Article 79.
1. The Cooperation Council shall consist of the members of the Council of the European Union and members of the Commission of the European Communities, on the one hand, and of members of the Government of the Republic of Armenia, on the other.
2. The Cooperation Council shall establish its rules of procedure.
3. The office of President of the Cooperation Council shall be held alternately by a representative of the Community and by a member of the Government of the Republic of Armenia.
Article 80.
1. The Cooperation Council shall be assisted in the performance of its duties by a Cooperation Committee composed of representatives of the members of the Council of the European Union and of members of the Commission of the European Communities on the one hand and of representatives of the Government of the Republic of Armenia on the other, normally at senior civil servant level. The office of President of the Cooperation Committee shall be held alternately by the Community and by the Republic of Armenia.
In its rules of procedure the Cooperation Council shall determine the duties of the Cooperation Committee, which shall include the preparation of meetings of the Cooperation Council, and how the Committee shall function.
2. The Cooperation Council may delegate any of its powers to the Cooperation Committee, which will ensure continuity between meetings of the Cooperation Council.
Article 81.
The Cooperation Council may decide to set up any other special committee or body that can assist it in carrying out its duties and shall determine the composition and duties of such committees or bodies and how they shall function.
Article 82.
When examining any issue arising within the framework of this Agreement in relation to a provision referring to an article of the GATT/WTO, the Cooperation Council shall take into account to the greatest extent possible the interpretation that is generally given to the Article of the GATT/WTO in question by the Members of the WTO.
Article 83.
A Parliamentary Cooperation Committee is hereby established. It shall be a forum for Members of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia and the European Parliament to meet and exchange views. It shall meet at intervals which it shall itself determine.
Article 84.
1. The Parliamentary Cooperation Committee shall consist of Members of the European Parliament, on the one hand, and of Members of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, on the other.
2. The Parliamentary Cooperation Committee shall establish its rules of procedure.
3. The Parliamentary Cooperation Committee shall be presided in turn by the European Parliament and the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia respectively, in accordance with the provisions to be laid down in its rules of procedure.
Article 85.
The Parliamentary Cooperation Committee may request relevant information regarding the implementation of this Agreement from the Cooperation Council, which shall then supply the Committee with the requested information.
The Parliamentary Cooperation Committee shall be informed of the recommendations of the Cooperation Council.
The Parliamentary Cooperation Committee may make recommendations to the Cooperation Council.
Article 86.
1. 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, including those concerning intellectual, industrial and commercial property.
2. Within the limits of their respective powers and competences, the Parties:
Shall encourage the adoption of arbitration for the settlement of disputes arising out of commercial and cooperation transactions concluded by economic operators of the Community and those of the Republic of Armenia,
Agree that where a dispute is submitted to arbitration, each party to the dispute may, except where the rules of the arbitration centre chosen by the parties provide otherwise, choose its own arbitrator, irrespective of his nationality, and that the presiding third arbitrator or the sole arbitrator may be a citizen of a third State,
Will recommend their economic operators to choose by mutual consent the law applicable to their contracts,
Shall encourage recourse to the arbitration rules elaborated by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (Uncitral) and to arbitration by any centre of a State signatory to the Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards done at New York on 10 June 1958.
Article 87.
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:
(d) which it considers necessary to respect its international obligations and commitments in the control of dual-use industrial goods and technology.
Article 88.
1. In the fields covered by this Agreement and without prejudice to any special provisions contained therein:
The arrangements applied by the Republic of Armenia in respect of the Community shall not give rise to any discrimination between the Member States, their nationals or their companies or firms,
The arrangements applied by the Community in respect of the Republic of Armenia shall not give rise to any discrimination between Armenian nationals, or its companies or firms.
2. The provisions of paragraph 1 are without prejudice to the right of the Parties to apply the relevant provisions of their fiscal legislation to tax payers who are not in identical situations as regards their place of residence.
Article 89.
1. Each of the two Parties may refer to the Cooperation Council any dispute relating to the application or interpretation of this Agreement.
2. The Cooperation Council may settle the dispute by means of a recommendation.
3. In the event of it not being possible to settle the dispute in accordance with paragraph 2, either Party may notify the other of the appointment of a conciliator: the other Party must then appoint a second arbitrator within two months. For the application of this procedure, the Community and the Member States shall be deemed to be one Party to the dispute.
The Cooperation Council shall appoint a third conciliator.
The conciliators' recommendations shall be taken by majority vote. Such recommendations shall not be binding upon the Parties.
4. The Cooperation Council may establish rules of procedure for dispute settlement.
Article 90.
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 14, 89 and 95.
Article 91.
Treatment granted to the Republic of Armenia thereunder shall in no case be more favourable than that granted by the Member States to each other.
Article 92.
For the purposes of this Agreement, the term Parties shall mean the Republic of Armenia, of the one part, and the Community, or the Member States, or the Community and the Member States, in accordance with their respective powers, of the other part.
Article 93.
Insofar as matters covered by this Agreement are covered by the Energy Charter Treaty and Protocols thereto, such Treaty and Protocols shall upon entry into force apply to such matters but only to the extent that such application is provided for therein.
Article 94.
This Agreement is concluded for an initial period of 10 years. This Agreement shall be automatically renewed year by year provided that neither Party gives the other Party written notice of denunciation of this Agreement six months before it expires.
