Exchange of letters on the provisional application of the Agreement between the European Atomic Energy Community and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for Cooperation on the Safe and Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy

A.   Letter from the European Atomic Energy Community

Brussels, 30 December 2020

Dear Ambassador,

Reference is made to the Agreement between the European Atomic Energy Community and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for Cooperation on the Safe and Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy (‘the Agreement’).

I have the honour to inform you that the European Atomic Energy Community is prepared to apply the Agreement on a provisional basis with effect from 1 January 2021, pending its entry into force and the completion of the final legal-linguistic revision process of all language versions of the Agreement, provided that the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is prepared to do the same and has further notified the European Atomic Energy Community prior to 1 January 2021 of the completion of its internal requirements and procedures necessary for provisional application.

If the Agreement is provisionally applied, the Parties shall understand references in the Agreement to the entry into force of the Agreement as references to the date from which the Agreement is provisionally applied, namely 1 January 2021. For greater certainty, Article 24(3) of the Agreement shall be understood to apply where provisional application ceases without the Agreement being concluded.

The European Atomic Energy Community proposes that Article 25 of the Agreement is replaced by the following: ‘This Agreement shall be drawn up in duplicate in the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish languages. All language versions of the Agreement shall be subject to final legal-linguistic revision, which shall be completed by 30 April 2021. The language versions resulting from this legal-linguistic revision shall replace ab initio the signed versions of the Agreement and shall be established as authentic and definitive by an exchange of diplomatic notes between the Parties.’

I should be obliged if you would confirm the agreement to the foregoing by the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on the conditions specified in this letter.

Please accept, Sir, the assurance of my highest consideration.

On behalf of the European Atomic Energy Community

Ilze JUHANSONE

B.   Letter from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

30th December 2020

Dear Secretary-General,

I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter of today's date, which reads as follows:

"Reference is made to the Agreement between the European Atomic Energy Community and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for Cooperation on the Safe and Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy (“the Agreement”).

I have the honour to inform you that the European Atomic Energy Community is prepared to apply the Agreement on a provisional basis with effect from 1 January 2021, pending its entry into force and the completion of the final legal-linguistic revision process of all language versions of the Agreement, provided that the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is prepared to do the same and has further notified the European Atomic Energy Community prior to 1 January 2021 of the completion of its internal requirements and procedures necessary for provisional application.

If the Agreement is provisionally applied, the Parties shall understand references in the Agreement to the entry into force of the Agreement as references to the date from which the Agreement is provisionally applied, namely 1 January 2021. For greater certainty, Article 24(3) of the Agreement shall be understood to apply where provisional application ceases without the Agreement being concluded.

The European Atomic Energy Community proposes that Article 25 of the Agreement is replaced by the following: “This Agreement shall be drawn up in duplicate in the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish languages. All language versions of the Agreement shall be subject to final legal-linguistic revision, which shall be completed by 30 April 2021. The language versions resulting from this legal-linguistic revision shall replace ab initio the signed versions of the Agreement and shall be established as authentic and definitive by an exchange of diplomatic notes between the Parties."

I have the honour to confirm the agreement of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to provisional application of the Agreement on the conditions specified in your letter, including further notification of completion of its internal requirements and procedures necessary for provisional application.

Please accept, Madam, the assurance of my highest consideration.

On behalf of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Lindsay CROISDALE-APPLEBY, CMG