Decision

15 December 2021: Decision number 1/2021 of the UK-Lebanon Association Council on Establishing the Rules of Procedure

Published 23 June 2023

The UK-Lebanon Association Council,

Having regard to the Agreement establishing an Association between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (“the United Kingdom”) and the Republic of Lebanon (“Lebanon”) (together, “the Parties”), done at London on 19 September 2019 (“the Agreement”), and in particular incorporated Articles 74 to 81 thereof,

Whereas:

1. The Agreement incorporated the provisions of the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an Association between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Lebanon, of the other part, done at Luxembourg on 17 June 2002 (“the EU-Lebanon Association Agreement”) and the agreement in the form of a Protocol between the European Community and the Republic of Lebanon establishing a dispute settlement mechanism applicable to disputes under the joint comrade provisions of the EU-Lebanon Association Agreement, done at Brussels on 11 November 2010 (“the EU-Lebanon Dispute Settlement Mechanism Protocol”) (together, “the EU-Lebanon Agreements”) in effect immediately before the EU-Lebanon Agreements ceased to apply to the United Kingdom, subject to the provisions of the Agreement.
2. Article 8(2) of the Agreement provides that, upon entry into force of the Agreement, any decisions adopted by the Association Council or the Association Committee established by the EU-Lebanon Association Agreement before the EU-Lebanon Agreements ceased to apply to the United Kingdom shall, to the extent those decisions relate to the Parties, be deemed to have been adopted, mutatis mutandis, and subject to the provisions of the Agreement, by the Association Council or the Association Committee established under incorporated Articles 74 and 77, respectively.
3. Incorporated Article 75(3) of the Agreement provides that the Association Council shall establish its rules of procedure.
4. Noting that incorporated Article 77(2) of the Agreement provides that the Association Council may delegate to the Association Committee, in full or in part, any of its powers, the Parties consider it appropriate that the Association Council delegate to the Association Committee its power to set up any working group or body necessary for the implementation of the Agreement and to define the terms of reference of any such working group or body that shall be subordinated to it, as provided under incorporated Article 80 of the Agreement.

Has adopted this decision:

Article 1

The Rules of Procedure of the Association Council, as set out in the Annex to this Decision, are hereby adopted.

Article 2

This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption.

Done in Beirut, Lebanon, on 15 December 2021.

On behalf of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Ian Collard, Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Lebanon

Abdallah Bou Habib, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants

Annex

Article 1: chairing

The meetings of the Association Council shall be chaired in turn by a member of the Government of the United Kingdom, and a member of the Government of Lebanon. The first period shall begin on the date of the first Association Council meeting and end on the last day 12 months later in the same year. Where a meeting is held in accordance with this paragraph, the Party chairing the meeting shall be considered the host of the meeting, and the meeting shall be held in the country of the chairing Party.

Article 2: meetings

1. The Association Council shall meet at ministerial level when circumstances require, by agreement of the Parties.
2. The Association Council shall hold its meetings alternately in the United Kingdom and Lebanon, unless otherwise agreed by the Parties.

3. Notwithstanding paragraph 2, the Parties may agree that a meeting of the Association Council be held by technological means, such as videoconference. Where a meeting of the Association Council is held in accordance with this paragraph, the Party chairing the meeting shall be considered the host of the meeting, for the purposes of these Rules of Procedure.

4. The meetings of the Association Council shall be convened by the Secretariat at a date, location and in the format agreed by the Parties.
5. When out of session, the Association Council may address any issue by correspondence.

Article 3: representation

1. The members of the Association Council may be represented if unable to attend. If a member wishes to be so represented, they must notify the Secretariat of the name of their representative before the meeting at which they are to be so represented.
2. The representative of a member of the Association Council shall exercise all the rights of that member.

Article 4: delegations

1. The members of the Association Council may be accompanied by officials.
2. Before each meeting, the Parties shall notify each other, through the Secretariat, of the intended composition of their respective delegations before each meeting of the Association Council.
3. The Parties may agree to invite non-members to attend meetings of the Association Council to provide information on particular subjects.

Article 5: secretariat

Officials of the Government of the United Kingdom and officials of the Government of Lebanon shall act jointly as the Secretariat of the Association Council.

Article 6: correspondence

1. Correspondence addressed to the Association Council shall be sent to the Secretariat and Chair.
2. The Secretariat shall ensure that correspondence is forwarded to the Chair, addressees and, where appropriate, circulated to the other members of the Association Council.
3. Communications from the Chair shall be sent to the addressees by the Secretariat and circulated, where appropriate, to the other members of the Association Council.

Article 7: publicity

1. Unless otherwise decided, the meetings of the Association Council shall not be public.
2. When a Party submits information designated as confidential to the Association Council, the other Party shall treat that information as confidential and shall not otherwise use or disclose that information without the specific permission of the Party providing the information, except where this is necessary to comply with legal requirements.

