Article 13
Joint Committee
1.
A Joint Committee consisting of the representatives of the Parties is hereby established. It shall be responsible for the effective functioning of the Agreement and shall meet whenever deemed necessary by one of the Parties.
2.
The Joint Committee shall take its decisions and adopt its recommendations by consensus.
3.
The Joint Committee shall determine its own rules of procedure, which shall contain, inter alia, provisions on the convening of meetings, the appointment of the Chair and the Chair’s term of office. It may decide to delegate specific tasks to Joint Sectoral Groups referred to in point 6 below.
4.
The Joint Committee may consider any matter related to the operation of this Agreement. In particular, it shall have the power to take decisions regarding:
a)
amending the Annexes;
b)
adding new Annexes;
c)
appointing a joint team or teams of experts to verify the technical competence of a notified body and its compliance with the requirements;
d)
exchanging information on proposed and actual modifications of the EEA legislation and Slovenian national law referred to in the Annexes;
e)
considering new or additional conformity assessment procedures affecting a sector covered by an Annex;
f)
resolving any questions relating to the application of this Agreement.
5.
The Joint Committee established under this Agreement is independent of and separate from the Joint Committee that has been established under the Free Trade Agreement between the EFTA States and Slovenia.
6.
The Joint Committee may establish Joint Sectoral Groups for individual Sectoral Annexes comprising the appropriate designating and regulatory authorities and experts of the Parties. These groups will address the specific conformity assessment, acceptance of industrial products and regulatory issues related to a given sector. The responsibility of the Joint Sectoral Groups may include the following:
a)
at the request of a Party, to examine specific problems arising in the implementation of any transitional plans for mutual recognition and to give advisory opinions to the Joint Committee on issues of mutual concern;
b)
furnish information and advice on any matters relating to implementation, and on the regulations, procedures and conformity assessment system related to a particular Annex, as may be requested by a Party;
c)
review various aspects of the implementation and operation of each Sectoral Annex;
d)
consider issues of interpretation of requirements in the Sectoral Annexes, and where appropriate to make recommendations to the Joint Committee.