(c) decide within the Partnership Council whether:
(i) to apply Article 492 to the national of that third country, or
(ii) to establish transitional arrangements as regards Article 492 in relation to that third country and its nationals once it accedes to the Union.
5. In the absence of a decision under point (c)(i) or (ii) of paragraph 4 of this Article by the entry into force of the agreement on the accession of the relevant third country to the Union, Article 492 shall not apply to nationals of that third country.
6. In the event that the Partnership Council establishes transitional arrangements as referred to in point (c)Gi) of paragraph 4, it shall specify their duration. The Partnership Council may extend the duration of those transitional arrangements.
7. Before the expiry of the transitional arrangements referred to in point (c)(ii) of paragraph 4 of this Article, the Partnership Council shall decide whether to apply Article 492 to the nationals of that third country from the end of the transitional arrangements. In the absence of such a decision Article 492 shall not apply in relation to the nationals of that third country from the end of the transitional arrangements.
8. Point (c) of paragraph 4, and paragraphs 5 to 7 are without prejudice to the Union's prerogatives under its domestic legislation.
9. For greater certainty, without prejudice to point (c) of paragraph 4 and paragraphs 5 to 7, this Agreement shall apply in relation to a new Member State of the Union from the date of accession of that new Member State to the Union.
Article 782. Interim Provision for Transmission of Personal Data to the United Kingdom
1. For the duration of the specified period, transmission of personal data from the Union to the United Kingdom shall not be considered as a transfer to a third country under Union law, provided that the data protection legislation of the United Kingdom on 31 December 2020, as it is saved and incorporated into United Kingdom law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 and as modified by the Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications (Amendments etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (SI 2019/419) (1) (the "applicable data protection regime"), applies and provided that the United Kingdom does not exercise the designated powers without the agreement of the Union within the Partnership Council.
2. Subject to paragraphs 3 to 11, paragraph 1 shall also apply in respect of transfers of personal data from Iceland, the Principality of Liechtenstein and the Kingdom of Norway to the United Kingdom during the specified period made under Union law as applied in those states by the Agreement on the European Economic Area done at Porto on 2 May 1992, for so long as paragraph 1 applies to transfers of personal data ftom the Union to the United Kingdom, provided that those states notify both Parties in writing of their express acceptance to apply this provision.
3. For the purposes of this Article, the "designated powers" means the powers:
(a) to make regulations pursuant to sections 17A, 17C and 74A of the UK Data Protection Act 2018;
(b) to issue a new document specifying standard data protection clauses pursuant to section 119A of the UK Data Protection Act 2018;
(c) to approve a new drafi code of conduct pursuant to Articlk 40(5) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation ("UK GDPR'"), other than a code of conduct which cannot be relied on to provide appropriate safeguards for transfers of personal data to a third country under Article 46(2)(e) of the UK GDPR;
(d) to approve new certification mechanisms pursuant to Article 42(5) of the UK GDPR, other than certification mechanisms which cannot be relied on to provide appropriate safeguards for transfers of personal data to a third country under Article 46(2)(f) of the UK GDPR;
(e) to approve new binding corporate rules pursuant to Article 47 of the UK GDPR;
(f) to authorise new contractual clauses referred to in Article 46(3)(a) of the UK GDPR; or
(g) to authorise new administrative arrangements referred to in Article 46(3)(b) of the UK GDPR.
4. The "specified period" begins on the date of entry into force of this Agreement and, subject to paragraph 5, ends on one of the following dates, whichever is earlier:
(a) onthe date on which adequacy decisions in relation to the United Kingdom are adopted by the European Commission under Article 36(3) of Directive (EU) 2016/680 and under Article 45(3) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, or
(b) onthe date four months after the date on which the specified period begins, which period shall be extended by two further months unless one of the Parties objects.
5. Subject to paragraphs 6 and 7, if during the specified period, the United Kingdom amends the applicable data protection regime or exercises the designated powers without the agreement of the Union within the Partnership Council, the specified period shall end on the date on which the powers are exercised or the amendment comes into force.
6. The references to exercising the designated powers in paragraphs 1 and 5 do not include the exercise of such powers the effect of which is limited to alignment with the relevant Union data protection law.
7. Anything that would otherwise be an amendment to the applicable data protection regime which is:
(a) made with the agreement of the Union within the Partnership Council; or
(b) limited to alignment with the relevant Union data protection law;
shall not be treated as an amendment to the applicable data protection regime for the purposes of paragraph 5 and instead should be treated as being part of the applicable data protection regime for the purposes of paragraph 1.
