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Letter to Mr. J. M. Bischoff, Secretary-General of the International Commission on Civil Status

Brussels, 14 July 1983.

Monsieur J. M. BISCHOFF,

Commission internationale de l'état civil,

faculté du droit et des sciences politiques,

place d'Athènes,

F-67084 Strasbourg.

Sirs,

Following talks between representatives of our two bodies on a desirable form of mutual cooperation, I wish to propose the following arrangements:

1. The International Commission on Civil Status (hereinafter called 'the CIEC') will notify the Commission of the European Communities (hereinafter called 'the CEC') of all matters included on the agenda of meetings of its general assembly.

The CEC may make known to the CIEC its potential interest in one or more of those matters and, in that event, will render assistance in the form of opinions or information.

2. The CEC will inform the CIEC of all matters referred to it relating to civil status, personal and family law and the determination of nationality.

It will afford the CIEC an opportunity to concern itself with such matters. The CIEC will study them and inform the CEC of the results of its work. If the findings are unfavourable, the CEC may itself take the matters in hand and the CIEC will render assistance in the form of opinions or technical data.

3. The CEC may recommend the Member States of the European Communities to sign and ratify conventions drawn up by the CIEC on subjects submitted to it by the CEC, or to accede to such conventions.

The CIEC may recommend the CEC to advise the Member States of the European Communities to sign and ratify any other convention adopted by the CIEC or to accede thereto.

4. The CIEC may recommend its members to sign and ratify conventions drawn up by the European Communities relating to subjects in respect of which the CIEC has rendered assistance, or to accede thereto.

5. The CEC will be invited to send representatives to general meetings of the CIEC dealing with questions of interest to it.

6. The CIEC will be invited to send representatives to meetings of committees convened by the CEC dealing with questions of interest to it.

7. Subject to such measures as may be necessary to safeguard the confidentiality of certain documents, the CEC and the CIEC will communicate to one another any documentation likely to be of mutual interest. 8. This Agreement, which is entered into for a period of five years, will be automatically renewed for further periods of five years subject to the right of the Parties to terminate it at the end of the initial period or of any subsequent period by notifying the other Party thereof at least one year before the end of the period in question.

I should be grateful if you would inform me whether, as I hope, the above proposals can serve as a basis for our future cooperation. This letter and your letter of acceptance will thus constitute a Cooperation Agreement between the European Economic Community and the International Commission on Civil Status. If your reply is in the affirmative, the Agreement will enter into force immediately.

Yours faithfully,

For the Commission

Wilhelm HAFERKAMP

Letter from the Secretary-General of the International Commission on Civil Status

Strasbourg, 26 July 1983.

Mr Wilhelm HAFERKAMP,

Vice-President of the Commission

of the European Communities,

200 rue de la Loi,

B-1049 Brussels

Sir,

Thank you for your letter of 14 July 1983 laying down the methods of cooperation between the International Commission on Civil Status and the European Economic Community.

We are pleased to inform you that the International Commission fully agrees with the proposals contained in that document.

Consequently, in accordance with the suggestion made in the last paragraph of your letter, the latter and this reply will be deemed to constitute the arrangement determining the relations between the European Economic Community and the International Commission on Civil Status, which enters into force as of today's date.

1.2 // // Yours faithfully, // P. VAN LANGENAECKEN // J. M. BISCHOFF // President // Secretary-General