1.   The Joint Ministerial Trade Committee (hereafter referred to as the Trade Committee), shall be composed, on the one hand, of a minister from each Member State of the European Community and a member of the Commission of the European Communities and, on the other hand, on a parity basis, of ministers from the ACP States.

2.   Each party shall communicate the names of its representatives to the Secretariat of the Trade Committee.

3.   The Trade Committee may decide to set up a number of smaller groups, composed of an equal number of ACP and EC members of the Committee including a member of the Commission, in order to draw up recommendations on the specific areas referred to in Article 12(1).

1.   The Trade Committee shall meet at least once a year or more frequently at the request of either party.

2.   The Trade Committee shall meet either where the meetings of the Council of the European Union are usually held or at the seat of the Secretariat of the ACP Group of States, or in a city of one of the ACP States, in accordance with the decision taken by the Trade Committee.

3.   The meetings of the Trade Committee shall be convened by its Chairman.

4.   The proceedings of the Trade Committee shall be valid only if a majority of the representatives of the Member States of the European Community, a member of the Commission of the European Communities and a majority of the representatives of the ACP States who are Committee members are present.

1.   The members of the Trade Committee may be represented if they are prevented from attending a meeting.

2.   A member wishing to be so represented must notify the Chairman of the name of his representative before the meeting.

3.   The representative of a member of the Trade Committee shall exercise all the rights of that member.

1.   The members of the Trade Committee may be accompanied by officials responsible for trade matters.

2.   Before each meeting, the Chairman shall be informed of the intended composition of the delegation of each party.

3.   The Trade Committee may, by agreement between the parties, invite non-members to attend its meetings.

4.   Representatives of regional or sub-regional organisations of the ACP engaged in an economic integration process may attend the meeting as observers, subject to prior approval by the Trade Committee.

1.   All correspondence addressed to the Trade Committee or to the Chairman thereof shall be forwarded to the Secretariat of the Trade Committee.

2.   The Secretariat shall see to it that correspondence is forwarded to its addressees, and, in the case of documents referred to in Article 7, to other members of the Trade Committee. Correspondence circulated shall be sent to the Secretariat-General of the Commission of the European Communities, the Permanent Representations of the Member States of the European Union and the diplomatic missions of the representatives of the ACP States.

1.   The Chairman shall draw up a provisional agenda for each meeting. The Secretariat of the Trade Committee shall forward it to the addressees not later than 15 days before the beginning of the meeting.

2.   The provisional agenda shall include the items in respect of which the Chairman has received a request for inclusion in the agenda from either party not later than 21 days before the beginning of the meeting. The ACP-EC Subcommittee on Trade Cooperation may also present a request that items be included on the agenda. In this case, the Co-Chairmen of the said Subcommittee shall be invited to take part in the meeting.

3.   In agreement with the parties, the time limits laid down may be shortened in order to take account of the requirements of a particular case.

4.   The agenda shall be adopted by the Trade Committee at the beginning of each meeting.

1.   Draft minutes of each meeting shall be drawn up as soon as possible jointly by the Secretariat.

2.   As a general rule, the minutes shall show, in respect of each item on the agenda:

3.   The minutes shall include a list of members of the Trade Committee or their representatives who took part in the meeting.

4.   The draft minutes shall be submitted to the Trade Committee for approval at its next meeting. The draft minutes may also be agreed in writing by the two parties. When the minutes have been approved, two equally authentic copies thereof shall be signed by the Secretariat and filed by the parties. A copy of the minutes shall be forwarded to each of the addressees referred to in Article 8.

1.   The Trade Committee shall make recommendations on all trade issues, including issues relating to multilateral trade negotiations, economic partnership agreements, cooperation in international forums and commodity issues, by mutual agreement between the parties.

2.   Between meetings, the Trade Committee may make recommendations by written procedure if both parties so agree. A written procedure shall consist of an exchange of notes between the two co-secretaries of the Secretariat, acting in agreement with the parties.

3.   Recommendations of the Trade Committee shall be entitled ‘recommendation’, followed by a serial number, the date of their adoption and a description of their subject.

4.   Recommendations of the Trade Committee shall be authenticated by the Secretariat and by the Chairman.

5.   Recommendations shall be forwarded to each of the addressees referred to in Article 8 as documents of the Trade Committee.

6.   The Trade Committee shall make appropriate periodic reports to the ACP-EC Council of Ministers.