Proposal for a Council Decision on the conclusion of the Agreement on the Accession of the European Community to the Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF) of 9 May 1980, as amended by the Vilnius Protocol of 3 June 1999

With this Communication the Commission submits a revised proposal for a Decision authorising the Community to conclude an Agreement defining the terms of its accession to the Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF) of 9 May 1980, as amended by the Vilnius Protocol of 3 June 1999.

On 28 March 2003, the Council authorised the Commission to enter into negotiations with the Contracting Parties to COTIF in order to reach agreement on the Community’s accession to that Convention. The Council Decision included negotiating directives and instructions for the Community’s accession to the COTIF.

Although a proposal for a Council Decision to accept the conditions of an agreement between the Community and the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF) was made in 2003, the accession of the Community to COTIF could not take place until the Vilnius Protocol had come into force and which was dependent on a number of ratifications being made by OTIF Member States. COTIF, as amended by the Vilnius Protocol, came into force in July 2006.

EUR-Lex: COM(2009)441: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2009:441:FIN

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