22003D0478

Decision No 2/2003 of the EU-Slovak Republic Association Council

of 30 April 2003

extending the double-checking system established by Decision No 3/97 of the Association Council for the period from the date of entry into force of this Decision up to the date of accession by the Slovak Republic to the European Union

(2003/478/EC)

THE ASSOCIATION COUNCIL,

Whereas:

(1) The Contact Group referred to in Article 10 of Protocol 2 to the Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Slovak Republic, of the other part(1), which entered into force on 1 February 1995, met on 28 October 2002 and agreed to recommend to the Association Council established under Article 104 of the Agreement that the double-checking system introduced in 1998 by Decision No 3/97 of the Association Council(2), extended by Decision No 1/1999(3) for the period from 1 January to 31 December 1999, extended by Decision No 1/2000(4) for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2000, extended by Decision No 1/2001(5) for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2001 and extended by Decision No 3/2002(6) for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2002, should be extended for the period from the date of entry into force of this Decision up to the date of accession by the Slovak Republic to the European Union.

(2) The Association Council, having been supplied with all relevant information, has agreed with this recommendation,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

The double-checking system established by Decision No 3/97 of the Association Council shall continue to apply for the period from the date of entry into force of this Decision up to the date of accession by the Slovak Republic to the European Union. In the Preamble and Article 1(1) and (3) of the Decision, references to the period 1 January to 31 December 2002 shall be replaced by references to "from 8 July 2003 up to the date of accession by the Slovak Republic to the European Union".

Article 2

Goods shipped to the Community as from 1 January 2003 until the date of entry into force of this Decision shall be excluded from the scope of this Decision.

Article 3

This Decision shall enter into force on the 10th day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Done at Brussels, 30 April 2003.

For the Association Council

The President

G. Papandreou

(1) OJ L 359, 31.12.1994, p. 2.

(2) OJ L 13, 19.1.1998, p. 71.

(3) OJ L 36, 10.2.1999, p. 18.

(4) OJ L 67, 15.3.2000, p. 36.

(5) OJ L 35, 6.2.2002, p. 38.

(6) OJ L 166, 25.6.2002, p. 22.