Treaties and Agreements

The Agreements of April 2000 on Cooperation and Competent Authorities

19 April 2000

1-fE Mr Gregor Woschnagg
Permanent Representative of Austria
to the European Union
Ave de Cortenberg 30
B-1040 Brussels

I refer to difficulties which have arisen in respect of the identity document issued in Gibraltar to British nationals resident in Gibraltar. The identity document will be reformatted as follows:

The words "United Kingdom" will be added above "Gibraltar" on the front of the identity document issued in Gibraltar to British nationals resident in Gibraltar. The issuing authority on the back of the identity document will be "Civilian Registration Officer, Gibraltar. Validated for EU travel purposes under the authority of the Government of the United Kingdom".

I should be grateful if you would confirm that the identity document as reformatted will be accepted by your Government as valid for travel within the European Union.

I am copying this letter to the Secretary General of the Commission and I am writing in similar terms to the Permanent Representatives of the other Member States.

F S Wall

ARRANGEMENTS ON POLICE COOPERATION

Having regard to Article 39.4 of the Convention of 19 June 1990 implementing the Schengen Agreement and with a view to enhancing co-operation between the relevant police services in Gibraltar and the neighbouring region (on the one side, the Royal Gibraltar Police, and, on the other side, the Policia Nacional and the Guardia Civil), Having regard also to Article 29 of the Treaty on European Union and the conclusions of the Special European Council held at Tampere,

The following arrangements are established:

  • The relevant police services will, in a manner consistent with their respective domestic legal and administrative systems, assist each other in relation to areas of mutual interest and concern in preventing and combating crime.
  • The co-operation will cover the prevention and combating of trans-frontier crime and other crime in the region, organised or otherwise, including terrorism, trafficking in persons and offences against children, illicit trafficking of arms, drugs and goods, environmental crime, corruption, money laundering and fraud.
  • Each service will designate a liaison officer who will act as a primary point of contact and who will work closely with the other service, making visits to the other service as necessary.
  • The relevant services will maintain telephone, radio and telex lines and other direct links to facilitate police co-operation. Sensitive information will be transmitted through secure channels established between them.
  • There will also be liaison, as necessary, between the Spanish police services and the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS), in a manner consistent with their respective responsibilities, concerning the prevention and combating of crime in the region.
  • The Minister of the Interior of Spain and the Home Secretary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will in consultation with the appropriate authorities keep the implementation of these arrangements under review.
  • These arrangements or any activity or measure taken for the implementation or as a result of them do not imply on the side of the Kingdom of Spain or on the side of the United Kingdom any change in their respective positions on the question of Gibraltar or on the limits of that territory.

Signed in duplicate at ............... on .................. in the English and Spanish languages, both texts having equal validity.

For the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
For the Government of the Kingdom of Spain

