Letter to the Clerk of the Committee from
the Parliamentary Relations and Devolution Department, Foreign
and Commonwealth Office, 7 September 2004
GIBRALTAR
Thank you for your letter of 22 July. I will
address the Committee's points in turn.
A copy of the arrangements relating to Gibraltar
authorities which were notified to the Secretary General of the
European Council on 19 April 2000 and of associated correspondence
is attached to this letter.
Spain has argued that the arrangements should
apply to communications between all parties conducted under the
1996 Hague Convention on the Protection of Children. We therefore
proposed that the arrangements might apply to communications conducted
between EU Member States. However, this proposal was not acceptable
to the Spanish or to the Government of Gibraltar.
A number of other dossiers are or promise to
be similarly affected. At present these comprise:
— Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention
on Corruption.
— Council of Europe Convention on Contact
Concerning Children.
— Cape Town Convention on securing
interest for creditors on high-value aircraft.
— Kiev Protocol on cross-border liability
for the effects of industrial accidents.
— Athens Convention relating to the
Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea.
— Council of Europe Convention on Trafficking
in Human-beings. I hope that this information will be of assistance
to the Committee.
Matthew Hamlyn
Parliamentary Relations and Devolution Department
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
7 September 2004
Annex A
AGREED ARRANGEMENTS RELATING TO GIBRALTAR
AUTHORITIES IN THE CONTEXT OF EU AND EC INSTRUMENTS AND RELATED
TREATIES, 19 APRIL 2000
1. Taking account of the responsibility
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as
the Member State responsible for Gibraltar, including its external
relations, under the terms of Article 299.4 of the Treaty establishing
the European Community, when in an instrument or treaty of the
type specified in paragraph 5 a provision is included whereby
a body, authority or service of one Member State of the European
Union may communicate directly with those of another EU Member
State or may take decisions with some effect in another EU Member
State, such a provision will be implemented, in respect of a body,
authority or service of Gibraltar (hereinafter referred to as
"Gibraltar authorities"), in accordance with the procedure
in paragraph 2 and in the cases specified therein, through the
authority of the United Kingdom specified in paragraph 3. The
obligations of an EU Member State under the relevant instrument
or treaty remain those of the United Kingdom.
2. In order to implement such a provision,
formal communications and decisions to be notified which are taken
by or addressed to the Gibraltar authorities will be conveyed
by the authority specified in paragraph 3 under cover of a note
in the form attached for illustrative purposes in Annex 1. The
authority specified in paragraph 3 will also ensure an appropriate
response to any related enquiries. Where decisions are to be directly
enforced by a court or other enforcement authority in another
EU Member State without such notification, the documents containing
those decisions by the Gibraltar authority will be certified as
authentic by the authority specified in paragraph 3. To this effect
the Gibraltar authority will make the necessary request to the
authority specified in paragraph 3. The certification will take
the form of a note based on Annex 1.
3. The authority of the United Kingdom mentioned
in paragraphs 1 and 2 will be The United Kingdom Government/Gibraltar
Liaison Unit for EU Affairs of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
based in London or any United Kingdom body based in London which
the Government of the United Kingdom may decide to designate.
4. The designation by the United Kingdom
of a Gibraltar authority in application of any instrument or treaty
specified in paragraph 5 that includes a provision such as that
mentioned in paragraph 1 will also contain a reference to the
authority specified in paragraph 3 in the terms of Annex 2.
5. These arrangements will apply as between
EU Member States to:
(a) any present or future European Union
or Community instrument or any present or future treaty concluded
within the framework of the European Union or European Community;
(b) any present or future treaty related
to the European Union or European Community to which all or a
number of EU Member States or all or a number of EU and EFTA/EEA
states are the only signatories or contracting parties;
(c) the Council of Europe Conventions mentioned
in the Convention of 19 June 1990 implementing the Schengen Agreement;
(d) the following treaties related to instruments
of the European Union:
— The Convention on the Service Abroad
of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial
Matters done at the Hague on 15 November 1965;
— The Convention on the Taking of Evidence
Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters done at the Hague on 18
March 1970;
— The Convention on the Civil Aspects of
International Child Abduction done at the Hague on 25 October
1980 (when extended to Gibraltar);
(e) other treaties to which both sides agree
that these arrangements should apply. Where there is no such agreement,
the two sides will nevertheless seek to avoid and to resolve any
problems which may arise.
In respect of the treaties specified in sub-paragraphs
(a) and (b) these arrangements will also apply as between all
the contracting parties to those treaties. Paragraphs 1 and 2
of these arrangements will be construed accordingly.
6. The spirit of these arrangements will
be respected to resolve questions that may arise in the application
of any provision of the kind described in paragraph 1, bearing
in mind the desire of both sides to avoid problems concerning
the designation of Gibraltar authorities.
7. These arrangements or any activity or
measure taken for their implementation or as a result of them
do not imply on the side of the Kingdom of Spain or on the side
of the United Kingdom any change in their respective positions
on the question of Gibraltar or on the limits of that territory.
8. These arrangements will be notified to
the EU institutions and Member States for their information and
for the purposes indicated in them.
Annex 1
SPECIMEN NOTE FROM THE AUTHORITY SPECIFIED
IN PARAGRAPH 3
On behalf of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland as the Member State responsible for Gibraltar,
including its external relations, in accordance with Article 299
(4) of the Treaty establishing the European Community, I attach
a certificate in respect of (the company), signed by the Commissioner
of Insurance, the supervisory authority for Gibraltar.
