Key Benefits:
The Senate and Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation assembled in Congress, etc. sanction with force of Law:
ARTICLE 1 The MODIFICATE PROTOCOL FOR THE SOLUTION OF CONTROVERSES IN MERCOSUR, signed in Rio de Janeiro FEREPULIC FEDERATIVA DEL BRASIL. on 19 January 2007, which consists of OCHO (8) articles, whose authenticated photocopy is part of this law. ARTICLE 2 Contact the national executive branch.IN THE SESSION OF THE ARGENTINE CONGRESS, IN GOOD AIRES, TO THE TWENTY DAYS OF THE MONTH OF AUGUST YEAR DOS MIL OCHO.
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JULY C. C. COBOS. EDUARDO A. FELLNER. . Enrique Hidalgo. . Juan H. Estrada.
The Argentine Republic, the Federal Republic of Brazil, the Republic of Paraguay and the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, henceforth known as "States Parties";
VISTO
The Treaty of Assumption; the Protocol of Olives for Dispute Settlement in MERCOSUR and Decision CMC No. 37/03 "Regulation of the Protocol of Olives for Dispute Settlement in MERCOSUR".
CONSIDERING:
Modifications to the Protocol of Olives for the Settlement of Disputes in MERCOSUR are necessary in order to adapt it to future alterations in the number of MERCOSUR States Parties.
That, in order to achieve the above-mentioned objective, articles 18, 20 and 43 of the Olive Protocol should be amended and the Regulation of the Olive Protocol (CMC Decision No. 37/03).
That with the commencement of the functioning of the Secretariat of the Permanent Review Tribunal (ST), it is necessary to transfer to the ST of the tasks relating to the settlement of disputes within the scope of MERCOSUR attributed to the Administrative Secretariat of MERCOSUR by the Olives Protocol.
THE following:
Article 1From the entry into force of this Protocol, Article 18 of the Protocol of Olives "Composition of the Permanent Review Tribunal", shall read as follows:
"1. The Permanent Review Tribunal shall consist of one (1) arbitrator appointed by each State Party of MERCOSUR.
2. Each State Party of MERCOSUR shall designate one (1) titular arbitrator and its alternate for a period of two (2) years, renewable for a maximum of two consecutive periods.
3. In the event that the Permanent Review Tribunal becomes composed of a number of arbitrators holding pursuant to paragraph 1 of this article, an additional (1) arbitrator and his alternate shall be appointed, who shall have the nationality of any of the MERCOSUR States Parties, without prejudice to paragraph 4 of this article.
The incumbent additional arbitrator and his alternate shall be unanimously elected from the States Parties, from a list to be composed of two (2) names indicated by each State Party within thirty (30) days from the entry into force of the Olive Protocol for the new member or from the denunciation of a State Party, in accordance with article 49 of the Olive Protocol.
Not achieving unanimity, the appointment shall be by lot to be made by the Registrar of the Secretariat of the Permanent Review Tribunal among the members of that list within two (2) days of the expiration of the period referred to in the preceding paragraph.
The additional incumbent arbitrator and his alternate shall be appointed for a period of two (2) renewable years for a maximum of two (2) consecutive periods, except for the first period whose duration shall be equal to the remaining duration of the period of the other arbitrators that are members of the Tribunal.
When the Permanent Review Tribunal has the participation of an additional arbitrator and the accession of a new State Party to MERCOSUR or the denunciation of a State Party, the additional arbitrator and its alternate, without prejudice to paragraph 6 of this article, shall exercise their mandates until the arbitrator of the new State Party is appointed or until the withdrawal of the complaint is made in accordance with Chapter V of the Treaty.
4. States Parties may, in common agreement, define other criteria for the appointment of the additional arbitrator and his/her alternate.
5. At least three (3) months before the termination of the arbitrator ' s mandate, the States Parties shall manifest themselves in respect of their renewal or propose new candidates.
6. In the event of the expiry of the period of action of an arbitrator who is in a dispute, the arbitrator shall remain in office until its conclusion.
7. It shall apply, as appropriate, to the procedures described in this article, the provisions of article 11.2."
Article 2From the entry into force of this Protocol, Article 20 of the Protocol of Olives "Execution of the Tribunal" shall read as follows:
"1. When the dispute involves two (2) States Parties, the Tribunal shall consist of three (3) arbitrators. Two (2) arbitrators shall be nationals of each State party to the dispute and the third, which shall be exercised by the Presidency, shall be appointed by drawing lots to be carried out by the Secretary of the Secretariat of the Permanent Review Tribunal, among the remaining arbitrators who are not nationals of the States parties to the dispute, excluding the additional arbitrator eventually in exercise. The President ' s appointment shall be made on the day after the filing of the review appeal, the date on which the Tribunal shall be constituted for all purposes.
2. When the dispute involves more than two (2) States Parties, the Permanent Review Tribunal shall be composed of all its arbitrators in the terms of article 18.
3. States Parties may, in common agreement, define other criteria for the functioning of the Tribunal set out in this article. "
Article 3From the entry into force of this Protocol, Article 43 of the "Group of Experts" Protocol shall read as follows:
"1. The group of experts referred to in article 42.2 shall consist of three (3) members designated by the Common Market Group or, in the absence of agreement on one or more experts, they shall be elected by a vote to be made by States Parties among the members of the list of experts referred to in paragraph 2 of this article. The MERCOSUR Administrative Secretariat shall notify the Common Market Group of the name of the expert or of the experts who have received the greatest number of votes. In the latter case, and unless otherwise decided by the Common Market Group, one (1) of the designated experts shall not be a national of the State against which the claim was made, nor of the State in which the individual formalized his claim, in the terms of article 40.
2. In order to constitute the roster of experts, each State Party shall designate six (6) persons of recognized competence in matters that may be the subject of the claim. This list will be registered with the MERCOSUR Administrative Secretariat.
3. The costs arising from the performance of the group of experts shall be borne in the proportion determined by the Common Market Group or, in the absence of agreement, in equal amounts by the parties directly involved in the claim. "
Article 4From the entry into force of this Protocol, the following text is incorporated into the Olive Protocol as article 48 bis "Secretariat of the Permanent Review Tribunal":
"The TPR will have a secretariat called the Secretariat of the Permanent Review Tribunal (ST) which will be headed by a Registrar who shall be a national of any of the MERCOSUR States Parties.
The functions of the ST shall be regulated by the Common Market Council. "
Article 5The functions assigned to the Administrative Secretariat of MERCOSUR by the Protocol of Olives in Chapters VI to IX and XII, with the exception of communication to the Common Market Group referred to in Article 45, shall be fulfilled by the Secretariat of the Permanent Review Tribunal.
Article 6The Council of the Common Market shall approve the adequacy of the Regulations of the Olive Protocol within sixty (60) days of the entry into force of this Modifying Protocol.
Article 7This Protocol shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the date of deposit of the fourth instrument of ratification:
The Republic of Paraguay shall be the depositary of this Protocol and of the instruments of ratification and shall notify the other States Parties of the date of deposits of such instruments by sending a duly authenticated copy of this Protocol to the other States Parties.
From the entry into force of this Modifying Protocol, its content will become an integral part of the Olive Protocol. States that now accede to the Treaty of Assumption shall ipso jure the Protocol of Olives as amended by this instrument.
Article 8Disputes initiated prior to the entry into force of this Modifying Protocol will continue to be governed until its conclusion by the original version of the Olive Protocol, signed on 18 February 2002.
Made in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Federal Republic of Brazil, at the nineteenth day of the month of January of the year two thousand seven, in an original in the Portuguese and Spanish languages being both equally identical texts.
