The Association Council shall, for the purpose of attaining the objectives of this Agreement, have the power to take decisions in the cases provided for therein. The decisions taken shall be binding on the parties, which shall take the measures necessary to implement the decisions taken. The Association Council may also make appropriate recommendations.
It shall draw up its decisions and recommendations by agreement between the two parties.
Article 113.
1. Each of the two parties may refer to the Association Council any dispute relating to the application or interpretation of this Agreement.
2. The Association Council may settle the dispute by means of a decision.
3. Each party shall be bound to take the measures involved in carrying out the decision referred to in paragraph 2.
4. 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 an arbitrator; 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 Association Council shall appoint a third arbitrator.
The arbitrators' decision shall be taken by majority vote.
Each party to the dispute must take the steps required to implement the decision of the arbitrators.
Article 114.
1. The Association Council shall be assisted in the performance of its duties by an Association 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 Slovenia, on the other, normally at senior civil servant level.
In its rules of procedure the Association Council shall determine the duties of the Association Committee, which shall include the preparation of meetings of the Association Council, and shall determine how the Committee shall function.
2. The Association Council may delegate to the Association Committee any of its powers. In this event the Association Committee shall take its decisions in accordance with the conditions laid down in Article 112.
Article 115.
The Association Council may decide to set up any other special committee or body that can assist it in carrying out its duties.
In its rules of procedure, the Association Council shall determine the composition and duties of such committees or bodies and how they shall function.
Article 116.
An Association Parliamentary Committee is hereby established. It shall be a forum for Members of the Slovenian Parliament and the European Parliament to meet and exchange views. It shall meet at intervals which it shall itself determine.
Article 117.
1. The Association Parliamentary Committee shall consist of members of the European Parliament, on the one hand, and of Members of the Slovenian Parliament, on the other.
2. The Association Parliamentary Committee shall establish its rules of procedure.
3. The Association Parliamentary Committee shall be chaired in turn by the European Parliament and the Slovenian Parliament, in accordance with the provisions to be laid down in its rules of procedure.
Article 118.
The Association Parliamentary Committee may request relevant information regarding the implementation of this Agreement from the Association Council, which shall supply the Committee with the requested information.
The Association Parliamentary Committee shall be informed of the decisions of the Association Council.
The Association Parliamentary Committee may make recommendations to the Association Council.
Article 119.
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.
Article 120.
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.
Article 121.
1. In the fields covered by this Agreement and without prejudice to any special provisions contained therein:
- the arrangements applied by Slovenia in respect of the Community shall not give rise to any discrimination between the Member States, their nationals or its companies or firms;
- the arrangements applied by the Community in respect of Slovenia shall not give rise to any discrimination between Slovenian nationals or its companies or firms.
2. The provisions of paragraph 1 shall be without prejudice to the right of the 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 122.
Products originating in Slovenia shall not receive more favourable treatment when imported into the Community than that applied by Member States among themselves.
The treatment granted to Slovenia under Title IV and Chapter I of Title V shall not be more favourable than that accorded by Member States among themselves.
Article 123.
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 124.
This Agreement shall not, until equivalent rights for individuals and economic operators have been achieved under this Agreement, affect rights ensured to them through existing agreements binding one or more Member States, on the one hand, and Slovenia, on the other.
Article 125.
For the purposes of this Agreement, the term 'parties` shall mean the Community, or its Member States, or the Community and its Member States, in accordance with their respective powers, of the one part, and Slovenia, of the other part.
Article 126.
Protocols 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 and Annexes I to XIII shall form an integral part of this Agreement.
Article 127.
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 128.
The Secretary General of the Council of the European Union shall be the depository of the Agreement.
Article 129.
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 to the territory of Slovenia on the other.
Article 130.
This Agreement is drawn up in duplicate in the Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Slovenian languages, each of these texts being equally authentic.
Article 131.
This Agreement shall 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 each other that the procedures referred to in the first paragraph have been completed.
Upon its entry into force, this Agreement shall replace the Cooperation Agreement between the European Economic Community and the Republic of Slovenia signed in Luxembourg on 5 April 1993, and the Agreement between the Member States of the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Coal and Steel Community, of the one part, and the Republic of Slovenia, of the other part, signed in Luxembourg on 5 April 1993.
Article 132.
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, in particular those relating to goods, are put into effect in 1996 by means of an Interim Agreement between the Community and Slovenia, the parties agree that, in such circumstances for the purposes of Title III, Articles 65, 67 and 68 of this Agreement and Protocols 1 to 6 hereto, the terms 'date of entry into force of this Agreement` shall mean:
- the date of entry into force of the Interim Agreement in relation to obligations taking effect on that date, and
- 1 January 1996 in relation to obligations taking effect after the date of entry into force by reference to the date of entry into force.
Conclusion
Done at Luxembourg on the tenth day of June in the year one thousand nine hundred and ninety-six.
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 Republic of Austria
For the Portuguese Republic
For the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
For the European Communities
For the Republic of Slovenia