Nothing in this Agreement shall prevent a Contracting 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 115.
1. In the fields covered by this Agreement and without prejudice to any special provisions contained therein:
- the arrangements applied by the Slovak Republic 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 Slovak Republic shall not give rise to any discrimination between Slovak Republic nationals or its companies or firms.
2. The provisions of paragraph 1 are without prejudice to the right of the Contracting 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 116.
Products originating in the Slovak Republic shall not enjoy more favourable treatment when imported into the Community than that applied by Member States among themselves.
The treatment granted to the Slovak Republic under Title IV and Chapter I of Title V shall not be more favourable than that accorded by Member States among themselves.
Article 117.
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 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.
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 Association Council and shall be the subject of consultations within the Association Council if the other Party so requests.
Article 118.
This Agreement shall not, until equivalent rights for individuals and economic operators have been achieved under this Agreement, affect rights assured to them through existing agreements binding one or more Member States, on the one hand, and the Slovak Republic, on the other.
Article 119.
Protocols 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 and Annexes I to XVII shall form an integral part of this Agreement.
Article 120.
This Agreement is concluded for an unlimited period.
Either Party may denounce this Agreement by notifying the other Party. This Agreement shall cease to apply six months after the date of such notification.
Article 121.
This Agreement shall apply, on the one hand, to the territories in which the Treaties establishing the European Economic Community, the European Atomic Energy Community, and the European Coal and Steel Community are applied and under the conditions laid down in those Treaties and, on the other hand, to the territory of the Slovak Republic.
Article 122.
This Agreement is drawn up in duplicate in the Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese and Slovak languages, each of these texts being equally authentic.
Article 123.
This Agreement will be approved by the Contracting 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 Contracting Parties notify each other that the procedures referred to in the first paragraph have been completed.
Upon its entry into force, this Agreement shall replace the Agreement between the European Economic Community, the European Atomic Energy Community and the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic on trade, economic and commercial cooperation signed in Brussels on 7 May 1990, and the Protocol between the European Coal and Steel Community and the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic initialled in Brussels on 28 June 1991, before the entry into force hereof.
Article 124.
1. In view of the fact that provisions equivalent to those of certain parts of the Agreement and thus of the Europe Agreement signed between the Community and its Member States on 16 December 1991 and the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, in particular those relating to the movements of goods, were put into effect since 1 March 1992 by means of an Interim Agreement on trade and trade related measures between the Community and the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic signed on 16 December 1991, as amended by the Supplementary Protocols between the Community and each of the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic, the Parties agree that in such circumstances for the purposes of Title III, Articles 64, 66 and 67 of the Agreement and Protocols 1 (with the exception of its Article 3), 2, 3, 4 and 5 and 6, the term 'date of entry into force of the Agreement` shall mean:
- 1 March 1992 in relation to obligations taking effect on the date of entry into force of the Agreement, and
- 1 January 1992 in relation to obligations taking effect after the date of entry into force by reference to the date of entry into force.
2. In the case of entry into force of the Agreement after 1 January in any year, the provisions of Protocol 7 shall apply.
Conclusion
In witness whereof the undersigned Plenipotentiaries have signed this Agreement.
Done at Luxembourg on the fourth day of October in the year one thousand nine hundred and ninety-three.
For the Kingdom of Belgium
For the Kingdom of Denmark
For the Federal Republic of Germany
For the Hellenic Republic
For the Kingdom of Spain
For thr French Republic
For Ireland
For the Italian Republic
For the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
For the Kingdom of Netherlands
For the Portuguese Republic
For the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
For the Council and the Commission of the European Communities
For the Slovak Republic