(1)

The stepping stone Economic Partnership Agreement between Ghana, of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part (1) (the ‘Agreement’), was signed by the Union and its Member States on 28 July 2016. It has been provisionally applied between the Union, of the one part, and Ghana, of the other part, since 15 December 2016 (2).

(2)

Pursuant to Article 73(3) of the Agreement, the Economic Partnership Agreement (‘EPA’) Committee is responsible for the administration in all fields covered by the Agreement and the achievement of all tasks mentioned in the Agreement. Pursuant to Article 73(2) the EPA Committee determines its organisation and functioning rules.

(3)

The EPA Committee is to adopt a decision with regard to its Rules of Procedure in 2020.

(4)

It is appropriate to establish the position to be taken on the Union’s behalf in the EPA Committee, as the envisaged EPA Committee decision will establish legally binding rules for the functioning of the EPA Committee.

(5)

EPAs form part of the overall relationship between the Union and its Member States, on the one side, and the ACP countries, on the other, as set out in the Partnership Agreement between the members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part (3), as last amended (the ‘Cotonou Partnership Agreement’) and, once applicable, its successor agreement. Under Article 34(1) of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, economic and trade cooperation between the parties aims at fostering the smooth and gradual integration of the ACP countries into the world economy, with due regard for their political choices and development priorities, thereby promoting their sustainable development and contributing to poverty eradication in the ACP countries. In this context, EPAs can be considered to constitute development instruments as referred to in Article 36(2) of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement. The Agreement therefore takes account of the different levels of development of the Parties, as well as of the particular economic and social constraints of Ghana and of its capacity to adapt and to adjust its economy to the liberalisation process. Furthermore, Decision (EU) 2016/1850 on the signature and provisional application of the Agreement, which is a mixed agreement and includes a title on partnership for development, was founded on both the legal basis for trade and the legal basis for development cooperation. That should be reflected also in this Decision,