1.   The EPA Committee shall be composed of representatives of the members of the Council of the European Union and of the European Commission, of the one part, and representatives of Côte d'Ivoire, at ministerial or senior official level, of the other part.

2.   Reference to ‘the Parties’ in the rules of procedure is in accordance with the definition provided for in Article 72 of the Agreement.

3.   The EPA Committee shall be chaired alternately for periods of 12 months by a representative of the European Union and by a representative of Côte d'Ivoire. The first period shall begin on the date of the first meeting of the EPA Committee provided for in the Agreement and shall end on 31 December of the following year. The first Chairperson of the EPA Committee (the ‘Chairperson’) shall be a representative of Côte d'Ivoire.

4.   Representatives of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) commissions may be invited by the Parties to attend EPA Committee meetings. The Parties may also decide to invite representatives of civil society and the private sector, as well as experts, on an ad hoc basis, to meetings of the EPA Committee as observers.

1.   The EPA Committee shall meet at regular intervals, not exceeding a period of one year, and shall hold extraordinary meetings whenever circumstances so require, if the Parties so agree.

2.   Each meeting of the EPA Committee shall be held at a date and place agreed by the Parties.

3.   Meetings of the EPA Committee shall be convened by the Chairperson.

1.   All correspondence addressed to the EPA Committee shall be directed to the secretariat.

2.   The secretariat shall ensure that correspondence addressed to the EPA Committee is forwarded to the Chairperson and, where appropriate, circulated as EPA Committee documents to the designated correspondents of the Parties provided for in Article 73 of the Agreement (the ‘correspondents’).

3.   Correspondence from the Chairperson shall be sent to the correspondents by the secretariat and, where appropriate, circulated as EPA Committee documents.

1.   A provisional agenda for each meeting shall be drawn up by the secretariat on the basis of proposals made by the Parties. It shall be forwarded by the secretariat to the correspondents no later than 15 days before the start of the meeting.

2.   The provisional agenda shall include the items for which a request for inclusion in the agenda has been received by the secretariat no later than 21 days before the start of the meeting, and for which the relevant supporting documents have been received by the secretariat no later than the date of dispatch of that provisional agenda.

3.   The agenda shall be adopted by the EPA Committee at the beginning of each meeting. Items other than those listed on the provisional agenda may be placed on the agenda if the Parties so agree.

4.   The Chairperson, in agreement with the Parties, may invite experts to attend the EPA Committee's meetings in order to provide information on specific subjects.

5.   With the agreement of the Parties, the secretariat may shorten the time limit specified in paragraph 1 in order to take account of the requirements of a particular case.

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

2.   The minutes shall, as a general rule, summarise each item on the agenda, specifying where applicable:

3.   The minutes shall also include a list of the persons attending the EPA Committee meeting and a list of the members of the delegations accompanying them.

4.   The minutes shall be approved in writing by both Parties within two months of the date of the meeting. Once approved, two copies of the minutes shall be signed by the secretariat, and each of the Parties shall receive an original copy of these authentic documents.

1.   The EPA Committee shall adopt its decisions and recommendations by consensus.

2.   The EPA Committee may decide to submit any general matter, which is of mutual interest to the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP) and the European Union (‘ACP-EU’), that arises in relation to the implementation of the Agreement to the ACP-EU Council of Ministers as defined in Article 15 of the 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 (the ‘Cotonou Agreement’).

3.   In the period between meetings, the EPA Committee may adopt decisions or recommendations by written procedure if both Parties so agree. A written procedure shall consist of an exchange of notes between the Parties.

4.   Each decision or recommendation of the EPA Committee shall be entitled, respectively, ‘Decision’ or ‘Recommendation’ followed by a serial number, the date of its adoption and a description of its subject matter. Each decision or recommendation shall indicate the date of its entry into force.

5.   Decisions and recommendations adopted by the EPA Committee shall be authenticated by a representative of the European Commission on behalf of the European Union and by a representative of Côte d'Ivoire.

6.   Decisions and recommendations shall be forwarded to the Parties as EPA Committee documents.

1.   Unless otherwise decided by the Parties, meetings of the EPA Committee shall not be public.

2.   Each Party may decide to publish the decisions of the EPA Committee in its respective official publication.

1.   The working language of the EPA Committee shall be the official language common to the Parties.

2.   The EPA Committee shall discuss and adopt decisions and recommendations on the basis of documentation and proposals prepared in the language referred to in paragraph 1.

1.   Each Party shall meet any expenses it incurs as a result of attending the meetings of the EPA Committee, both with regard to staff, travel and subsistence expenditure as well as with regard to postal and telecommunications expenditure.

2.   Expenditure in connection with the organisation of meetings and reproduction of documents shall be borne by the Party hosting the meeting.

3.   Expenditure in connection with the provision of interpretation services at meetings and translation of documents into the working language shall be borne by the Party hosting the meeting. Expenditure in connection with the provision of interpretation services and translation of documents into or from other official languages of the institutions of the European Union shall be borne by the European Union.