25 AVRIL 2004. - An Act to approve the Agreement between the Government of the Kingdom of Belgium, the Government of the French Community, the Government of the Walloon Region and the Flemish Government, on the one hand, and the Government of the French Republic, on the other hand, on cross-border cooperation between local territorial authorities and local public bodies, signed in Brussels on 16 September 2002 (1)(2)(3)

ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 77 of the Constitution.
Art. 2. The Agreement between the Government of the Kingdom of Belgium, the Government of the French Community, the Government of the Walloon Region and the Flemish Government, on the one hand, and the Government of the French Republic, on the other hand, on cross-border cooperation between local territorial authorities and public bodies, signed in Brussels on 16 September 2002, will come out its full and full effect.
Promulgation of this law, let us order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 25 April 2004.
ALBERT
By the King:
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
L. MICHEL
The Minister of the Interior,
P. DEWAEL
Seal of the state seal:
The Minister of Justice,
Ms. L. ONKELINX
____
Notes
(1) Session 2003-2004.
Senate.
Documents. - Bill tabled on 8 December 2003, No. 3-405-1. - Text adopted by the Commission, No. 3-405-2.
Annales parliamentarians. - Discussion, meeting of February 19, 2004. - Vote, meeting of 19 February 2004.
House of Representatives.
Documents. - Project transmitted by the Senate, No. 51-839-1. - Text adopted in plenary and subject to Royal Assent, No. 51-839-2.
Annales parliamentarians. - Discussion, meeting of March 18, 2004. - Vote, meeting of 18 March 2004.
(2) See Decree of the Flemish Community of 30 April 2004 (Moniteur belge du 9 juin 2004), Decree of the French Community of 17 December 2003 (Moniteur belge du 16 janvier 2004), Decree of the Walloon Region of 6 June 2003 (Moniteur belge du 23 juin 2003).
(3) This Agreement comes into force on 1^er July 2005.

Agreement between the Government of the Kingdom of Belgium, the Government of the French Community, the Government of the Walloon Region and the Flemish Government, on the one hand, and the Government of the French Republic, on the other hand, on cross-border cooperation between local authorities and local public bodies
The Government of the Kingdom of Belgium,
The Government of the French Community,
The Government of the Walloon Region,
and the Flemish Government
and
The Government of the French Republic
The Parties shall,
Aware of the mutual benefits of cooperation between local authorities and local public bodies on both sides of the border,
Desirous of promoting the proven good-neighbourly policy between the Parties and laying the foundation for in-depth cross-border cooperation,
Desirous of facilitating and promoting cooperation among the territorial authorities of the Parties,
Aware of the difference between States in the political and administrative organization of territorial authorities,
Desirous of complementing the legal framework offered by the European Framework Convention of 21 May 1980 on the cross-border cooperation of territorial authorities or communities whose essential principles inspire such cooperation,
Decided to facilitate and promote such cooperation in accordance with domestic law and international commitments of the Parties,
agreed that:
Article 1^er
Subject
The purpose of this Agreement is to clarify the legal framework for cross-border cooperation between local territorial authorities and public bodies in the legal order of the Parties, in their areas of competence and in accordance with domestic law and their international commitments.
Article 2
Scope
1. This Agreement shall apply to the following local authorities and public bodies:
(1) in the Kingdom of Belgium
(a) in the territory of the Flemish Region
- to the provinces;
- to municipalities;
- structures of intercommunal cooperation;
- to autonomous provincial and municipal authorities;
- Public Social Action Centres;
- associations founded by a Public Social Action Centre;
- polders and wateringues.
(b) in the territory of the Walloon Region
- to the provinces;
- to municipalities;
- intercommunal;
- to autonomous provincial and municipal authorities;
- public social action centres;
- associations founded by a Public Social Welfare Centre.
(c) throughout Belgian territory
- public structures of intercommunal cooperation that exceed the territorial limits of the Regions.
(2) in the French Republic, the Champagne-Ardenne region, the Lorraine region, the Nord region - Pas de Calais and the Picardie region, the municipalities, the departments, and their groups included in the territory of the said regions, as well as their public institutions, as territorial authorities participate in this cross-border cooperation.
