Proposal for a Council Decision approving the conclusion by the Commission, on behalf of the European Atomic Energy Community, of the Agreement continuing the International Science and Technology Center between the European Union and EURATOM acting as one Party and Georgia, Japan, the Kingdom of Norway, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of Tajikistan, and the United States of America

The overall objective of the non-proliferation policy is to prevent, detect and respond to WMD proliferating activities. There are multilateral conventions and verification mechanisms, bilateral and national legislative frameworks, safeguards, sanctions, export controls, cooperative threat reduction and emergency and response plans in place in order to deal with the proliferation challenges. Another element of this policy is a set of measures dealing with WMD know-how and high-risk materials and technologies that have the potential for inappropriate and unauthorized use that could result in great harm.

In this context the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC) was set up in 1994 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was funded together with other Parties (USA, Canada, Japan) through an international multilateral agreement for the purpose of non-proliferation of scientific and technical expertise related to Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD). Over time, other Parties joined the Agreement, i.e. Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Republic of Korea, Norway, Russian Federation and Tajikistan.

Following the 2010 announced withdrawal of the Russian Federation, that became effective on 15 July 2015, the Parties agreed that a new Agreement needs to be put in place in order for the Center to effectively fulfil its mandate under changed circumstances.

On 21 October 2013 the Council authorised the Commission to start negotiations for an Agreement continuing the International Science and Technology Center (“the Agreement”) between the European Union and EURATOM acting as one Party, Georgia, Japan, the Kingdom of Norway, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of Tajikistan, and the United States of America, and issued corresponding negotiating directives.

The aims set out in the negotiating directives have been fully met and the comments from the Member States have been taken into account during the negotiations. The draft continuation Agreement was presented at the Council Non-Proliferation Working Group (CONOP) on 24 February 2014 and to the Atomic Questions Group on 5 February 2014. The draft Agreement was initialled by all the Parties on 22 June 2015 in Astana.

This current proposal is the next step in the process of the signature of the Agreement continuing the International Science and Technology Center. Two procedures are proposed, one for the conclusion of the Agreement under the EURATOM treaty and a parallel procedure for the signature of the Agreement under the TEU/TFEU legal base.

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)398: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2015:398:FIN

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