Policy paper

Consolidated version of the rules of procedure of the Joint Consultative Working Group

Published 9 June 2023

This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government

Informal working document – for information purposes

Rule 1: Chair

1. The Joint Consultative Working Group (the ‘working group’) shall be co-chaired by the European Commission and by a representative designated by the Government of the United Kingdom. The European Union and the United Kingdom shall notify each other in writing of the designated representatives.

2. A co-chair who is unable to attend a meeting may be replaced for that meeting by a designated alternate. Alternates designated by the European Commission or by the Government of the United Kingdom shall inform the other co-chair and the Secretariat of the working group in writing of their designation as early as possible.

3. The designated alternate of the co-chair shall exercise the rights of that co-chair to the extent of the designation. Any reference in these rules of procedure to the co-chairs shall be understood to include designated alternates.

Rule 2: Secretariat

The Secretariat of the working group (the ‘Secretariat’) shall be composed of an official of the European Commission and an official of the Government of the United Kingdom. The Secretariat shall, under the authority of the co-chairs, perform the tasks conferred on it by these rules of procedure.

Rule 3: Participation in meetings and structured sub-groups

1. Before each meeting, the Union and the United Kingdom shall inform each other through the Secretariat of the intended composition of the delegations.

2. Where appropriate and by decision of the co-chairs, experts or other persons who are not members of delegations may be invited to attend meetings of the working group in order to provide information on a particular subject.

3. Where appropriate, the working group shall be supported by structured sub-groups, composed of officials of the European Commission and of the Government of the United Kingdom, which will assist the working group in carrying out its functions as an effective forum for the exchange of information and mutual consultation.

4. Meetings in the structured sub-groups shall be held, as necessary, to ensure that the United Kingdom’s views on planned Union acts for which information exchange shall take place under Article 15(3) of the Windsor Framework^{[footnote 1]} are considered by the Union in a timely manner.

5. All rules provided in these rules of procedure as regards meetings shall apply mutatis mutandis to the meetings of the structured sub-groups.

Rule 4: Meetings

1. The working group shall hold its meetings alternately in Brussels and the United Kingdom, unless the co-chairs decide otherwise.

2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, the co-chairs may decide that a meeting of the working group be held by videoconference or teleconference.

3. Each meeting of the working group shall be convened by the Secretariat at a date and place decided by the co-chairs. Where either the Union or the United Kingdom has made a request for a meeting, the working group shall endeavour to meet within 15 days of such request. In cases of urgency it shall endeavour to meet sooner.

Rule 5: Documents

Written documents exchanged formally within the working group, whether at or in between meetings, shall be numbered and circulated to the Union and the United Kingdom by the Secretariat as documents of the working group.

Rule 6: Correspondence

1. The Union and the United Kingdom shall send their correspondence addressed to the working group to the Secretariat. Such correspondence may be sent in any form of written communication, including by electronic mail.

2. The Secretariat shall ensure that correspondence addressed to the working group is forwarded to the co-chairs and is circulated, where appropriate, in accordance with Rule 5.

3. All correspondence from or addressed directly to the co-chairs shall be forwarded to the Secretariat and shall be circulated, where appropriate, in accordance with Rule 5.

Rule 7: Agenda for the meetings

1. For each meeting a draft provisional agenda shall be drawn up by the Secretariat. It shall be transmitted, together with the relevant documents, to the co-chairs no later than 5 days before the date of the meeting.

2. The provisional agenda shall include those items, the inclusion of which in the agenda has been requested by the Union or the United Kingdom. Any such request, together with any relevant document, shall be submitted to the Secretariat no later than 7 days before the beginning of the meeting.

3. No later than 3 days before the date of the meeting, the co-chairs shall decide on the provisional agenda for a meeting. They may decide to make that provisional agenda, or any part thereof, public before the beginning of the meeting.

4. The agenda shall be adopted by the working group at the beginning of each meeting. On request by the Union or the United Kingdom an item other than those included in the provisional agenda may be included in the agenda by decision of the working group.

5. The co-chairs may decide to derogate from the time limits specified in paragraphs 1 to 3.

Rule 8: Minutes

1. Draft minutes of each meeting shall be drawn up by the Secretariat, within 5 days from the end of the meeting, unless the co-chairs decide otherwise. The Secretariat shall also prepare a summary of the minutes.

2. The minutes shall, as a rule, summarise each item on the agenda, specifying where applicable:

(a) the documents submitted to the working group

(b) any statement that one of the co-chairs requested to be entered in the minutes; and

(c) operational conclusions adopted on specific items

3. The minutes shall include a list of the names, titles and capacity of all individuals who attended the meeting.

4. Co-chairs may request an amendment to the draft minutes or summary within 5 days of their circulation by the Secretariat in accordance with paragraph 1. The minutes and summary shall be considered as approved by the co-chairs upon expiry of that period if no amendments were requested. If a co-chair requests an amendment within that period, the minutes and summary shall be considered as approved once the other co-chair has agreed to the requested amendment.

5. Once approved, electronic copies of the minutes shall be signed by the members of the Secretariat and transmitted to the Union and the United Kingdom, as well as to the Specialised Committee on issues related to the implementation of the Windsor Framework. The co-chairs may then decide to make the summary of the minutes public.

Rule 9: Decisions

1. The decisions of the co-chairs provided for by these rules of procedure shall be taken by mutual consent.

2. In the period between meetings, the co-chairs may take such decisions by written communication through an exchange of electronic notes between the co-chairs. The Secretariat shall inform the parties of any such decisions of the co-chairs.

Rule 10: Confidentiality

1. Unless otherwise decided by the co-chairs, the meetings of the working group shall be confidential.

2. Where the Union or the United Kingdom submits information considered as confidential or protected from disclosure under its laws and regulations to the working group, the other party shall treat that information received as confidential.

Rule 11: Working language

The working language of the working group shall be English. Unless otherwise decided by the co-chairs, the working group shall base its deliberations on documents prepared in English.

Rule 12: Expenses

1. The Union and the United Kingdom shall each meet any expenses they incur as a result of participating in the meetings of the working group.

2. Expenditure in connection with the organisation of meetings and reproduction of documents shall be borne by the Union for meetings held in Brussels, and by the United Kingdom for meetings held in the United Kingdom.

3. Expenditure in connection with interpretation to and from the working language of the working group at meetings shall be borne by the party requesting such interpretation.

Rule 13: Annual report to the Specialised Committee

1. The Secretariat shall draw up a report on the work of the working group each calendar year. The report shall be drawn up by 1 February of the following year.

2. Each report shall be adopted and signed by the co-chairs and shall be sent to the Specialised Committee on issues related to the implementation of the Windsor Framework immediately after the signature.

1. Joint Declaration No 1/2023 of the Union and the United Kingdom in the Joint Committee established by 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 of 24 March 2023, OJ L 102, 17.4.2023, p. 87–87 ↩