2. Parties may agree, by exchange of diplomatic notes, to extend the scope of this Agreement to other territorial authorities, groupings of territorial authorities or public institutions under territorial authorities, as well as other legal entities of public law where their participation is authorized by domestic law and to the extent that territorial authorities are maintained in the various forms of cross-border cooperation.
3. Representatives of the State in the French departments and regions and the authorities of the Federal State, the Communities and the Belgian Regions concerned follow the implementation of this Agreement. State representatives in French departments and regions can also study with these same authorities the issues of cross-border cooperation that fall within the competence of the State in France.
4. The bodies referred to in paragraphs 1 shall be considered as local territorial authorities or public bodies within the meaning of this Agreement.^er and 2.
5. In this Agreement, the term "cross-border cooperation" means the cross-border cooperation of local authorities and public bodies with the exception of cross-border cooperation between the Parties, which is not governed by this Agreement.
Article 3
Cooperation conventions
1. Local authorities or local public bodies may enter into cooperation agreements among themselves in the areas of common jurisdiction that they hold under the domestic law applicable to them. Cooperation agreements are concluded in writing. A copy is written in the language of each Party concerned, each being equally authentic.
2. The purpose of the cooperation agreements is to allow partners to coordinate their decisions, to carry out and manage together public equipment or services of common local interest. These co-operation agreements may provide for the creation of cooperation bodies with or without legal personality by the domestic law of the Party concerned.
Article 4
Rules applicable to conventions
1. Each territorial or local public authority that enters into a cooperation agreement must comply, prior to its commitment, with the procedures and controls resulting from domestic law that are applicable. In the same way, the actions taken by each local authority or public agency to implement the cooperation agreement are subject to the procedures and controls provided for in domestic law applicable to it.
2. The cooperation agreement specifies the duration for which it is concluded. It contains a provision on the conditions to be met to end cooperation.
3. Can not be the subject of cooperation agreements or the powers of a local authority as agents of the State or, in Belgium, as agents of the federal State, the Region or the Community, or the powers of regulation and police.
4. The cooperation agreement may not alter the status, competence and competence of local territorial authorities or public bodies that are parties to it.
5. The cooperation agreement contains a provision that determines the modalities for establishing the responsibility of each local territorial or public authorities vis-à-vis third parties.
6. The cooperation agreement defines the law applicable to its obligations. The applicable law is that of one of the Parties to this Agreement. In the event of a dispute over compliance with these obligations, the competent court shall be that of the Party whose right has been chosen.
Article 5
Mandate, delegation and public service concession
1. In particular, the cooperation agreement may require that a territorial community or a local public body carry out tasks related to another territorial community or other local public body, on behalf of and on the direction of the local public body and respecting the internal law of the authority of management.
2. Concessions or, with respect to the French Party, public service delegations to which a territorial or local public body under a Party may take advantage of a territorial or local public body under another Party or of a cross-border cooperation agency referred to in Articles 10 and 11 of this Agreement shall be subject to the provisions and procedures defined by the domestic legislation of each of the Parties concerned.
Article 6
Public procurement
1. Where cooperation agreements provide for the procurement of public procurement, the contract shall be subject to the law of the Party applicable to the territorial community or to the cooperative body referred to in Articles 10 and 11 which assumes its responsibility.
2. If local authorities or local public bodies of other Parties are directly or indirectly involved in the financing of this public market, the Convention refers to the obligations that are made to each local territorial or public body for such a transaction, taking into account its nature and cost, in respect of advertising, competition and choice procedures.
3. Local authorities or local public bodies take all necessary measures to enable each of them to comply with their obligations under their domestic law without prejudice to the law that applies to these public markets.
Article 7
Responsibility of Parties
1. Subject to the application of Article 17, the cooperation agreements shall be binding only on the local authorities or public bodies signatory. Parties are in no way engaged by the consequences of contractual obligations contained in cooperation agreements concluded by local territorial authorities or public bodies or by the implementation of such cooperation agreements.