Article 95.
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 Cooperation Council with all relevant information required for a thorough examination of the situation with a view to seeking a solution acceptable to the Parties.
In the selection of these measures, priority must be given to those which least disturb the functioning of this Agreement. These measures shall be notified immediately to the Cooperation Council if the other Party so requests.
Article 96.
Annexes I, II, III and IV together with the Protocol shall form an integral part of this Agreement.
Article 97.
This Agreement shall not, until equivalent rights for individuals and economic operators have been achieved thereunder, affect rights assured to them through existing Agreements binding one or more Member States, on the one hand, and the Republic of Armenia, on the other, except in areas falling within Community competence and without prejudice to the obligations of Member States resulting from this Agreement in areas falling within their competence.
Article 98.
This Agreement shall apply, on the one hand, to the territories in which the Treaties establishing the European Community, the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community are applied and under the conditions laid down in those Treaties and, on the other hand, to the territory of the Republic of Armenia.
Article 99.
The Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union shall be the depository of this Agreement.
Article 100.
The original of this Agreement of which the Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Armenian languages are equally authentic, shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union.
Article 101.
This Agreement will be approved by the Parties in accordance with their own procedures.
This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the second month following the date on which the Parties notify the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union that the procedures referred to in the first paragraph have been completed.
Upon its entry into force, and as far as relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Community are concerned, this Agreement shall replace the Agreement between the European Economic Community, the European Atomic Energy Community and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on trade and economic and commercial cooperation signed in Brussels on 18 December 1989.
Article 102.
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 are put into effect by means of an Interim Agreement between the Community and the Republic of Armenia, the Parties agree that, in such circumstances, the term date of entry into force of this Agreement shall mean the date of entry into force of the Interim Agreement.
Conclusion
Done at Luxembourg on the twenty-second day of April in the year one thousand nine hundred and ninety-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.
Attachments
All Independent States:
No import duties are implemented.
1. Article 42(2) concerns the following multilateral conventions:
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Paris Act, 1971),
International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations (Rome, 1961),
Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of Marks (Madrid, 1989),
Nice Agreement concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the purposes of the Registration of Marks (Geneva 1977, and amended in 1979),
Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Micro-organisms for the purposes of Patent Procedures (1977, modified in 1980),
International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) (Geneva Act, 1991).
2. The Cooperation Council may recommend that Article 42(2) shall apply to other multilateral conventions. If problems in the area of intellectual, industrial and commercial property affecting trading conditions were to occur, urgent consultations will be undertaken, at the request of either party, with a view to reaching mutually satisfactory solutions.
3. The Parties confirm the importance they attach to the obligations arising from the following multilateral conventions:
Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (Stockholm Act, 1967, and amended in 1979),
Madrid Agreement concerning the Interational Registration of Marks (Stockholm Act, 1967, and amended in 1979),
Patent Cooperation Treaty (Washington, 1970, amended in 1979 and modified in 1984).
4. From the entry into force of this Agreement, the Republic of Armenia shall grant to Community companies and nationals, in respect of the recognition and protection of intellectual, industrial and commercial property, treatment no less favourable than that granted by it to any third country under bilateral agreements.
5. The provisions of paragraph 4 shall not apply to advantages granted by the Republic of Armenia to any third country on an effective reciprocal basis and to advantages granted by the Republic of Armenia to another country of the former USSR.
A financial service is any service of a financial nature offered by a financial service provider of a Party. Financial services include the following activities:
A. All insurance and insurance-related services
1. Direct insurance (including co-insurance):
(i) life,
(ii) non-life.
2. Reinsurance and retrocession.
3. Insurance intermediation, such as brokerage and agency.
4. Services auxiliary to insurance, such as consultancy, actuarial, risk assessment and claim settlement services.
B. Banking and other financial services (excluding insurance)
1. Acceptance of deposits and other repayable funds from the public.
2. Lending of all types, including, inter alia, consumer credit, mortgage credit, factoring and financing of commercial transactions.
3. Financial leasing.
4. All payment and money transmission services, including credit charge and debit cards, travellers cheques and bankers drafts.
5. Guarantees and commitments.
6. Trading for own account or for the account of customers, whether on an exchange, in an over the counter market or otherwise, the following:
(a) money market instruments (cheques, bills, certificates of deposits, etc.);
(b) foreign exchange;
(c) derivative products including, but not limited to, futures and options;
(d) exchange rates and interest rate instruments, including products such as swaps, forward rate agreements, etc.;
(e) transferable securities;
(f) other negotiable instruments and financial assets, including bullion.
7. Participation in issues of all kinds of securities, including underwriting and placement as agent (whether publicly or privately) and provision of services related to such issues.
8. Money brokering.
9. Asset management, such as cash or portfolio management, all forms of collective investment management, pension fund management, custodial depository and trust services.
10. Settlement and clearing services for financial assets, including securities, derivative products, and other negotiable instruments.
11. Advisory intermediation and other auxiliary financial services on all the activities listed in points 1 to 10 above, including credit reference and analysis, investment and portfolio research and advice, advice on acquisitions and on corporate restructuring and strategy.
12. Provision and transfer of financial information, and financial data processing and related software by providers of other financial services.