8. For the purposes of paragraphs 1, 5 and 7, "the agreement of the Union within the Partnership Council" means:
(a) adecision of the Partnership Council as described in paragraph 11; or
(b) deemed agreement as described in paragraph 10.
9. Where the United Kingdom notifies the Union that it proposes to exercise the designated powers or proposes to amend the applicable data protection regime, either party may request, within five working days, a meeting of the Partnership Council which must take place within two weeks of such request.
10. If no such meeting is requested, the Union is deemed to have given agreement to such exercise or amendment during the specified period.
11. If such a meeting is requested, at that meeting the Partnership Council shall consider the proposed exercise or amendment and may adopt a decision stating that it agrees to the exercise or amendment during the specified period.
12. The United Kingdom shall, as far as is reasonably possible, notify the Union when, during the specified period, it enters into a new instrument which can be relied on to transfer personal data to a third country under Article 46(2)(a) of the UK GDPR or section 75(1)(a) of the UK Data Protection Act 2018 during the specified period. Following a notification by the United Kingdom under this paragraph, the Union may request a meeting of the Partership Council to discuss the relevant instrument.
13. Title I of Part Six does not apply in respect of disputes regarding the interpretation and application of this Article.
Article 783. Entry Into Force and Provisional Application
1, This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the month following that in which both Parties have notified each other that they have completed their respective internal requirements and procedures for establishing their consent to be bound.
2. The Parties agree to provisionally apply this Agreement from 1 January 2021 provided that prior to that date they have notified each other that their respective internal requirements and procedures necessary for provisional application have been completed. Provisional application shall cease on one of the following dates, whichever is the earliest:
(a) 28 February 2021 or another date as decided by the Partnership Council; or
(b) the day referred to in paragraph 1.
3. As from the date from which this Agreement is provisionally applied, the Parties shall understand references in this Agreement to "the date of entry into force of this Agreement" or to "the entry into force of this Agreement" as references to the date ftom which this Agreement is provisionally applied.
Conclusion
Done at Brussels and London on the thirtieth day of December in the year two thousand and twenty.
For the European Union Pour
For the European Atomic Energy Community
For the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Attachments
Annex 1. RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE PARTNERSHIP COUNCIL AND COMMITTEES
Rule 1. Chair
1. The Union and the United Kingdom shall notify each other of the name, position and contact details of their respective designated co-chairs. A co-chair is deemed to have the authorisation for representing, respectively, the Union or the United Kingdom until the date a new co-chair has been notified to the other Party.
2. The decisions of the co-chairs provided for by these Rules of Procedure shall be taken by mutual consent,
3. Aco-chair may be replaced for a particular meeting by a designee. The co-chair, or his or her designee, shall notify the other co-chair and the Secretariat of the Partnership Council of the designation as early as possble. Any reference in these Rules of Procedure to the co-chairs shall be understood to include a designee.
Rule 2. Secretariat
The Secretariat of the Partnership Council (the "Secretariat") shall be composed of an official of the Union and an official of the Government of the United Kingdom, The Secretariat shall perform the tasks conferred on it by these Rules of Procedure.
The Union and the United Kingdom shall notify each other of the name, position and contact details of the official who is the member of the Secretariat of the Partnership Council for the Union and the United Kingdom, respectively. This official is deemed to continue acting as member of the Secretariat for the Union or for the United Kingdom until the date either the Union or the United Kingdom has notified a new member.
Rule 3. Meetings
1. Each meeting of the Partnership Council shall be convened by the Secretariat at a date and time agreed by the co-chairs. Where the Union or the United Kingdom has transmitted a request for a meeting through the Secretariat, the Partnership Council shall endeavour to meet within 30 days of such request, or sooner in cases provided for in this Agreement.
2. The Partnership Council shall hold its meetings alternately in Brussels and London, unless the co-chairs decide otherwse.
3. By way of derogation from paragraph 2, the co-chairs may agree that a meeting of the Partnership Council be held by videoconference or teleconference.
Rule 4. Participation In Meetings
1. A reasonable period of time in advance of each meeting, the Union and the United Kingdom shall inform each other through the Secretariat of the intended composition of their respective delegations and shall specify the name and function of each member of the delegation.