19 April, 2000

AGREED ARRANGEMENTS RELATING TO GIBRALTAR AUTHORITIES IN THE CONTEXT OF EU AND EC INSTRUMENTS AND RELATED TREATIES
  1. Taking account of the responsibility of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as the Member State responsible for Gibraltar, including its external relations, under the terms of Article 299.4 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, when in an instrument or treaty of the type specified in paragraph 5 a provision is included whereby a body, authority or service of one Member State of the European Union may communicate directly with those of another EU Member State or may take decisions with some effect in another EU Member State, such a provision will be implemented, in respect of a body, authority or service of Gibraltar (hereinafter referred to as "Gibraltar authorities"), in accordance with the procedure in paragraph 2 and in the cases specified therein, through the authority of the United Kingdom specified in paragraph 3. The obligations of an EU Member State under the relevant instrument or treaty remain those of the United Kingdom.
  2. In order to implement such a provision, formal communications and decisions to be notified which are taken by or addressed to the Gibraltar authorities will be conveyed by the authority specified in paragraph 3 under cover of a note in the form attached for illustrative purposes in Annex 1. The authority specified in paragraph 3 will also ensure an appropriate response to any related enquiries. Where decisions are to be directly enforced by a court or other enforcement authority in another EU Member State without such notification, the documents containing those decisions by the Gibraltar authority will be certified as authentic by the authority specified in paragraph 3. To this effect the Gibraltar authority will make the necessary request to the authority specified in paragraph 3. The certification will take the form of a note based on Annex 1.
  3. The authority of the United Kingdom mentioned in paragraphs 1 and 2 will be The United Kingdom Government/Gibraltar Liaison Unit for EU Affairs of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office based in London or any United Kingdom body based in London which the Government of the United Kingdom may decide to designate. 4. The designation by the United Kingdom of a Gibraltar authority in application of any instrument or treaty specified in paragraph 5 that includes a provision such as that mentioned in paragraph 1 will also contain a reference to the authority specified in paragraph 3 in the terms of Annex 2.
  4. These arrangements will apply as between EU Member States to:
    1. any present or future European Union or Community instrument or any present or future treaty concluded within the framework of the European Union or European Community;
    2. any present or future treaty related to the European Union or European Community to which all or a number of EU Member States or all or a number of EU and EFTNEEA states are the only signatories or contracting parties;
    3. the Council of Europe Conventions mentioned in the Convention of 19 June 1990 implementing the Schengen Agreement;
    4. the following treaties related to instruments of the European Union
      • The Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters done at the Hague on 15 November 1965
      • The Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters done at the Hague on 18 March 1970.
      • The Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction done at the Hague on 25 October 1980 (when extended to Gibraltar).
    5. other treaties to which both sides agree that these arrangements should apply. Where there is no such agreement, the two sides will nevertheless seek to avoid and to resolve any problems which may arise.
  5. In respect of the treaties specified in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) these arrangements will also apply as between all the contracting parties to those treaties. Paragraphs 1 and 2 of these arrangements will be construed accordingly.
  6. The spirit of these arrangements will be respected to resolve questions that may arise in the application of any provision of the kind described in paragraph 1, bearing in mind the desire of both sides to avoid problems concerning the designation of Gibraltar authorities.
  7. These arrangements or any activity or measure taken for their implementation or as a result of them do not imply on the side of the Kingdom of Spain or on the side of the United Kingdom any change in their respective positions on the question of Gibraltar or on the limits of that territory.
  8. These arrangements will be notified to the EU institutions and Member States for their information and for the purposes indicated in them.
ANNEX I
SPECIMEN NOTE FROM THE AUTHORITY SPECIFIED IN PARAGRAPH 3

On behalf of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as the Member State responsible for Gibraltar, including its external relations, in accordance with Article 299 (4) of the Treaty establishing the European Community, I attach a certificate in respect of (the company), signed by the Commissioner of Insurance, the supervisory authority for Gibraltar.

In accordance with the Article 14 of the Directive 88/357/EEC, as amended by Article 34 of Directive 92/49/EEC, the (name of company) has notified to the Commissioner of Insurance in Gibraltar its intention to provide services into (name of EU Member State). The process envisaged by Article 35 of Directive 92/49/EEC is that within one month of the notification the competent authorities of the home Member State shall communicate to the host Member State or Member State within the territory of which an undertaking intends to carry on business under the freedom to provide services:

  1. A certificate attesting that the undertaking has the minimum solvency margin calculated in accordance with Article 16 and 17 of Directive 73/239/EEC;
  2. The classes of insurance which the undertaking has been authorised to offer;
  3. The nature of the risks which the undertaking proposes to cover in the Member State of the provision of services.
ANNEX 2
FORMULA TO BE USED BY THE UNITED KINGDOM WHEN DESIGNATING A GIBRALTAR AUTHORITY

In respect of the application of the (name of instrument) to Gibraltar, the United Kingdom, as the Member State responsible for Gibraltar, including its external relations, in accordance with Article 299(4) of the Treaty establishing the European Community, designates (name of Gibraltar authority) as the competent authority for the purposes of (relevant provision of the instrument). In accordance with arrangements notified in Council document xxx of .... 2000:

One or more of the following alternatives will be used as appropriate

  • any formal communications required under the relevant provisions of (name of instrument) which come from or are addressed to (name of Gibraltar authority)
  • any decision taken by or addressed to (name of Gibraltar authority) which is to be notified under the relevant provisions of (name of instrument) will be conveyed by (name of UK authority) under cover of a note. The (name of U.K. authority) will also ensure an appropriate response to any related enquiries.

Where decisions are to be directly enforced before a court or other enforcement authority in another Member State without the need of a formal previous notification - The documents containing such decisions of (name of Gibraltar authority) will be certified as authentic by the (name of U.K. authority). To this effect the (name of Gibraltar authority) will make the necessary request to the (name of UK authority). The certification will take the form of a note.

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