3. The procedures applicable to projects and programmes financed within the framework of microprojects or decentralised cooperation shall be those laid down in the Agreement, in particular those referred to in multi-annual programmes.
Chapter 6. Humanitarian, Emergency and Post-emergency Assistance
Article 72. General Principle
1. Humanitarian, emergency and post-emergency assistance shall be provided in situations of crisis. Humanitarian and emergency assistance shall aim to save and preserve life and to prevent and relieve human suffering wherever the needs arise. Post-emergency assistance shall aim at rehabilitation and linking the short-term relief with longer term development programmes,
2. Situations of crisis, including long-term structural instability or fragility are situations posing a threat to law and order or to the security and safety of individuals, threatening to escalate into armed conflict or to destabilise the country. Situations of crisis may also result from natural disasters, man-made crises such as wars and other conflicts or extraordinary circumstances having comparable effects related, inter alia, to climate change, environmental degradation, access to energy and natural resources, or extreme poverty.
3. The humanitarian, emergency and post-emergency assistance shall be maintained for as long as necessary to deal with the needs resulting from these situations for the victims, thereby linking relief, rehabilitation and development.
4. The humanitarian assistance shall be granted exclusively according to the needs and interests of the victims of the crisis situation and in line with the principles of international humanitarian law and with respect to humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence. In particular, there shall be no discrimination between victims on grounds of race, ethnic origin, religion, gender, age, nationality or political affiliation and free access to and protection of victims shall be guaranteed as well as the security of humanitarian personnel and equipment.
5. The humanitarian, emergency and post-emergency assistance shall be financed under the multi-annual financial framework of cooperation under this Agreement, where such assistance cannot be financed from the Union's Budget. Humanitarian, emergency and post-emergency assistance shall be implemented in complementarity and coordination with the Member States' efforts and in accordance with best practice in aid effectiveness.
Article 72A. Objective
1. Humanitarian and emergency assistance shall aim to:
(a) safeguard human lives in crises and immediate post-crisis situations;
(b) contribute to the financing and delivery of humanitarian aid and to the direct access to it of its intended beneficiaries by all logistical means available;
(c) carry out short-term rehabilitation and reconstruction to enable the victims to benefit from a minimum of socioeconomic integration and, as soon as possible, create the conditions for a resumption of development on the basis of long-term objectives set by the ACP countries and regions concerned;
(d) address the needs arising from the displacement of people (refugees, dis- placed persons and returnees) following natural or man-made disasters so as to meet, for as long as necessary, all the needs of refugees and displaced persons (wherever they may be) and facilitate action for their voluntary re- patriation and reintegration in their country of origin; and
(e) assist the ACP State or region in setting up short-term disaster prevention and preparedness mechanisms, including for prediction and early warning, with a view to reducing the consequences of disasters.
2. Assistance may be granted to ACP States or regions taking in refugees or returnees to meet acute needs not covered by emergency assistance.
3. Post-emergency action shall aim at physical and social rehabilitation consequent to the results of the crisis concerned and may be undertaken to link the short-term relief and rehabilitation with the relevant longer term development programmes funded from the national, regional indicative programmes or the intra-ACP programme. Such actions must be necessary for the transition from the emergency phase to the development phase, promoting the socioeconomic reintegration of the parts of the population affected, removing as far as possible the causes of the crisis and strengthening institutions and the ownership by local and national actors of their role in formulating a sustainable development policy for the ACP country concerned.
4. Where appropriate, short-term disaster prevention and preparedness mechanisms as referred to in paragraph 1(e) will be coordinated with other disaster prevention and preparedness mechanisms in place.
The development and strengthening of national, regional and all-ACP disaster risk reduction and management mechanisms shall assist ACP States to build their resilience to the impact of disasters. All related activities may be pursued in cooperation with regional and international organisations and programmes that have a proven track record in disaster risk reduction.
Article 73. Implementation
1. Assistance operations shall be undertaken either at the request of the ACP country or region affected by the crisis situation, or at the initiative of the Commission, or on the advice of international organisations or local or international non-state organisations.
2. The Community shall take adequate steps to facilitate speedy action, which is required to meet the immediate needs for which the assistance is needed. The assistance shall be administered and implemented under procedures permitting operations that are rapid, flexible and effective.
3. Underlining the developmental nature of the assistance granted in accordance with this Chapter, assistance may be used exceptionally together with the indicative programme at the request of the state or region concerned.
