Decision (EU) 2018/1578 concerning the extension of the Agreement for scientific and technological cooperation between the European Community and the United States of America

Summary:

On 21 March 2018 the European Commission presented a proposal for a Council Decision on the extension of the Agreement for scientific and technological cooperation between the European Union and the United States of America.

The Council of the European Union adopted a Decision on 18 September 2018.

Further information:

For twenty years the European Union (EU) and the United States of America (US) have been strategic partners for research. The first bilateral Agreement for scientific and technological cooperation between the European Community and the Government of the United States of America entered into force on 14 October 1998.

Since then, the Agreement has been extended three times, in 2003, in 2008 and in 2013, for an additional period of 5 years each time. The second extension included an amendment, namely the addition of research on security and space to the list of sectors for cooperative activities. The current Agreement is due to expire on 14 October 2018.

An assessment of how the cooperation with the US is evolving and how it contributes to the objectives of the strategy for international cooperation has been carried out by the Commission. This assessment clearly demonstrates that the Agreement provides an important framework for facilitating cooperation between the EU and the US in common Science and Technology (S&T) priority areas leading to mutual benefits.

It is therefore in the EU's interest to extend the Agreement for scientific and technological cooperation between the European Community and the Government of the United States of America for a new period of five years.

EUR-Lex: COM(2018)141: Proposal for a Council Decision on the extension of the Agreement for scientific and technological cooperation between the European Union and the Government of the United States of America http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2018:141:FIN

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