Article 8: agendas for meetings

1. The Secretariat shall jointly draw up a draft agenda for each meeting. The draft agenda shall be forwarded by the Secretariat to the members of the Association Council no later than 10 calendar days before the beginning of the meeting.
2. The draft agenda shall include the items in respect of which the Secretariat has received a request for inclusion in the agenda not later than 21 calendar days before the beginning of the meeting, save that such items shall not be written into the draft agenda unless the supporting documentation has been forwarded to the Secretariat not later than 10 calendar days before the meeting.
3. The agenda shall be adopted by the Association Council at the beginning of each meeting. An item other than those appearing on the draft agenda may be placed on the agenda, on an exceptional basis, if both Parties so agree.
4. The Parties may agree to modify the periods specified in paragraphs 1 and 2 to take account of the requirements of a particular or urgent case.

Article 9: minutes

1. Draft minutes of each meeting shall be drawn up by the officials acting as members of the Secretariat of the Party hosting the meeting within 14 calendar days of the end of the meeting, unless the Parties otherwise agree.

2. The minutes shall, as a general rule, indicate in respect of each item on the agenda: (a) the documentation submitted to the Association Council; (b) any statement that a member of the Association Council has asked to be entered in the minutes; and (c) the decisions taken, statements agreed upon and conclusions adopted.

3. The minutes shall include as an annex a list of participants setting out for each of the delegations the names and functions of all individuals who attended the meeting, in addition to any non-members who also attended.
4. The draft minutes shall be submitted to the officials acting as members of the Secretariat of the other Party for comments. The other Party shall return comments within 14 calendar days of receiving the draft minutes, unless the Parties agree otherwise.
5. The Secretariat shall revise the draft minutes on the basis of comments. The minutes shall be approved by a representative of each Party within 4 weeks following a meeting of the Association Council, unless the Parties agree otherwise.
6. The minutes shall be recorded, and approved copies shall be forwarded to each of the members of the Association Council.
7. The Parties may agree on the publication of a high-level summary or joint statement after the meetings of the Association Council.

Article 10: decisions and recommendations

1. The Association Council shall adopt its decisions and recommendations by mutual agreement of the Parties.
2. Where a meeting of the Association Council is held by technological means, decisions and recommendations adopted by the Association Council shall be signed in duplicate by the Chair and a member of the Association Council from the other Party, or their designated representatives, and forwarded to the other Party as an electronic copy.
3. Where meetings are held in person, the decisions and recommendations of the Association Council shall be signed by the Chair and a member of the Association Council of the other Party. Each Party shall forward an electronic copy of their respective signed decision or recommendation to the Secretariat for circulation to the members of the Association Council.
4. In the period between meetings, the Association Council may adopt decisions or recommendations by written procedure, which will take the form of an exchange of notes between a representative of the Government of the United Kingdom, and a representative of the Government of Lebanon, or by such other appropriate means as may otherwise be agreed by the Parties.
5. The decisions and recommendations of the Association Council shall be entitled respectively ‘Decision’ and ‘Recommendation’ followed by a serial number, the date of their adoption and a description of their subject. Each decision shall specify the date of its entry into force, which shall be subject to completion of the respective internal procedures of the Parties where necessary.
6. The Parties may decide to publish the decisions or recommendations of the Association Council in their respective official publications.

Article 11: languages

1. The official languages of the Association Council shall be the official languages of the 2 Parties, English, and Arabic.
2. Unless otherwise decided, the Association Council shall base its deliberations on documentation prepared in those languages.
3. Unless otherwise agreed by the Parties, the Secretariat shall jointly discuss and determine the need for specific translation and interpretation arrangements no later than 14 calendar days before the start of a meeting of the Association Council.

Article 12: expenses

1. Each Party shall meet any expenses it incurs by reason of its participation in the meetings of the Association Council with regard to  staff,  travel and  subsistence expenditure, unless otherwise agreed by the Parties.
2. Where meetings are held in person, other expenditure relating to the material organisation of meetings shall be borne by the Party which hosts the meeting.
3. Where meetings are held by video or teleconference, each Party bears its respective cost associated with holding the meeting by such means, unless otherwise agreed.
4. Expenditure in connection with interpretation in meetings, or translation of documents, shall be borne directly by the Party requesting such interpretation or translation, unless the Parties agree otherwise.

Article 13: association committee

1. The Association Council shall be assisted in carrying out its duties by the Association Committee. The Association Committee shall be composed of representatives of the Government of the United Kingdom, and of representatives of the Government of Lebanon.
2. The Association Committee may decide to set up any working group or body necessary for the implementation of the Agreement, which shall work under the authority of the Association Committee, unless otherwise decided. The Association Committee may determine the composition, function and duties of any working group or body that it establishes.
3. The Association Committee may merge or dissolve any working groups or other bodies that it establishes under the Agreement.
4. In order to avoid duplication, the Association Committee may provide that the work of any working group or body that it establishes shall take precedence over the work of any other subcommittee or working group established under the Agreement.
5. The Association Committee shall prepare the meetings and the deliberations of the Association Council, implement the decisions of the Association Council where appropriate and, in general, ensure continuity of the Association relationship and the proper functioning of the Agreement. It shall consider any matter referred to it by the Association Council as well as any other matter which may arise in the course of the day-to-day implementation of the Agreement.
6. In cases where the Agreement refers to an obligation to consult or a possibility of consultation, such consultation may take place within the Association Committee. The consultation may continue in the Association Council if the 2 Parties so agree.