Chapter 7. Investment and Private Sector Development Support
Article 74.
Cooperation shall, through financial and technical assistance, support the policies and strategies for investment and private sector development as set out in this Agreement.
Article 75. Investment Promotion
The ACP States, the Community and its Member States, within the scope of their respective competencies, recognising the importance of private investment in the promotion of their development cooperation and acknowledging the need to take steps to promote such investment, shall:
(a) implement measures to encourage participation in their development efforts by private investors who comply with the objectives and priorities of ACP-EC development cooperation and with the appropriate laws and regulations of their respective states;
(b) take measures and actions which help to create and maintain a predictable and secure investment climate as well as enter into negotiations on agreements which will improve such climate;
(c) encourage the EU private sector to invest and to provide specific assistance to its counterparts in the ACP countries under mutual business cooperation and partnerships;
(d) facilitate partnerships and joint ventures by encouraging co-financing;
(e) sponsor sectoral investment fora to promote partnerships and external investment;
(f) support efforts of the ACP States to attract financing, with particular emphasis on private financing, for infrastructure investments and revenue generating infrastructure critical for the private sector;
(g) support capacity building for domestic investment promotion agencies and institutions involved in promoting and facilitating foreign investment;
(h) disseminate information on investment opportunities and business operat- ing conditions in the ACP States; and
(i) promote national, regional and ACP-EU private sector business dialogue, co-operation and partnerships, in particular through an ACP-EU private sector business forum. Support for operations of an ACP-EU private sector business forum shall be provided in pursuit of the following objectives:
(i) to facilitate dialogue within the ACP/EU private sector and between the ACP/EU private sector and the bodies established under the Agreement;
(ii) to analyse and periodically provide the relevant bodies with information on the whole range of issues concerning relations between the ACP and EU private sectors in the context of the Agreement or, more generally, of economic relations between the Community and the ACP countries; and
(iii) to analyse and provide the relevant bodies with information on specific problems of a sectoral nature relating to, inter alia, branches of production or types of products at regional or sub-regional level.
Article 76. Investment Finance and Support
1. Cooperation shall provide long-term financial resources, including risk capital, to assist in promoting growth in the private sector and help to mobilise domestic and foreign capital for this purpose. To this end, cooperation shall provide, in particular:
(a) grants for financial and technical assistance to support policy reforms, human resource development, institutional capacity-building or other forms of institutional support related to a specific investment, measures to increase the competitiveness of enterprises and to strengthen the capacities of the private financial and non-financial intermediaries, investment facilitation and promotion and competitiveness enhancement activities;
(b) advisory and consultative services to assist in creating a responsive invest- ment climate and information base to guide and encourage the flow of capital;
(c) risk capital for equity or quasi-equity investments, guarantees in support of domestic and foreign private investment and loans or lines of credit on the conditions laid down in Annex II "Terms and Conditions of Financing" to this Agreement; and
(d) loans from the Bank's own resources and the Investment Facility, the terms and conditions of which are set out in Annex II to this Agreement. Such loans may also be used to finance public investment in basic infrastructure.
2. Loans from the Bank's own resources shall be granted in accordance with its statute and with the terms and conditions laid down in Annex II to this Agreement.
Article 77. Investment Guarantees
1. Investment guarantees are an increasingly important tool for development finance as they contribute to reducing project risks and inducing private capital flows. Cooperation shall therefore ensure the increasing availability and use of risk insurance as a risk mitigating mechanism in order to boost investor confidence in the ACP States.
2. Cooperation shall offer guarantees and assist with guarantees funds covering risks for qualified investment. Specifically, cooperation shall provide support to:
(a) reinsurance schemes to cover foreign direct investment by eligible investors; against legal uncertainties and the major risks of expropriation, currency transfer restriction, war and civil disturbance, and breach of contract. Investors may insure projects for any combination of the four types of coverage;
(b) guarantee programmes to cover risk in the form of partial guarantees for debt financing. Both partial risk and partial credit guarantee shall be available; and
(c) national and regional guarantee funds, involving, in particular, domestic financial institutions or investors for encouraging the development of the financial sector.
3. Cooperation shall also provide support to capacity-building, institutional support and participation in the core funding of national and/or regional initiatives to reduce the commercial risks for investors (inter alia guarantee funds, regulatory bodies, arbitration mechanisms and judiciary systems to enhance the protection of investments improving the export credit systems).