2. Where appropriate the co-chairs may, by mutual consent, invite experts (ie. non-government officials) to attend meetings of the Partnership Council in order to provide information on a specific subject and only for the parts of the meeting where such specific subjects are discussed.
Rule 5. Documents
Written documents on which the deliberations of the Partnership Council are based shall be numbered and circulated to the Union and the United Kingdom by the Secretariat.
Rule 6. Correspondence
1. The Union and the United Kingdom shall send their correspondence addressed to the Partnership Council via the Secretariat. Such correspondence may be sent in any form of written communication, including by electronic mail.
2. The Secretariat shall ensure that correspondence addressed to the Partnership Council is delivered to the co-chairs and is circulated, where appropriate, in accordance with Rule 5.
3. All correspondence from, or addressed directly to, the co-chairs shall be forwarded to the Secretariat and shall be circulated, where appropriate, in accordance with Rule 5.
Rule 7. Agenda for the Meetings
1. For each meeting, a draft provsional agenda shall be drawn up by the Secretariat. It shall be transmitted, together with the relevant documents, to the co-chairs no later than 10 days before the date of the meeting,
2. The provisional agenda shall include items requested by the Union or the United Kingdom. Any such request, together with any relevant document, shall be submitted to the Secretariat no later than 15 days before the beginning of the meeting.
3. No later than 5 days before the date of the meeting, the co-chairs shall decide on the provisional agenda for a meeting.
4. The agenda shall be adopted by the Partnership Council at the begining of each meeting. On request by the Union or the United Kingdom, an item other than those included in the provisional agenda may be included in the agenda by consensus. The co-chairs nay, by mutual consent, reduce or increase the time periods specified in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 in order to take account of the requirements ofa particular case.
Rule 8. Minutes
1. Draft minutes of each meeting shall be drawn up by the official acting as member of the Secretariat of the Party hosting the meeting, within 15 days from the end of the meeting, unless otherwise decided by the co-chairs. The draft minutes shall be transmitted for comments to the member of the Secretariat of the other Party. The latter may submit comments within 7 days from the date of receipt of the draft minutes.
2. The minutes shall, as a rule, summurise each item on the agenda, specifying where applicable:
(a) the documents submitted to the Partnership Council;
(b) any statement that one of the co-chairs requested to be entered in the mmutes; and
(c) the decisions taken, recommendations made, statements agreed upon and conclusions adopted on specific items.
3. The minutes shall include as an annex a Iist of participants setting out for each of the delegations the names and functions of all individuals who attended the meeting,
4. The Secretariat shall adjust the draft minutes on the basis of comments received and the draft minutes, as revised, shall be approved by the co-chairs within 28 days of the date of the meeting, or by any other date agreed by the co-chairs. Once approved, two versions of the minutes shall be authenticated by signature of the members of the Secretariat. The Union and the United Kingdom shall each receive one of these authentic versions. The co-chairs may agree that signing and exchanging electronic copies satisfies this requirement.
Rule 9. Decisions and Recommendations
1. In the period between meetings, the Partnership Council may adopt decsions or recommendations by written procedure. The text ofa draft decision or recommendation shall be presented in writing by a co-chair to the other co-chair in the working language of the Partnership Council. The other Party shall have one month, or any longer period of time specified by the proposing Party, to express its agreement to the draft decision or recommendation. If the other Party does not express its agreement, the proposed decision or recommendation shall be discussed and may be adopted at the next meeting of the Partnership Council. The draft decisions or recommendations shall be deemed to be adopted once the other Party expresses its agreement and shall be recorded in the minutes of the next meeting of the Partnership Council pursuant to Rule 8.
2. Where the Partnership Council adopts decisions or recommendations, the words "Decision" or "Recommendation", respectively, shall be inserted in the title of such acts. The Secretariat shall record any decision or recommendation under a serial number and with a reference to the date of its adoption.
3. Decisions adopted by the Partnership Council shall specify the date on which they take effect.
4. Decisions and recommendations adopted by the Partnership Council shall be established in duplicate in the authentic languages and signed by the co-chairs and shall be sent by the Secretariat to the Union and the United Kingdom immediately after signature. The co-chairs may agree that signing and exchanging electronic copies satisfies the requirement for signature.
Rule 10. Transparency
The co-chairs may agree that the Parmership Council shall meet in public.
1. Each Party may decide on the publication of the decisions and recommendations of the Partnership Council in its respective official journal or online.
