established to consider such disputes whenever feasible.
2. The constitution and functioning of the arbitral tribunal shall be governed by Annex VI. The award of the arbitral tribunal shall be final and binding upon the Parties to the dispute.
Chapter IX. Final Provisions
Article 42. Evolutionary Clause
1. The Parties undertake to review this Agreement in light of international economic developments, i.a. in the framework of the WTO, and to examine in this context and in the light of any relevant factor, the possibility of further developing and deepening the co-operation under this Agreement and to extend it to areas not covered therein. The Parties may instruct the Joint Committee to examine this possibility and, where appropriate, to make recommendations to them, particularly with a view to opening up negotiations.
2. Agreements resulting from the procedure referred to in paragraph 1 will be subject to ratification or approval by the Parties in accordance with their own procedures.
Article 43. Annexes and Protocols
The Annexes and Protocols to this Agreement are an integral part of it. The Joint Committee may decide to amend the Annexes and Protocols.
Article 44. Amendments
Amendments to this Agreement other than those referred to in Article 43 which are approved by the Joint Committee shall be submitted to the Parties for ratification or acceptance and shall enter into force on the first day of the third month following the deposit of the last instrument of ratification or acceptance.
Article 45. Customs Unions, Free Trade Areas, Frontier Trade and other Preferential Agreements
This Agreement shall not prevent the maintenance or establishment of customs unions, free trade areas, arrangements for frontier trade and other preferential agreements, except insofar as they alter the trade arrangements provided for in this Agreement.
Article 46. Accession
1. Any new Member State of the European Free Trade Association may accede to this Agreement, provided that the Joint Committee decides to approve its accession, on terms and conditions to be negotiated between the acceding State and the Parties to this Agreement.
2. In relation to an acceding State, this Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the third month following the exchange of its instrument of accession.
Article 47. Withdrawal and Expiration
1. Each Party may withdraw from this Agreement by means of a written notification. The withdrawal shall take effect six months after the date on which the notification has been received by the other Parties.
2. If Egypt withdraws, this Agreement shall expire at the end of the notice period, and if all EFTA States withdraw it shall expire at the end of the latest notice period.
3. Any EFTA State which withdraws from the Convention establishing the European Free Trade Association shall ipso facto on the same day as the withdrawal takes effect cease to be a Party to this Agreement.
4. If any EFTA State withdraws from the Convention establishing the European Free Trade Association or from this Agreement, a meeting of the remaining Parties shall be convened to discuss the issue of the continued existence of this Agreement.
Article 48. Relation to the Bilateral Arrangements on Trade In Agricultural Products
1. The bilateral arrangements on trade in agricultural goods between the EFTA States and Egypt referred to in Annex III shall enter into force on the date on which this Agreement enters into force for the EFTA State concerned and Egypt. Such bilateral arrangements on trade in agricultural goods shall remain in force as long as the Parties to it remain Parties to this Agreement.
2. If an EFTA State or Egypt withdraws from the bilateral arrangement on trade in agricultural products concluded between them, this Agreement shall terminate between that EFTA State and Egypt on the same date as the withdrawal from the arrangement becomes effective.
Article 49. Entry Into Force
1. This Agreement shall enter into force in relation to those Signatory States which have ratified the Agreement on the first day of the second month following the exchange of their instruments of ratification or acceptance, provided that Egypt is among the States that have deposited their instruments of ratification or acceptance.
2. A Signatory State may, if constitutional requirements allow, apply this Agreement provisionally during an initial phase, provided that Egypt has ratified the Agreement. Provisional application of the Agreement shall be notified to the other Signatory States.
Article 50. Depositary
The Government of Norway shall act as Depositary for the EFTA States.
Conclusion
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, being duly authorised thereto, have signed this Agreement.
Done at Davos, this 27th day of January 2007 in two originals in the Arabic and English languages, both being equally authentic. In case of any divergence in the interpretation of this Agreement, the English text shall prevail.
For the Republic of Iceland
For the Arab Republic of Egypt
For the Principality of Liechtenstein
For the Kingdom of Norway
For the Swiss Confederation
Attachments
ANNEXVI. REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 41. ESTABLISHMENT AND FUNCTIONING OF THE ARBITRAL TRIBUNAL
CONSTITUTION AND FUNCTIONING OF THE ARBITRAL TRIBUNAL
1. The procedures for the establishment of the tribunal shall be as follows:
(a) The arbitral tribunal shall comprise three members.
(b) In its written notification pursuant to Article 41 of this Agreement, the Party referring the dispute to arbitration shall designate one member of the arbitral tribunal, who may be its national.
(c) Within 15 days from the receipt of the notification referred to in paragraph
(b), the Party to which it was addressed shall, in turn, designate one member, who may be its national.
(d) Within 30 days from the receipt of the notification referred to in paragraph (b), the two Parties concerned shall agree on the designation of a third member. The third member shall not be a national of either Party to the dispute, nor permanently reside in the territory of either State. The member thus appointed shall be the President of the arbitral tribunal.
(e) If all three members have not been designated or appointed within 30 days from the receipt of the notification referred to in paragraph (b), the necessary designations shall be made, at the request of either Party to the dispute, by the President of the International Court of Justice applying the criteria of paragraphs (c) and (d). If the President is unable to act under this paragraph or is a national of a Party to the dispute, the designations shall be effected by the next senior member of the Court who is neither unable to act nor a national of a Party.
2. Unless otherwise agreed between the Parties to the dispute, and subject to Article 41 and this Annex, the Optional Rules for Arbitrating Disputes between Two States of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) shall apply.
3. The arbitral tribunal shall settle the dispute in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement and any other applicable rules of international law.
4. The arbitral tribunal shall take its decisions by majority vote. Minority opinions shall not be disclosed.
5. A Party that is not a Party to the dispute, on delivery of a written notice to the disputing Parties, shall be entitled to make written submissions to the arbitral tribunal, to receive written submissions of the disputing Parties, attend all hearings and make oral submissions.
6. The arbitral award shall be rendered within six months of the date at which the President of the arbitral tribunal was appointed. This period can be extended by a maximum of three additional months, if the Parties to the dispute so agree.
7. The expenses of the arbitral tribunal, including the remuneration of its members, shall normally be borne by the Parties to the dispute in equal shares.