4. Cooperation shall provide such support on the basis of complementary and added value with respect to private and/or public initiatives and, whenever feasible, in partnership with private and other public organisations. The ACP and the EC will within the framework of the ACP-EC Development Finance Cooperation Committee undertake a joint study on the proposal to set up an ACP-EC Guarantee Agency to provide and manage investment guarantee programmes.
Article 78. Investment Protection
1. The ACP States and the Community and its Member States, within the scope of their respective competencies, affirm the need to promote and protect either Party's investments on their respective territories, and in this context affirm the importance of concluding, in their mutual interest, investment promotion and protection agreements which could also provide the basis for insurance and guarantee schemes.
2. In order to encourage European investment in development projects of special importance to, and promoted by the ACP States, the Community and the Member States, on the one hand and the ACP States on the other, may also conclude agreements relating to specific projects of mutual interest where the Community and European enterprises contribute towards their financing.
3. The Parties also agree to introduce, within the economic partnership agreements, and while respecting the respective competencies of the Community and its Member States, general principles on protection and promotion of investments, which will endorse the best results agreed in the competent international fora or bilaterally.
Title III. Technical Cooperation
Article 79.
1. Technical cooperation shall assist the ACP States in the development of na- tional and regional manpower resources, the sustained development of the in- stitutions critical for development success, including inter alia strengthening ACP consulting firms and organisations, as well as exchange arrangements involving consultants from both ACP and EU firms.
2. Furthermore, technical cooperation, shall be cost-effective and relevant to the need for which it is intended, and shall also favour the transfer of know-how and increase national and regional capabilities. Technical cooperation shall contribute to the achievement of project and programme goals, including efforts to strengthen management capacity of the National and Regional Authorising Officers. Technical assistance shall:
(a) be demand driven and thus made available only at the request of the ACP State or States concerned, and adapted to recipient needs;
(b) complement and support ACP efforts to identify their own requirements;
(c) be monitored and followed up to guarantee effectiveness;
(d) encourage the participation of ACP experts, consultancy firms and educational and research institutions in contracts financed from the Fund and identify ways of employing qualified national and regional personnel on Fund projects;
(e) encourage the secondment of ACP national cadres as consultants to an institution in their own country, or a neighbouring country, or to a regional organisation;
(f) aim at developing knowledge of national and regional manpower constraints and potential and establish a register of ACP experts, consultants and consultancy firms suitable for employment on projects and programmes financed from the Fund;
(g) support intra ACP technical assistance in order to promote the exchange between the ACP States of technical assistance, management and professional expertise;
(h) develop action programmes for long term institution building and staff development as an integral part of project and programme planning, account being taken of the necessary financial requirements;
(i) support arrangements to enhance the capacity of the ACP States to build up their own expertise; and
(j) give special attention to the development of the ACP States’ capacities in project planning, implementation and evaluation, as well budget management.
3. Technical assistance may be provided in all areas of cooperation and within the limits of the mandate of this Agreement. The activities covered would be diverse in scope and nature, and would be tailored to meet the needs of the ACP States.
4. Technical cooperation may be either of a specific or a general nature. The ACP– EC Development Finance Cooperation Committee shall establish the guidelines for the implementation of technical cooperation.
Article 80.
With a view to reversing the brain drain from the ACP States, the Community shall assist ACP States which so request to facilitate the return of qualified ACP nationals resident in developed countries through appropriate re-installation incentives.
Title IV. Procedures and Management Systems
Article 81. Procedures
Management procedures shall be transparent, easy to apply and shall enable the decentralisation of tasks and responsibilities to the field. The implementation of ACP–EU development cooperation shall be open to non-State actors in areas that concern them. The detailed procedural provisions for programming, preparation, implementation and the management of financial and technical cooperation are laid down in Annex IV on Implementation and Management Procedures. The Council of Ministers may review, revise and amend these provisions on the basis of a recommendation from the ACP–EC Development Finance Cooperation Committee.
Article 82. Executing Agents
For the implementation of financial and technical cooperation under this Agreement, executing agents are designated. Detailed provisions for the responsibilities of the executing agents are laid down in Annex IV on Implementation and Management Procedures.
Article 83. ACP-EC Development Finance Cooperation Committee
1. The Council of Ministers shall at least once a year examine whether the objectives of development finance cooperation are being attained and shall examine the general and specific problems resulting from the implementation of that cooperation. To this end, an ACP–EC Development Finance Cooperation Committee, hereinafter referred to as ‘the ACP–EC Committee’, shall be set up within the Council of Ministers.