2. If the Union or the United Kingdom submits information that is confidential or protected from disclosure under its laws and regulations to the Partnership Council, the other party shall treat that information received as confidential.
3. Provisional agendas of the meetings shall be made public before the meeting of the Partnership Council takes place. The minutes of the meetings shall be made public following their approval in accordance with Rule 8.
4. Publication of documents referred to in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 shall be made in compliance with both Partiesâ applicable data protection rules.
Rule 11. Languages
1. The official languages of the Partnership Council shall be the official languages of the Union and the United Kingdom.
2. The working language of the Partnership Council shall be English. Unless otherwise decided by the co-chairs, the Partnership Council shall base its deliberations on documents prepared in English.
3. The Partnership Council shall adopt decisions concerning the amendment or interpretation of this Agreement in the languages of the authentic texts of this Agreement. All other decisions of the Partnership Council, including the ones through which the present rules of procedure are amended, shall be adopted in the working language referred to in paragraph 2.
Rule 12. Expenses
1. The Union and the United Kingdom shall each meet any expenses they incur as a result of participating in the meetings of the Partnership Council.
2. Expenditure in connection with the organisation of meetings and reproduction of documents shall be bome by the party hosting the meeting.
3. Expenditure in comnection with interpretation to and from the working language of the Partnership Council at meetings shall be bome by the party requesting such interpretation.
4. Each Party shall be responsible for the transhtion of decisions and other documents into its own official language(s), if required pursuant to Rule 11, and it shall meet expenditures associated with such transltions.
Rule 13. Committees
1. Without prejudice to paragraph 2 of this Rule, Rules 1 to 12 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the Committees.
2. The Committees shall inform the Partnership Council of their meeting schedules and agenda sufficiently in advance of their meetings, and shall report to the Partnership Council on the results and conclusions of each of their meetings.
ANNEX 19. EXISTING MEASURES
Headnotes
1. The Schedules of the United Kingdom and the Union set out, under Articles 133, 139 and 195 of this Agreement, the reservations taken by the United Kingdom and the Union with respect to existing measures that do not conform with obligations imposed by:
(a) Article 128 or 135 of this Agreement;
(b) Article 136 of this Agreement;
(c) Article 129 or 137 of this Agreement;
(d) Article 130 or 138 of this Agreement;
(e) Article 131 of this Agreement;
(f) Article 132 of this Agreement; or
(g) Article 194 of this Agreement.
2. The reservations of a Party are without prejudice to the rights and obligations of the Parties under GATS.
3. Each reservation sets out the following elements:
(a) "sector" refers to the general sector in which the reservation is taken;
(b) "sub-sector" refers to the specific sector in which the reservation is taken;
(c) "industry classification" refers, where applicable, to the activity covered by the reservation according to the CPC, ISIC Rev. 3.1, or as expressly otherwise described in that reservation;
(d) "type of reservation" specifies the obligation referred to in paragraph 1 for which a reservation is taken;
(e) "level of government" indicates the level of government maintaining the measure for which a reservation is taken;
(f) "measures" identifies the laws or other measures as qualified, where indicated, by the "description" element for which the reservation is taken. A "measure" cited in the "measures" element:
(i) means the measure as amended, continued or renewed as of the date of entry into force of this Agreement;
(ii) includes any subordinate measure adopted or maintained under the authority of and consistent with the measure; and
(iii) in respect of the Schedule of the Union, includes any laws or other measures which implement a directive at Member State level; and
(g) "description" sets out the non-conforming aspects of the existing measure for which the reservation is taken,
4. For greater certainty, if a Party adopts a new measure at a level of government different to that at which the reservation was originally taken, and this new measure effectively replaces - within the territory to which it applies - the non-conforming aspect of the original measure cited in the "measures" element, the new measure shall be deemed to constitute "modification" to the original measure within the meaning of point (c) of Article 133(1), point (c) of Article 139(1), point (c) of Article 144 and point (c) of Article 195(1) of this Agreement,
5. In the interpretation ofa reservation, all elements of the reservation shall be considered. A reservation shall be interpreted in the light of the relevant obligations of the Chapters or Sections against which the reservation is taken. The "measures" element shall prevail over all other elements.
6. For the purposes of the Schedules of the United Kingdom and the Union:
(a) "ISIC Rev. 3.1" means the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities as set out in Statistical Office of the United Nations, Statistical Papers, Series M, No.4, ISIC Rev. 3.1, 2002;
(b) "CPC" means the Provisional Central Product Classification (Statistical Papers, Series M No. 77, Department of International Economic and Social Affairs, Statistical Office of the United Nations, New York, 1991).
