GENERAL SECRETARIAT OF THE AFRICAN, CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC GROUP OF STATES

FLASH

ACP Legal Experts from ministries for Foreign Affairs are gathered in Brussels on Tuesday 24 and Wednesday 25 June 2003 to consider the legal text for the revised version of the charter of the ACP Group, the "Georgetown Agreement". Their report will be submitted to the Committee of Ambassadors which will finalise the text before its adoption by the Council of Ministers at its next session in the fall.

Background Note

The Georgetown Agreement establishing the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP Group) was signed on 6 June 1975 and revised in 1992.

At their 1st Summit held in Libreville on 6 - 7 November 1997, ACP Heads of State and Government mandated the Council of Ministers to undertake a study and review of the entire institutional and organisational framework of the ACP Group. To this end, the Summit authorised the Council of Ministers to incorporate any amendments into the Georgetown Agreement as it might deem necessary.

The Council of Ministers, at its 70th Session in Santo Domingo on 21 November 1999, adopted Decision No.5 whereby, after establishing guidelines, it requested the Committee of Ambassadors to submit proposed amendments to the Georgetown Agreement. The Committee of Ambassadors created the "Follow-up Group on Decision No.5".

At its Session in Punta Cana in June 2002, the Council of Ministers asked the Committee of Ambassadors to forward the draft to the capitals for observations.

At the Council of Ministers meeting in Brussels in December 2002, the Committee of Ambassadors indicated that consensus had still to be reached on some of the issues.

In this regard, Council asked the Committee of Ambassadors to convene a meeting of legal experts from ACP capitals to obtain their technical advice, before re-submitting the dossier.

The Committee of Ambassadors subsequently received proposals from the Follow-up Group on Decision No.5 which has been able to reach consensus on the following outstanding issues :

- Nature of the ACP Group: the current provisions should be maintained;

- Frequency of Summits: the Summit itself or the Council of Ministers should be able to convene the Summit without its frequency being mentioned in the Agreement;

- ACP Parliamentary Assembly : the Agreement should mention the creation of a Parliamentary Assembly and defer the definition of other aspects to the Rules of Procedure;

- Procedure for entry into force of amendments. The amendments would enter into force upon their adoption by the Council of Ministers.

Therefore the legal experts' meeting will mainly have to make proposals on the legal formulation of the amendments. They may also give technical advice on the whole document.

Thereafter, the conclusions of the meeting of legal experts will be examined by the Committee of Ambassadors who will decide on the definitive proposals for submission to the Council of Ministers.