2. If a cooperation agreement is declared null in one of the Parties concerned in accordance with its domestic law, the other Parties concerned shall be informed without delay.
Article 8
Cross-border cooperation organizations
1. Cross-border cooperation agreements may provide for the creation of organizations without legal personality (Article 9), the establishment of bodies with legal personality or participation in such bodies (Article 10), or the establishment of a local cross-border cooperation group (Article 11), so as to provide for the effective implementation of cross-border cooperation.
2. When a territorial authority or local public body envisages the establishment of a cross-border co-operation body or the participation in such a non-state body, such creation or participation requires prior authorization under the conditions of the domestic law of the Party under which it reports.
3. The authority responsible for the control of the cross-border cooperation agency ensures that the interests of local territorial authorities and public bodies that, participating in the organization, fall within one or more other parties to the Agreement. It shall communicate any information requested by the competent authorities for the control of these local authorities and public bodies. It informs them of the measures it envisages to take and the results of its control, as this information may affect the cooperation of local authorities or local public bodies participating in this cooperation. Unless there is no delay in their implementation, these arrangements must be made in consultation with the competent supervisory authorities of other interested parties.
4. The statutes of the transboundary cooperation organization and its deliberations are in the language of each of the Parties concerned.
Article 9
Organizations without legal personality
1. Local authorities or local public bodies may, in accordance with Article 3, establish joint bodies without legal personality or budgetary autonomy, such as conferences, inter-communal working groups, study and reflection groups, coordinating committees to study issues of common interest, formulate proposals for cooperation, exchange information or encourage the adoption by the relevant bodies of measures necessary to implement the defined objectives.
2. A body without a legal personality cannot adopt decisions involving its members or third parties.
3. The cooperation agreement that provides for the creation of organizations without legal personality contains provisions on:
(a) areas to be covered by the organization's activities;
(b) the establishment and working arrangements of the organization;
(c) the duration for which it is constituted.
4. The body without a legal personality is subject to the law defined by the cooperation agreement.
Article 10
Organizations with legal personality
1. Local authorities or local public bodies may participate in bodies with legal personality or create such bodies if they belong to a category of bodies authorized in the domestic law of the Party where they have their headquarters to understand foreign territorial authorities.
2. Categories of local public bodies referred to in paragraph 1^er above are the following:
(1) In the Kingdom of Belgium:
(a) in the territory of the Flemish Region:
intercommunal cooperation structures (Flemish Decree of 6 July 2001), associations founded by a Public Social Action Centre.
(b) in the territory of the Walloon Region:
the intercommunal (wallon decree of 5 December 1996), associations founded by a Public Centre for Social Action.
(c) in the territory of the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region:
non-profit associations and foundations (Law of June 27, 1921), international associations (Law of October 25, 1919), intercommunal organizations whose jurisdiction exceeds the territory of a Region (Law of December 22, 1986); European economic interest groups (GEIE).
(2) In the French Republic:
the public interest groups of cross-border cooperation and public interest groups responsible for the implementation of urban social development policies, local joint economic societies, including those already existing constituted by French territorial authorities.
3. This Agreement shall apply to cooperative bodies not referred to in paragraph 2 above, open to foreign territorial authorities by Belgian law or by French law after the entry into force of this Agreement. This provision shall take effect upon notification by the Contracting Party concerned, through diplomatic channels, of the amendment of its domestic law.
Article 11
Local cross-border cooperation group
1. A local cross-border cooperation group can be established by local local authorities and public bodies to carry out missions and services that are of interest to each of them. This local cross-border cooperation group is subject to domestic law applicable to public inter-communal cooperation institutions of the Party in which it has its seat.
2. The local cross-border cooperation group is a legal entity of public law. The legal personality is recognized from the effective date of the creation decision. It has legal capacity and fiscal autonomy.
