Agreement on the Industrial Cooperation in the Field of Defence between the Government of the Republic of Latvia and the Government of the Czech Republic

The Government of the Republic of Latvia and the Government of the Czech Republic (hereinafter as the "Parties"),

Taking into consideration the provisions of the Agreement between the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Latvia and the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic on Mutual Co-operation signed on 29 November 1993 in Prague,

Emphasizing that the friendship and co-operation relations, which will be further developed and strengthened on the basis of the principles of mutual co-operation and equity of rights will contribute to improvement of existing relations between both countries as well as to peace and security of the world,

Expressing their interest in further development of the industrial co-operation in defence with usage of scientific and technical achievements in the area of military equipment and during conversion of armament production, emphasizing importance of development of scientific and technical co-operation in the area of defence,

Have agreed as follows:

Article 1

PURPOSE

The purpose of this Agreement is to establish conditions for co-operation between the Parties in the fields defined in the Article 4 of this Agreement within competencies of the legal regulations of the Republic of Latvia and the Czech Republic.

Article 2

SCOPE

This Agreement covers the principles and activities in the industrial co-operation in the field of defence (hereinafter as the "defence industry") between the Parties.

Article 3

DEFINITION OF TERMS

1. "Sending Party" means the Party that sends personnel, material and equipment to the territory of the Receiving Party for the purpose of this Agreement.

2. "Receiving Party" means the Party that receives personnel, material and equipment from the Sending Party on the territory of its state for the purpose of this Agreement.

3. "Guest Personnel" means the military or civilian personnel that the Parties deploy on the territory of state of the other Party for implementation of this Agreement.

4. "Dependants" means spouse and the children of the guest personnel of Armed forces or civilians of the Parties, they should take care of according to their national legislation.

5. "Defence Material and Services" covers weapons, military armaments and equipment, material necessary for research, development and production and related logistic support.

6. "Technical Field" covers research, development and production technology for defence industry and technical services.

7. "Technical Services" means all services related to development, production, maintenance and modification of defence materials.

8. "Quality Assurance" means the qualities and activities, which must be guaranteed so as to provide the quality of defence production and services.

Article 4

COOPERATION FIELDS

l. The Parties through the relevant department ministries will co-operate in the following fields:

a) Creation of appropriate conditions for common research, development, production and modification of spare parts, tools, instruments, defence materials and technical equipment required by the Armed Forces of the Parties’ states.

b) Application of results of common research, development and production projects in the field of the military equipment on the territory of states of both Parties.

c) Research, production and design in the field of defence material and services.

d) Creation of conditions for joint programs of production, development, technology and modernization concerning the defence products of both Parties, and if agreed upon, also of the third countries.

e) Organization of joint scientific activities in the area of mutual interest.

f) Mutual assistance in the field of production, procurement of defence industrial products and services, as well as modernization of works and equipment of the Parties.

g) Encouragement of concluding agreements between appropriate departments of the Parties’ states on further development and joint production of weapons and military technical equipment as well as of their parts, on the procurement and production of defence products under this Agreement.

h) Sale of the jointly achieved final products made in joint projects to third countries according to a mutual agreement.

i) Exchange of scientific and technical information, exchange of information on standards used by the Parties in defence industry during quality assurance and exchange of related documentation.

j) Cooperation between military technical institutions, defence industry companies and repair facilities, that are within the competencies of the Parties.

k) The participation in military industrial fairs and symposia organized on the territory of states of both Parties.

Article 5

JOINT COMMITTEE

1. The Joint Latvian — Czech Co-ordination Committee (hereinafter "Joint Committee") will be formed in order to implement the provisions of this Agreement, and its members will represent both Parties.

2. The Delegation of the Republic of Latvia will be headed in the Joint Committee by the representative of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Latvia, the Delegation of the Czech Republic will be headed in the Joint Committee by the representative of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic.