In accordance with the Article 14 of the Directive
88/357/EEC, as amended by Article 34 of Directive 92/49/EEC, the
(name of company) has notified to the Commissioner of Insurance
in Gibraltar its intention to provide services into (name of EU
Member State). The process envisaged by Article 35 of Directive
92/49/EEC is that within one month of the notification the competent
authorities of the home Member State shall communicate to the
host Member State or Member State within the territory of which
an undertaking intends to carry on business under the freedom
to provide services:
(a) A certificate attesting that the undertaking
has the minimum solvency margin calculated in accordance with
Article 16 and 17 of Directive 73/23 9/EEC.
(b) The classes of insurance which the undertaking
has been authorised to offer.
(c) The nature of the risks which the undertaking
proposes to cover in the Member State of the provision of services.
Annex 2
FORMULA TO BE USED BY THE UNITED KINGDOM
WHEN DESIGNATING A GIBRALTAR AUTHORITY
In respect of the application of the (name of
instrument) to Gibraltar, the United Kingdom, as the Member State
responsible for Gibraltar, including its external relations, in
accordance with Article 299(4) of the Treaty establishing the
European Community, designates (name of Gibraltar authority) as
the competent authority for the purposes of (relevant provision
of the instrument). In accordance with arrangements notified in
Council document xxx of . . . 2000:
One or more of the following alternatives will
be used as appropriate:
— any formal communications required
under the relevant provisions of (name of instrument) which come
from or are addressed to (name of Gibraltar authority);
— any decision taken by or addressed
to (name of Gibraltar authority) which is to be notified under
the relevant provisions of (name of instrument);
will be conveyed by (name of UK authority) under
cover of a note. The (name of UK authority) will also ensure an
appropriate response to any related enquiries.
Where decisions are to be directly enforced
by a court or other enforcement authority in another Member State
without the need of a formal previous notification:
— The documents containing such decisions
of (name of Gibraltar authority) will be certified as authentic
by the (name of UK authority). To this effect the (name of Gibraltar
authority) will make the necessary request to the (name of UK
authority). The certification will take the form of a note.
Annex 3
Letter to HE Javier Elorza Cavengt, Permanent
Representative of Spain to the European Union, from HE Sir Stephen
Wall, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the European
Union, 19 April 2000
I refer to the discussions which have taken
place between our two Governments to resolve certain difficulties
which have arisen relating to Gibraltar authorities in the context
of EU and BC instruments and related treaties. I now attach to
this letter arrangements, as agreed in those discussions, relating
to Gibraltar authorities in the context of EU and BC instruments
and related treaties ("the arrangements") in the English
and the Spanish languages, both texts having equal validity, which
will take effect on 1 June 2000.
If the Government of Spain confirms its agreement
to the arrangements, they will form an understanding to which
our two Governments are committed.
I propose that on receipt of your reply, we
should each copy the arrangements, together with our exchange
of correspondence, to the Secretary General of the Council with
the request that he circulates the arrangements, together with
this exchange of correspondence, to the Permanent Representatives
of other Member States and to the other institutions of the European
Union in accordance with paragraph 8 of the arrangements for their
information and for the purposes indicated in them.
HE Sir Stephen Wall
Annex 4
Letter to HE Sir Stephen Wall, Permanent
Representative of the United Kingdom to the European Union, from
HE Javier Elorza Cavengt, Permanent Representative of Spain to
the European Union, 19 April 2000 (Official
translation)
Thank you for your letter dated 19 April to
which are attached arrangements, as agreed in the discussions
to which you refer, relating to Gibraltar authorities in the context
of EU and EC instruments and related treaties ("the arrangements").
I confirm the agreement of the Government of
Spain to the arrangements, which will form an understanding to
which our two Governments are committed.
I agree that, on your receipt of my reply, we
should each copy the arrangements, together with our exchange
of correspondence, to the Secretary General of the Council with
the request that he circulates the arrangements, together with
this exchange of correspondence, to the Permanent Representatives
of other Member States and to the other institutions of the European
Union in accordance with paragraph 8 of the arrangements for their
information and for the purposes indicated in them.
HE Javier Elorza Cavengt
Annex 5
Letter to HE Javier Solana, Secretary
General and High Representative of the Council of the European
Union, from HE Sir Stephen Wall, Permanent Representative of the
United Kingdom to the European Union, 19 April 2000
I hereby enclose a document which contains agreed
arrangements relating to Gibraltar authorities in the context
of EU and EC instruments and related treaties ("the arrangements"),
together with an exchange of correspondence that has taken place
between the Permanent Representative of Spain and myself.
I would be grateful if you would circulate the
arrangements, together with the exchange of correspondence, as
a Council document to the Permanent Representatives of other Member
States and to the other institutions of the European Union for
their information and for the purposes indicated in them.
HE Sir Stephen Wall
Annex 6
Letter to the Permanent Representatives
of the Member States and to the other Institutions of the European
Union, from HE Javier Solana, Secretary General and High Representative
of the Council of the European Union
I hereby circulate a document which contains
agreed arrangements relating to Gibraltar authorities in the context
of EU and BC instruments and related treaties ("the arrangements"),
together with an exchange of correspondence between the Permanent
Representatives of the United Kingdom and Spain, which, in accordance
with paragraph 8 of the arrangements, are notified to the Permanent
Representatives of the Member States and to the other institutions
of the European Union for their information and for the purposes
indicated in them.
HE Javier Solana
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