The Parties will enter into close co-operation aimed at achieving compatibility between their systems of consumer protection. This co-operation shall comprise in particular the provision of expertise on legislative and institutional reform, the establishment of permanent systems of mutual information on dangerous products, the improvement of information provided to consumers especially on prices, characteristics of products and services offered, training activities for administration officials and other consumer interest representatives, the development of exchanges between the consumer interest representatives, and increasing the compatibility of consumer protection policies.
Article 76. Customs
1. The aim of co-operation shall be to guarantee compliance with all the provisions scheduled for adoption in connection with trade and fair trade and to achieve the approximation of Ukraine's customs system to that of the Community.
2. Co-operation shall include the following in particular:
- The exchange of information;
- The improvement of working methods;
- The introduction of the combined nomenclature and the single administrative document;
- The interconnection between the transit systems of the Community and Ukraine;
- The simplification of inspections and formalities in respect of the carriage of goods;
- The support in the introduction of modern customs information systems;
- The organization of seminars and training periods.
3. Without prejudice to further co-operation foreseen in this Agreement and in particular Article 79 the mutual assistance between administrative authorities in customs matters of the Parties shall take place in accordance with the provisions of the Protocol attached to this Agreement.
Article 77. Statistical Co-operation
Co-operation in this area shall have as its aim the development of an efficient statistical system to provide the reliable statistics needed to support and monitor the process of economic reform and contribute to the development of private enterprise in Ukraine.
The Parties, in particular, shall cooperate in the following fields:
- Adaptation of Ukrainian statistical system to international methods, standards and classification;
- Exchange of statistical information;
- Provision of necessary statistical macro and microeconomic information to implement and manage economic reforms;
The Community shall contribute to this end by rendering technical assistance to Ukraine.
Article 78. Economics
The Parties shall facilitate the process of economic reform and the coordination of economic policies by cooperating to improve understanding of the fundamentals of their respective economies and the design and implementation of economic policy in market economies. To this end the Parties shall exchange information on macro economic performance and prospects.
The Community shall provide technical assistance so as to:
- Assist Ukraine in the process of economic reform by providing expert advisory and technical assistance,
- Encourage co-operation among economists in order to expedite the transfer of know-how for the drafting of economic policies, and provide for wide dissemination of policy-relevant research.
Article 79. Drugs
Within the framework of their respective powers and competences the Parties shall co-operate in increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of policies and measures to counter the illicit production, supply and traffic of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, including the prevention of diversion of precursor chemicals, as well as in promoting drug demand prevention and reduction. The co-operation in this area shall be based on mutual consultation and close coordination between the Parties over the objectives and measures on the various drug-related fields.
Article 80.
The Parties undertake to promote, encourage and facilitate cultural co-operation. Where appropriate, the Community's cultural co-operation programmes or those of one or more Member States may be the subject of co-operation and further activities of mutual interest may be developed.
Article 81.
In order to achieve the objectives of this Agreement and in accordance with Articles 82, 83 and 84 Ukraine shall benefit from temporary financial assistance from the Community by way of technical assistance in the form of grants to accelerate the economic transformation of Ukraine.
Article 82.
This financial assistance shall be covered within the framework of TACIS foreseen in the Community's relevant Council Regulation.
Article 83.
The objectives and the areas of the Community's financial assistance shall be laid down in an indicative programme reflecting established priorities to be agreed between the two Parties taking into account Ukraine's needs, sectoral absorption capacities and progress with reform. The Parties shall inform the Co-operation Council thereof.
Article 84.
In order to permit optimum use of the resources available, the Parties shall ensure that Community technical assistance contributions are made in close coordination with those from other sources such as the Member States, other countries, and international organizations such as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development as well as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the IMF.
Article 85.
A Co-operation Council is hereby established which shall supervise the implementation of this Agreement. It shall meet at ministerial level once a year and when circumstances require. It shall examine any major issues arising within the framework of the Agreement and any other bilateral or international issues of mutual interest for the purpose of attaining the objectives of this Agreement. The Co-operation Council may also make appropriate recommendations, by agreement between the two Parties.
Article 86.
1. The Co-operation 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 Ukraine, on the other.
2. The Co-operation Council shall establish its rules of procedure.
3. The office of President of the Co-operation Council shall be held alternately by a representative of the Community and by a member of the Government of Ukraine.
Article 87.
1. The Co-operation Council shall be assisted in the performance of its duties by a Co-operation 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 Ukraine on the other, normally at senior civil servant level. The office of President of the Co-operation Committee shall be held alternately by the Community and by Ukraine.
In its rules of procedure the Co-operation Council shall determine the duties of the Co-operation Committee, which shall include the preparation of meetings of the Co-operation Council, and how the Committee shall function.
2. The Co-operation Council may delegate any of its powers to the Co-operation Committee, which will ensure continuity between meetings of the Co-operation Council.
Article 88.
The Co-operation 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 89.
When examining any issue arising within the framework of this Agreement in relation to a provision referring to an article of the GATT, the Co-operation Council shall take into account to the greatest extent possible the interpretation that is generally given to the Article of the GATT in question by the Contracting Parties to the GATT.
Article 90.
A Parliamentary Co-operation Committee is hereby established. It shall be a forum for Members of the Ukrainian Parliament and the European Parliament to meet and exchange views. It shall meet at intervals which it shall itself determine.
Article 91.
1. The Parliamentary Co-operation Committee shall consist of members of the European Parliament, on the one hand, and of members of the Ukrainian Parliament, on the other.
2. The Parliamentary Co-operation Committee shall establish its rules of procedure.
3. The Parliamentary Co-operation Committee shall be presided in turn by the European Parliament and the Ukrainian Parliament respectively, in accordance with the provisions to be laid down in its rules of procedure.
Article 92.
The Parliamentary Co-operation Committee may request relevant information regarding the implementation of this Agreement from the Co-operation Council, which shall then supply the Committee with the requested information.
The Parliamentary Co-operation Committee shall be informed of the recommendations of the Co-operation Council.
The Parliamentary Co-operation Committee may make recommendations to the Co-operation Council.
Article 93.
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, the Parties:
- Shall encourage the adoption of arbitration for the settlement of disputes arising out of commercial and co-operation transactions concluded by economic operators of the Community and those of Ukraine;
- 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 94.
Nothing in the 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 on the control of dual use industrial goods and technologies.
Article 95.
1. In the fields covered by this Agreement and without prejudice to any special provisions contained therein:
- The arrangements applied by Ukraine 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 Ukraine shall not give rise to any discrimination between Ukrainian 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 96.
1. Each of the two Parties may refer to the Co-operation Council any dispute relating to the application or interpretation of this Agreement.
2. The Co-operation 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 conciliator 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 Co-operation Council shall appoint a third conciliator.
The conciliator's recommendations shall be taken by majority vote. Such recommendations shall not be binding upon the Parties.
Article 97.
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 18, 19, 96 and 102.
Article 98.
Treatment granted to Ukraine hereunder shall in no case be more favourable than that granted by the Member States to each other.
Article 99.
For the purposes of this Agreement, the term "Parties" shall mean Ukraine on the one part, and the Community, or the Member States, or the Community and the Member States, in accordance with their respective powers, on the other part.
Article 100.
Insofar as matters covered by this Agreement are covered by the European 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 101.
This Agreement is concluded for an initial period of ten years. The Agreement shall be automatically renewed year by year provided that neither Party gives the other Party written notice of denunciation of the Agreement six months before it expires.
Article 102.
1. The Parties shall take any general or specific measures required to fulfil their obligations under the Agreement. They shall see to it that the objectives set out in the Agreement are attained.
2. If either Party considers that the other Party has failed to fulfil an obligation under the Agreement, it may take the appropriate measures. Before so doing, except in cases of special urgency, it shall supply the Co-operation 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 the Agreement. These measures shall be notified immediately to the Co-operation Council if the other Party so requests.
Article 103.
Annexes I, II, III, IV, V, and the Appendix thereto and the Protocol shall form an integral part of this Agreement.
Article 104.
This Agreement shall not, until equivalent rights for individuals and economic operators have been achieved hereunder, affect rights assured to them through existing Agreements binding one or more Member States, on the one hand, and Ukraine, 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 105.
This Agreement shall apply, on the one hand, to the territories in which the Treaties establishing the European 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 Ukraine.
Article 106.
The Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union shall be the depositary of this Agreement.
Article 107.
This original of the Agreement, of which the Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese and Ukrainian languages are equally authentic, shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union.
Article 108.
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 Ukraine and the Community are concerned, this Agreement shall replace the Agreement between the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on trade and economic and commercial co-operation signed in Brussels on 18 December 1989.
Article 109.
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 in 1994 by means of an Interim Agreement between the Community and Ukraine, the Contracting Parties agree that, in such circumstances, the term "date of entry into force of the Agreement" shall mean the date of entry into force of the Interim Agreement.
Attachments
Annex III. Intellectual, industrial and commercial property conventions referred to in Article 50(2)
1. Paragraph 2 of Article 50 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 Organizations (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, amended 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, 1978)
2. Ukraine shall make its best endeavours to accede, without undue delay, to the 1991 Act of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV).
3. The Co-operation Council may recommend that paragraph 2 of Article 50 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.
4. 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 International Registration of Marks (Stockholm Act, 1967, and amended in 1979);
- Patent Cooperation Treaty (Washington 1970, amended and modified in 1979 and 1984);
5. From the entry into force of this Agreement Ukraine 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.
6. The provisions of paragraph 5 shall not apply to advantages granted by Ukraine to any third country on an effective reciprocal basis or to advantages granted by Ukraine to another country of the former USSR.
Annex IV. Community reservations in accordance with Article 30(1)(b)
Mining
In some Member States, a concession may be required for mining and mineral rights for non-EC controlled companies.
Fishing
Access to and use of the biological resources and fishing grounds situated in the maritime waters coming under the sovereignty or within the jurisdiction of Member States is restricted to fishing vessels flying the flag of a Member State and registered in Community territory unless otherwise provided for.
Real estate purchase
In some Member States, the purchase of real estate by non-EC companies is subject to restrictions.
Audiovisual services including radio
National treatment concerning production and distribution, including broadcasting and other forms of transmission to the public, may be reserved to audiovisual works meeting certain origin criteria.
Telecommunications services including mobile and satellite services
Reserved services
In some Member States market access concerning complementary services and infrastructures is restricted.
Professional services
Services reserved to natural persons nationals of Member States. Under certain conditions those persons may create companies.
Agriculture
In some Member States national treatment is no applicable to non-EC controlled companies which wish to undertake an agricultural enterprise. The acquisition of vineyards by non-EC controlled companies is subject to notification, or, as necessary, authorization.