Mechanism for collective evaluation of the application by applicant countries of the European Union acquis

1) OBJECTIVE

A mechanism is to be established under the pre-accession strategy for national and Commission experts to evaluate collectively - within the framework of the Council - the enactment, application and effective implementation by the applicant countries of the European Union acquis.

2) UNION MEASURE

Joint Action 98/429/JHA of 29 June 1998 adopted by the Council on the basis of Article K.3 of the Treaty on European Union, establishing a mechanism for collective evaluation of the enactment, application and effective implementation by the applicant countries of the acquis of the European Union in the field of Justice and Home Affairs.

3) CONTENTS

The collective evaluation mechanism consists of a group of experts who, under the Coreper's supervision, will prepare and update collective evaluations of the applicant countries' enactment, application and effective implementation of the European Union acquis in the field of justice and home affairs. One or more Member States, in close association with the Commission, may provide particular assistance in preparing and updating comprehensive reports for a particular applicant country. These reports will form the basis of the evaluations referred to above (Article 2).

All the relevant information will be made available by the Member States and the Commission to the group of experts so it can prepare and update collective evaluations for each applicant country and make an assessment of potential problem areas (Article 3).

Evaluations will be based on four categories of information:

• information provided individually and collectively by Member States based on their direct experience of working with the applicant countries, including information available within Schengen;
• where appropriate, reports from Member States' embassies and Commission delegations in the applicant countries compiled, if necessary, on the basis of a questionnaire to be prepared by the group of experts;
• information to which the Commission has access through its role in the overall process of accession, including reports from missions under the Phare programme;
• reports by the Council of Europe on the implementation of Council of Europe conventions and recommendations, or reports by any other sources which are considered relevant to the content of the acquis.

Additional information may be required for more detailed evaluations of specific issues. Ad hoc teams of representatives and experts from the Member States and the Commission will be set up for this purpose (Article 3).

The group of experts will report to the Council on the progress and results of the evaluations through Coreper and in close cooperation with the Committee established under Article K.4 of the Treaty and with other Council bodies involved in the enlargement process. The Commission has been asked to take account of the collective evaluations in its proposals for any significant adjustment of the priorities and objectives of the accession partnerships which have to be submitted for Council approval (Article 4).