Proposal for a Council Decision on the conclusion of the Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and its Member States of the one part, and the Swiss Confederation, of the other, on the European Satellite Navigation Programmes

Switzerland is one of the Union’s closest third country cooperation partners in the Galileo programme since the early days of the programme. Switzerland has contributed politically, technically and financially to all phases of the Galileo programme through its membership in the European Space Agency (ESA) and its informal participation in the Galileo-specific EU governance structures over the years.

This Agreement will formalise and deepen this close integration of Switzerland in the European GNSS programmes. Without this agreement, there would be uncertainty about the nature of the collaboration in areas such as security, export control, standardisation, certification and radio spectrum. Moreover, the Agreement allows the EU to set overall principles including safeguard measures in the areas of security and export control.

EUR-Lex: COM(2012)470: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2012:470:FIN

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