Article 12
Statutes of the local cross-border cooperation group
1. The relevant local authorities or public bodies agree on the status of the local cross-border cooperation group.
2. The statutes of a local cross-border cooperation group include provisions on:
(1) the local authorities or public bodies that make up it;
(2) its purpose, mission and relationship with the local authorities or public bodies, including the responsibility for their actions;
(3) its name, location of its seat, geographical area concerned;
(4) the competence of its organs, its functioning, the number of representatives of the members in the bodies;
(5) the procedure for convening members;
(6) quorums;
(7) the manner and majority required for the deliberations;
(8) the terms and conditions of its operation, in particular with regard to personnel management;
(9) the criteria for members to contribute to financial needs and budgetary and accounting rules;
(10) the conditions for amending the statutes, including membership and withdrawal of members;
(11) its duration and the conditions of its dissolution subject to the following provisions;
(12) the conditions of its liquidation after dissolution.
3. The statutes of the local cross-border cooperation group provide for the conditions under which status amendments are adopted. These are adopted by a majority that is not less than two thirds of the statutory number of representatives of local territorial authorities and public bodies within the assembly of the group. The statutes may provide for additional provisions. In the case of a local cross-border cooperation group involving local territorial or public bodies located in the territory of the Flemish Region as well as in the territory of the Walloon Region, this majority may not be less than three-quarters.
Article 13
Organs
1. The bodies of the local cross-border cooperation group are the assembly, the president and one or more vice-presidents. The Vice-Chairs shall be selected from members of local territorial authorities and public bodies of each of the Parties concerned other than the one of which the Chair is a national. Each local authority and local public body has at least one seat in the assembly, none of which can have more than half of the seats on its own. The statutes of the local cross-border cooperation group may, in accordance with the domestic law of each Party concerned, provide for additional bodies.
2. The designation and mandate of representatives of local territorial authorities and public bodies at the meeting of the local cross-border cooperation group shall be governed by the domestic law of the Party under which each local authority or local public body is represented.
3. The Assembly decides by its decisions the cases that fall within the scope of the local cross-border cooperation group.
4. The President ensures the execution of the Assembly's decisions and represents the local cross-border cooperation group in legal matters. It may, under its own responsibility and supervision, delegate part of its functions to one or more Vice-Presidents.
Article 14
Financing
1. The local cross-border cooperation group is financed by the contributions of its members who make mandatory expenditures for them. It can also be financed by income earned under the benefits it provides.
2. It prepares an annual forecast budget voted by the assembly and prepares an assessment and results account certified by independent experts from local authorities or local public bodies.
3. To the extent that the local cross-border cooperation group is authorized to use the loan, each loan and its terms and conditions of reimbursement must be agreed upon by all its members. In the event of difficulties or dissolution of the local group of cross-border cooperation, in the absence of specific provisions in its statutes, local authorities or public bodies are engaged proportionally to their prior participation. Local authorities or local public bodies members of the local cross-border cooperation group remain responsible for their debts until such debts are extinction.
Article 15
Dissolution
The grouping is dissolved in full right either at the expiry of the period for which it was instituted, or at the end of the operation it was intended to conduct. It may also be dissolved by unanimous decision of its members provided that the conditions of its liquidation provide for the guarantee of the rights of third parties.
Article 16
Transitional provisions
1. This Agreement also applies to conventions on cross-border cooperation between local authorities or public bodies that have been concluded prior to its entry into force. Such arrangements shall be appropriate to the provisions of this Agreement to the extent possible within five years of its entry into force.
2. It is not undermined the skills and powers of existing intergovernmental cross-border cooperation bodies.
Article 17
Additional provision
The provisions of this Agreement shall apply to the conventions of Article 3 to which one or more of the Parties to this Agreement shall participate.
Article 18
Entry into force
This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the second month following the date on which the last Party has notified other Parties that the internal conditions necessary for the entry into force of the Agreement are met.
Article 19
Duration and denunciation
1. This Agreement shall be concluded for an indefinite period.
2. Each Party to the Agreement may denounce it by giving at least one year before the end of a calendar year a written notice of denunciation to other Parties. The denunciation by one of the Belgian Parties shall not affect the validity of the agreement for the other Belgian Parties.
3. If this Agreement is denounced, the cooperation measures that have taken effect prior to its expiry and the provisions that apply to forms of cooperation will not be affected.
Done in Brussels on 16 September 2002, in two copies, each in French and Dutch languages, both texts being equally authentic.