Proposal for a Council Decision on the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union as regards the establishment of a list of 15 arbitrators for the Protocol on Cultural Cooperation to the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Korea, of the other part

The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Korea, of the other part has been provisionally applied since July 2011. The Protocol on Cultural Cooperation, concluded by the Parties within the framework of the FTA, established a framework within which the Parties shall cooperate to facilitate exchanges in cultural activities, goods and services, including in the audio-visual sector, and to improve the conditions governing such exchanges.

By derogation from the institutional provisions of the FTA, the Trade Committee shall have no jurisdiction over the Protocol. Instead the Committee on Cultural Cooperation, established within the framework of the Protocol and comprising senior officials from within the administration of each Party, shall exercise all functions of the Trade Committee as regards the Protocol, where such functions are relevant for the purposes of implementing the Protocol. The Committee on Cultural Cooperation met for the first time on 5 December 2013 in Brussels and the Parties on that occasion shared information on their respective legal bases and cultural activities.

With the Protocol, the Parties agreed inter alia to establish an arbitration panel of 15 individuals who are willing and able to serve as arbitrators in case of a dispute between the Parties. Each Party must propose five individuals to serve as arbitrators. The Parties must also select five individuals who are not nationals of either Party and who shall act as chairperson to the arbitration panel.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2014)543: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2014:543:FIN

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