2. The ACP–EC Committee shall, inter alia:
(a) ensure the overall achievement of the objectives and principles of development finance cooperation and establish general guidelines for their effective and timely implementation;
(b) examine the problems arising from the implementation of development cooperation activities and propose appropriate measures;
(c) review the annexes to the Agreement to ensure their continued relevance and recommend any appropriate amendments to the Council of Ministers for approval; and
(d) examine the operations deployed within the framework of the Agreement to attain the objectives of promoting private sector development and investment and the operations of the Investment Facility.
3. The ACP–EC Committee, which shall meet every quarter, shall be composed, on a basis of parity, of representatives of the ACP States and of the Community, or their authorised representatives. It shall meet at ministerial level whenever one of the parties so requests and at least once a year.
4. The Council of Ministers shall lay down the ACP-EC Committee's rules of procedure, in particular the conditions for representation and the number of members of the Committee, the detailed arrangements for their deliberations and the conditions for holding the chair.
5. The ACP-EC Committee may convene meetings of experts to study the cause of any difficulties and bottlenecks, which may impede the efficient implementation of development cooperation. These experts shall make recommendations to the Committee on possible ways of removing such difficulties and bottlenecks.
Part 5. General Provisions for the Least Developed, Landlocked and Island ACP States (LDLICS)
Chapter 1. General Provisions
Article 84.
1. To enable LDLICs to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the Agreement so as to step up their respective rates of development, cooperation shall ensure special treatment for the least developed ACP countries and take due account of the vulnerability of landlocked and island ACP countries. It shall also take into consideration the needs of countries in post conflict situations.
2. Independently of the specific measures and provisions for the least-developed, landlocked and island countries in the different chapters of the Agreement, special attention shall be paid in respect of these groups as well as countries in post-conflict situations to:
(a) the strengthening of regional cooperation;
(b) transport and communications' infrastructure;
(c) the efficient exploitation of marine resources and the marketing of products so produced and, in the case of landlocked countries, inland fisheries;
(d) structural adjustment where account shall be taken of the level of development of these countries and equally, at the implementation stage, of the social dimension of adjustment; and
(e) the implementation of food strategies and integrated development programmes.
Chapter 2. Least Developed ACP States
Article 85.
1. The least-developed ACP States shall be accorded a special treatment in order to enable them to overcome the serious economic and social difficulties hindering their development so as to step up their respective rates of development.
2. The list of least-developed countries is given in Annex VI. It may be amended by a decision of the Council of Ministers where:
(a) athird state in a comparable situation accedes to this Agreement; and
(b) the economic situation of an ACP State changes considerably and durably to the extent that it needs to be included in the least developed category or its inclusion in that category is no longer justified.
Article 86.
The provisions adopted in respect of the least-developed ACP States are contained in the following Articles: 2, 29, 32, 35, 37, 56, 68, 84, 85.
Chapter 3. Landlocked ACP States
Article 87.
1. Specific provisions and measures shall be established to support landlocked ACP States in their efforts to overcome the geographical difficulties and other obstacles hampering their development so as to enable them to step up their respective rates of development.
2. The list of landlocked ACP States is given in Annex VI. It may be amended by decision of the Council of Ministers when a third state in a comparable situation accedes to the Agreement.
Article 88.
The provisions adopted in respect of the landlocked ACP States are contained in the following Articles: 2, 32, 35, 56, 68, 84, 87.
Chapter 4. Island Acp States
Article 89.
1. Specific actions shall be pursued to support island ACP States in their efforts to halt and reverse their increasing vulnerability caused by new and severe economic, social and ecological challenges. These actions shall seek to advance the implementation of the small island developing states' priorities for sustainable development, while promoting a harmonised approach to their economic growth and human development.
2. The list of island ACP states is given in Annex VI. It may be amended by decision of the Council of Ministers when a third state in a comparable situation accedes to the Agreement.
Article 90.
The provisions adopted in respect of the island ACP States are contained in the following Articles: 2, 32, 35, 56, 68, 84, 89.
Part 6. FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 91. Conflict between this Agreement and other Treaties
No treaty, convention, agreement or arrangement of any kind between one or more Member States of the Community and one or more ACP States may impede the implementation of this Agreement.
