ANNEX

JOINT DECLARATION BY THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION ON THE GALILEO INTERINSTITUTIONAL PANEL (‘GIP’)

1.   In view of the importance, uniqueness and complexity of the European GNSS programmes, the Community ownership of systems resulting from the programmes, the full financing of the Community budget of the programmes for the period 2008-2013, the European Parliament, the Council, and the European Commission recognise the need for close cooperation of the three institutions.

2.   A Galileo Inter-institutional Panel (‘GIP’) will meet with the objective to facilitate each Community institution exercising its respective responsibility. To this end, the GIP will be set up in order to follow closely:

(a)	the progress on the implementation of the European GNSS programmes, in particular with regard to the implementation of the procurement and the contract agreements, in particular with regard to the ESA;

(b)	the International Agreements with third countries without prejudice to the provisions of Article 300 of the Treaty;

(c)	the preparation of satellite navigation markets;

(d)	the effectiveness of the governance arrangements; and

(e)	the annual review of the work programme.

3.   In accordance with existing rules, the GIP will respect the need for discretion in particular in view of the commercial-in-confidence and sensitive nature of certain data.

4.   The Commission will take account of the views expressed by the GIP.

5.   The GIP will be composed of seven representatives, of which:

—	3 from the Council

—	3 from the EP

—	1 from the Commission,

and will meet on a regular basis (in principle 4 times per year).

The GIP does not affect the established responsibilities or inter-institutional relationships.

Statement by the European Commission regarding the involvement of the GIP in international agreements

On international agreements, the Commission will inform the GIP so that it can follow closely international agreements with third countries in line with the Framework Agreement on relations between the Commission and the European Parliament of 26 May 2005 and future related Agreements and without prejudice to the provisions of Article 300 of the Treaty.

Statement by the European Commission with regard to the launch of studies on the exploitation of the Galileo system

In view of the invitation from the Council to provide, in 2010, the proposal foreseen in Article 4(3) of the Regulation on the exploitation phase of the programmes, in particular regarding the financing, the pricing policy and the revenue-sharing mechanism, the Commission will launch the necessary preliminary studies as from 2008 and during 2009, in accordance with the conclusions of the Transport Council of 29 and 30 November 2007.

These studies will carry out, in particular, an analysis of the possibilities for the involvement of the private sector in the management of the exploitation phase of the programmes beyond 2013, as well as the modalities for this potential involvement, notably those of a Public-Private Partnership.

Statement by the European Commission regarding the creation of a security expert group (‘GNSS Security Board’)

In order to implement the provisions of Article 13(1) of the Regulation and in order to examine matters related to the security of the systems, the Commission intends to create an expert group composed of representatives from the Member States.

The Commission will ensure that this expert group shall:

—	be composed of one representative of each Member State and one representative from the Commission;

—	be chaired by the representative of the Commission;

—	adopt its rules of procedures that foresee, inter alia, the adoption of opinions by consensus and a provision for the experts to raise any relevant issue related to the security of the systems;

In exercising its responsibilities, the Commission will take full account of the opinions of the expert group and commits to consult it, inter alia, before defining the main requirements for the security of the systems as set out in Article 13 of the Regulation.

In addition, the Commission considers that:

—	the representatives of the European GNSS Supervisory Authority, the European Space Agency as well as the SG/HR should be involved as observers in the work of the expert group under the conditions laid down in its rules of procedure;

—	agreements concluded by the European Community may provide for the participation of representatives of third countries in the work of the expert group under conditions laid down in its rules of procedure.

Statement by the European Commission with regard to the calling upon of an independent expert team

In order to apply properly the provisions of Article 12(3) of the Regulation, the Commission intends to:

—	call upon an independent project management expert team;

—	have, as part of its tasks, this team review the implementation of the programmes with the aim of making appropriate recommendations in particular with regard to risk management;

—	communicate these recommendations on a regular basis to the Committee set up in the Regulation.

Statement by the European Commission regarding the interpretation of Article 17(3)(c)

Article 17(3)(c) establishes the principle that at least 40 % of the aggregated value of the activities is to be subcontracted by competitive tendering at various levels to companies other than those belonging to groups of which entities will be prime contractors of any of the main work package.

The Commission, throughout the entire tendering process, will keep this under close scrutiny and review, and will inform the GIP and the GNSS Committee of the fulfilment of this requirement and its overall impact on the programme.

If, in this process, the projections show that the 40 % threshold cannot be attained, the Commission will take appropriate measures in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 17(3)(c).