AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA, THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ESTONIA AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA ON COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF RAILWAY TRANSPORT

The Government of the Republic of Latvia, the Government of the Republic of Estonia and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter referred to as "the Contracting Parties");

DESIRING to develop and improve economic, administrative and technical cooperation in the field of international railway transport on the basis of mutual benefit;

CONSIDERING the necessity to facilitate international railway traffic;

BEING READY to initiate new ways to strengthen the cooperation in this direction;

FOLLOWING the legal framework of European Union;

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT mutually applicable provisions of relevant international agreements;

BEARING IN MIND steadily developing movement of passengers and goods between Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania as well as purposes and issues discussed and outlined at annual meetings of the ministers of transport of the Contracting Parties;

HAVE AGREED as follows:

ARTICLE 1
Purpose

The purpose of this Agreement is:

a) to facilitate the development of railway traffic between the territories of the Contracting Parties;

b) to outline the framework of cooperation for the Competent Authorities, other governmental authorities, licensed railway undertakings and public railway infrastructure managers in order to encourage their closer mutual cooperation;

c) to support the initiatives of the public sector and private business cooperation of the Contracting Parties and create the best possible conditions for economic cooperation;

d) to enhance business cooperation, scientific and technological contacts and exchange of experience between the Contracting Parties.

ARTICLE 2
Competent authorities

1. Under this Agreement, the Competent Authorities shall be:

for the Republic of Latvia - the Ministry of Transport;

for the Republic of Estonia - the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications;

for the Republic of Lithuania - the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

2. The Competent Authorities of the Contracting Parties shall notify each other about their other governmental railway transport authorities as well as their terms of reference and competence.

ARTICLE 3
Scope of cooperation

1. Without prejudice to European Union legislation the Competent Authorities and other governmental authorities, public railway infrastructure managers and licensed railway undertakings of the Contracting Parties shall cooperate, including but not limited to, in the following areas:

a) international carriage of passengers and goods by rail between the territories of the Contracting Parties;

b) the achievement of the highest possible degree of uniformity in the regulations, standards, procedures and methods of organisation relating to railway vehicles, railway personnel, railway infrastructure and auxiliary services;

c) implementing and developing of Rail Baltica project and accelerating international railway traffic on the railway line Tallinn-Riga-Vilnius.

2. The Contracting Parties cooperate in carrying out specific programmes and joint projects and organize training, seminars, studies, exchange of experience, specialist group meetings, round tables, and peer contacts.

3. This Agreement shall be applied without prejudice to European Union legislation and any action resulting from the application of this Agreement must be consistent with European Union legislation. If the application of this Agreement is in conflict with the European Union legislation, the Agreement will be amended by the Contracting Parties in order to remove the inconsistency.

ARTICLE 4
Recognition of documents

Without prejudice to European Union legislation each Contracting Party recognizes the professional qualifications documents, licences, certificates and permits of the other Contracting Parties in accordance with their national legislation and regulations.

ARTICLE 5
Public railway infrastructure managers

1. The Competent Authorities shall notify each other about the public railway infrastructure managers in the countries of the Contracting Parties.

2. To optimise the international railway traffic, the public railway infrastructure managers of the Contracting Parties shall conclude relevant agreements between them on the use of cross-border infrastructure.

ARTICLE 6
Carriage of passengers and goods

1. International carriage of passengers and goods by rail on the territories of the Contracting Parties shall be performed according to European Union legislation and international agreements.

2. International carriage of passengers and goods by rail is managed by the licensed railway undertakings, if necessary concluding contracts between them.

ARTICLE 7
Joint Committee

1. For the application of this Agreement the Competent Authorities shall establish a Joint Committee formed from the delegates designated by these Competent Authorities.

2. This Joint Committee shall meet at the request by the Competent Authority of any Contracting Party. Meetings of the Joint Committee shall be held alternately in the territories of the Contracting Parties.

ARTICLE 8
Settlement of disputes

Any disagreements concerning the interpretation or the application of this Agreement shall be settled by consultation between the Contracting Parties.

ARTICLE 9
Entry into force, amendments and termination

1. The Government of the Republic of Latvia shall act as the official Depository for this Agreement.

2. This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the second month following the date the Depository has received through diplomatic channels the last written notification stating that the necessary national legal requirements for this Agreement to enter into force have been completed. The Depository shall inform the Contracting Parties of each notification received and the entry into force date of this Agreement.

3. This Agreement may be amended by mutual written agreement between the Contracting Parties. Such amendment shall enter into force in accordance with the procedures stipulated in paragraph 2 of this Article.

4. Each Contracting Party may terminate this Agreement at any time by written notification to the Depository, which shall notify the other Contracting Parties through diplomatic channels of each such notification and the date of the receipt thereof. The termination to this Contracting Party shall take effect six (6) months after the receipt of such notification by the Depositary. This Agreement shall remain in force between other Contracting Parties.

5. The Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Latvia and the Government of the Republic of Estonia on cooperation in the field of railway, signed in Druskininkai, on 7 November, 2003 shall terminate on the date of entry into force of this Agreement.

Done at Tallinn on this 7th day of the month of December in the year of 2011, in three copies in the Latvian, Estonian, Lithuanian and English languages, all texts being equally authentic. In case of divergence of interpretation of this Agreement, the English text shall prevail.