Article 92. Scope of Territorial Application
Subject to the special provisions regarding the relations between the ACP States and the French overseas departments provided for therein, this Agreement shall apply, on the one hand, to the territories in which the Treaty establishing the European Community is applied and under the conditions laid down in that Treaty and, on the other hand, to the territories of the ACP States.
Article 93. Ratification and Entry Into Force
1. This Agreement shall be ratified or approved by the signatory Parties in accord- ance with their respective constitutional rules and procedures.
2. The instruments of ratification or approval of this Agreement shall be deposited in the case of the ACP States, with the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union and in the case of the Community and the Member States, with the General Secretariat of the ACP States. The Secretariats shall promptly notify the signatory states and the Community.
3. This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the second month following the date of deposit of the instruments of ratification of the Member States and of at least two thirds of the ACP States, and of the instrument of approval of this Agreement by the Community.
4. An ACP signatory state that has not completed the procedures set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 by the date on which this Agreement enters into force as provided for in paragraph 3 may do so only within the 12 months following that date, without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph 6.
For such states this Agreement shall become applicable on the first day of the second month following the completion of these procedures. These states shall recognise the validity of any measure taken to implement the Agreement after the date of its entry into force.
5. The rules of procedure of the joint institutions set up under this Agreement shall lay down the conditions under which the representatives of signatory states referred to in paragraph 4 may attend those institutions as observers.
6. The Council of Ministers may decide to accord special support to ACP States party to previous ACP-EC Conventions which, in the absence of normally established government institutions, have not been able to sign or ratify this Agreement. This support may concern institution building and economic and social development activities, taking particular account of the needs of the most vulnerable sections of the population. In this context, such countries will be able to draw on the funds provided for in Part 4 of this Agreement for financial and technical cooperation.
By way of derogation from paragraph 4, the countries concerned which are signatories to the Agreement may complete the ratification procedures within twelve months of the restoration of government institutions.
The countries concerned which have neither signed nor ratified the Agreement may accede to it by means of the accession procedure provided for in Article 94.
Article 94. Accession
1. Any request for accession to this Agreement made by an independent state whose structural characteristics and economic and social situation are comparable to those of the ACP States shall be presented to the Council of Ministers.
If the request is approved by the Council of Ministers, the state concerned shall accede to this Agreement by depositing an act of accession with the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union, which shall send a certified copy to the ACP Secretariat and notify the Member States. The Council of Ministers may lay down any amending measures that might be necessary.
The state concerned shall enjoy the same rights and be subject to the same obligations as the ACP States. Its accession may not infringe on the benefits enjoyed by the ACP States signatory to this Agreement under the provisions on development cooperation financing. The Council of Ministers may lay down the conditions and specific arrangements for the accession of an individual state in a special protocol that shall form an integral part of the Agreement.
2. The Council of Ministers shall be advised of any request made by a third state to become a member of an economic grouping of ACP States.
3. The Council of Ministers shall be advised of any request made by a third state to become a member of the European Union. During the negotiations between the Union and the applicant state, the Community shall provide the ACP States with any relevant information and they in turn shall convey their concerns to the Community so that it can take them fully into account. The ACP Secretariat shall be notified by the Community of any accession to the European Union.
Any new Member State of the European Union shall become a Party to this Agree- ment from the date of its accession by means of a clause to that effect in the act of accession. If the act of accession to the Union does not provide for such automatic accession of the Member State to this Agreement, the Member State concerned shall accede by depositing an act of accession with the General Sec- retariat of the Council of the European Union, which shall send a certified copy to the ACP Secretariat and notify the Member States.
The Parties shall review the effects of the accession of new Member States on this Agreement. The Council of Ministers may decide on any transitional or amending measures that might be necessary.
Article 95. Duration of the Agreement and Revision Clause
1. This Agreement is hereby concluded for a period of twenty years, commencing on 1 March 2000.
2. Financial protocols are defined for each five-year period.
3. The Community and the Member States, on the one hand, and the ACP States, on the other, shall notify the other Party not later than 12 months before the expiry of each five-year period of any review of the provisions they desire to make with a view to a possible amendment of the Agreement. Notwithstanding this time limit, if one Party requests the review of any provisions of the Agreement, the other Party shall have a period of two months in which to request the extension of the review to other provisions related to those which were the subject of the initial request.
Ten months before the expiry of this five-year period, the Parties shall enter into negotiations with a view to examining any possible amendments to the provisions that were the subject of the notification.