7. For the purposes of the Schedules of the United Kingdom and the Union, a reservation for a requirement to have a local presence in the territory of the Union or the United Kingdom is taken against Article 136 of this Agreement, and not against Article 135 or 137 of this Agreement. Furthermore, such a requirement is not taken as a reservation against Article 129 of this Agreement.
8. A reservation taken at the level of the Union applies to a measure of the Union, to a measure of a Member State at the central level or to a measure of a government within a Member State, unless the reservation excludes a Member State. A reservation taken by a Member State applies to a measure of a government at the central, regional or local level within that Member State. For the purposes of the reservations of Belgium, the central level of government covers the federal government and the governments of the regions and the communities as each of them holds equipollent legislative powers. For the purposes of the reservations of the Union and its Member States, a regional level of government in Finland means the Aland Islands. A reservation taken at the level of the United Kingdom applies to a measure of the central government, a regional government or a local government.
9. The list of reservations below does not include measures relating to qualification requirements and procedures, technical standards and licensing requirements and procedures where they do not constitute a limitation within the meaning of Article 128, 129, 135, 136, 137 or 194 of this Agreement. These measures may include, in particular, the need to obtain a licence, to satisfy universal service obligations, to have recognised qualifications in regulated sectors, to pass specific examinations, including language examinations, to fulfil a membership requirement ofa particular profession, such as membership in a professional organisation, to have a local agent for service, or to maintain a local address, or any other non-discriminatory requirements that certain activities may not be carried out in protected zones or areas. While not Isted, such measures continue to apply.
10. For greater certainty, for the Union, the obligation to grant national treatment does not entail the requirement to extend to natural or legal persons of the United Kingdom the treatment granted in a Member State, pursuant to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, or any measure adopted pursuant to that Treaty, including their implementation in the Member States, to:
(i) natural persons or residents of another Member State; or
(ii) legal persons constituted or organised under the law of another Member State or of the Union and having their registered office, central administration or principal place of business in the Union,
11. Treatment granted to legal persons established by investors of a Party in accordance with the law of the other Party (including, in the case of the Union, the law of a Member State) and having their registered office, central administration or principal place of business within that other Party, is without prejudice to any condition or obligation, consistent with Chapter 2 of Title Il of Heading One of Part Two of this Agreement, which may have been imposed on such legal person when it was established in that other Party, and which shall continue to apply.
12. The Schedules apply only to the territories of the United Kingdom and the Union in accordance with Article 520(2) and Article 774 of this Agreement and are only relevant in the context of trade relations between the Union and its Member States with the United Kingdom. They do not affect the rights and obligations of the Member States under Union law.
13. For greater certainty, non-discriminatory measures do not constitute a market access Imitation within the meaning of Article 128, 135 or 194 of this Agreement for any measure:
(a) requiring the separation of the ownership of infrastructure ftom the ownership of the goods or services provided through that infrastructure to ensure fair competition, for example in the fields of energy, transportation and telecommunications;
(b) restricting the concentration of ownership to ensure fair competition;
(c) seeking to ensure the conservation and protection of natural resources and the environment, including a limitation on the availability, number and scope of concessions granted, and the imposition of a moratorium or ban;
(d) limiting the number of authorisations granted because of technical or physical constraints, for example telecommunications spectra and frequencies; or
(e) requiring that acertain percentage of the sharehoKers, owners, partners, or directors of an enterprise be qualified or practice a certain profession such as lawyers or accountants.
14. With respect to financial services: Unlike foreign subsidiaries, branches established directly in a Member State by a non-European Union financial institution are not, with certain limited exceptions, subject to prudential regulations harmonised at Union level which enable such subsidiaries to benefit from enhanced facilities to set up new establishments and to provide cross-border services throughout the Union. Therefore, such branches receive an authorisation to operate in the territory of a Member State under conditions equivalent to those applied to domestic financial institutions of that Member State, and may be required to satisfy a number of specific prudential requirements such as, in the case of banking and securities, separate capitalisation and other solvency requirements and reporting and publication of accounts requirements or, in the case of insurance, specific guarantee and deposit requirements, a separate capitalisation, and the localisation in the Member State concerned of the assets representing the technical reserves and at least one third of the solvency margin.
The following abbreviations are used in the list of reservations below: