Legal provisions of COM(2020)622 - Empowering France to negotiate a supplementing its bilateral Treaty with the UK on the construction and operation by private concessionaires of a Channel Fixed Link

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dossier COM(2020)622 - Empowering France to negotiate a supplementing its bilateral Treaty with the UK on the construction and operation by private ...
document COM(2020)622 EN
date October 21, 2020

Contents

Article 1

This Decision hereby sets out the conditions pursuant to which France is empowered to negotiate, sign and conclude an international agreement (‘the Supplementing Agreement’) with the United Kingdom supplementing the Treaty between France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning the Construction and Operation by Private Concessionnaires of a Channel Fixed Link (‘the Treaty of Canterbury’) as regards the application of railway safety rules within the Channel Fixed Link.

Such an international agreement shall enter into force after the end of the transition period provided for in the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and shall comply with the following conditions:

(a)in order to maintain a unified safety regime on the whole Channel Fixed Link, the Intergovernmental Commission shall ensure the application, as regards the Channel Fixed Link, of the provisions of Union law, as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘Court of Justice’), relevant to the tasks of the national safety authority within the meaning of Article 3, point (7), of Directive (EU) 2016/798, and in particular of Regulation (EU) 2016/796 and Directives (EU) 2016/797 and (EU) 2016/798, as amended or replaced, as well as of acts adopted on the basis of those legal acts;

(b)where a dispute submitted to arbitration in accordance with Article 19 of the Treaty of Canterbury raises a question of interpretation of Union law, the arbitral tribunal shall not have the power to decide on any such question. In such a case, the arbitral tribunal shall request the Court of Justice to give a preliminary ruling on the question. The preliminary ruling of the Court of Justice shall be binding on the arbitral tribunal;

(c)where necessary, in particular in circumstances of urgency or in case of failure by the Intergovernmental Commission to comply with a decision of the arbitral tribunal, France shall retain the right to act unilaterally with a view to ensuring the full, correct and expeditious application of Union law in the part of the Channel Fixed Link under its jurisdiction;

(d)courts or tribunals to which Article 19(1) TEU applies shall be exclusively competent to decide on remedies sought by concessionnaires and users of the Channel Fixed Link against decisions taken by the Intergovernmental Commission in its capacity as a national safety authority within the meaning of Article 3, point (7), of Directive (EU) 2016/798;

(e)it must be compatible with Union law in all respects.

Article 2

France shall keep the Commission regularly informed of the negotiations with the United Kingdom on the Supplementing Agreement and, where appropriate, invite the Commission to participate in the negotiations as an observer.

Upon completion of the negotiations, France shall submit the resulting draft Supplementing Agreement to the Commission. The Commission shall inform the European Parliament and the Council thereof.

Within one month from the receipt of the draft Supplementing Agreement, the Commission shall take a decision as to whether the conditions set out in Article 1 of this Decision are fulfilled. Where the Commission decides that they are fulfilled, France may sign and conclude the Supplementing Agreement.

France shall provide the Commission with a copy of the Supplementing Agreement within one month of its entry into force or, where the Supplementing Agreement is to be applied provisionally, within one month of the start of its provisional application.

Article 3

This Decision is addressed to the French Republic.