3. The liaison offices responsible for organization and collaboration activities of the Joint Committee are:

— Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Latvia.

— Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic.

4. Each of the Parties will be represented in the Joint Committee by no more than seven members. The experts will be invited to the Joint Committee and it will be under the same conditions as its members, if necessary.

5. Within this Agreement and according to its competencies the Joint Committee will especially perform:

a) Selection and definition of concrete areas of co-operation according to Article 4 of this Agreement.

b) Selection of projects, which will be jointly realized, and identification of the most appropriate types and methods of co-operation during their implementation.

c) Identification and selection of the Parties’ local companies, which could be potential partners of the Parties:

d) Exchange of information for the purpose of realization of proposals on co-operation during implementation of joint programs.

e) Presentation of proposals, standpoints and recommendations about the involvement of the third country into the joint project to the respective authorities.

f) Elaboration of regulations for realization of approved projects and intentions.

g) To take the initiative the creation of agreements concerning of joint programs.

h) To ease direct contacts between the concrete companies, government institutions and other organizations of the Parties.

i) Periodical control of realization of approved projects and intentions.

6. The Joint Committee will meet on mutually agreed dates at least once in three years, while chairmanship according to the principle of regular rotation will be always served by the head of the host country delegation who is responsible for calling and organizing of the meeting.

7. Heads of delegations shall inform each other about the questions and themes whose negotiation in the Joint Committee is called for. All themes and topics on the Joint Committee agenda must be specified at least 30 days prior to its agreed meeting.

8. The activities should be initiated by the chairman — head of delegation of the Receiving Party through an official invitation to the second Party three months before the proposed date of the Joint Committee Meeting.

9. To make possible the allocation of the required budget for the Joint Committee Meeting, the Receiving Party should notify the date of the planned meeting to the Sending Party at least 3 months before the beginning of the year.

Article 6

IMPLEMENTING PRINCIPLES

l. The details concerning co-operation on common projects shall be defined through the Implementing arrangements. The Implementing arrangements shall be concluded between the relevant departments into their competence, the works on the base of these Implementing arrangements will be conducted.

2. In case of termination of any Implementing arrangements, the relevant departments agree to complete all obligations started before the notification of termination. The termination act of any Implementing arrangement shall be mutually concluded by the Parties and shall include a list of satisfied and unsatisfied obligations.

3. Termination of an Implementing arrangements does not terminate this Agreement.

4. Co-operation will be maintained on the base of the reciprocity principle, taking into consideration mutual interests and needs of the second Party.

5. The Parties will co-operate only in the issues related to their industries in defence. The inclusion of issues of mutual defence industry co-operation which are in the interests of the third countries is possible only on the basis of the mutual agreement concluded between the Parties.

6. If the Parties agree, annual plans of co-operation may be prepared, while taking into consideration the principle of this Agreement.

7. The Parties will asses and take decisions concerning the invitation of the third countries to participate in joint production projects between the Republic of Latvia and the Czech Republic upon mutual Agreement.

Article 7

COPYRIGHT PROTECTION

1. About the rights and obligations of the Parties concerning industrial and intellectual ownership, manufacturing within their own countries, assignment of manufacturing licenses, sale to third countries and the protection of patents on new products and inventions realized within the joint projects will be decided in accordance with the Implementing arrangements to be concluded for each joint project. These Implementing arrangements will take into consideration the regulations and international agreements in force on the protection of copyrights in each country. In these Implementing arrangements, principles and procedures related to the form, place, time and conditions of settling mutual debts and credits arising from expenses resulting from research, development, manufacturing, procurement, technical services and personnel support as well as infrastructure services, the financial and legal obligation concerning copyright protection will be specified in detail.

2. Mutually exchanged and available materials or information of industry in defence can be published or extended to the third party only with the written consent of the delivering second Party.

3. The Parties shall respect copyrights and other limitations concerning reproduction, copying, usage or distribution of all materials, products and data which are delivered by another Party on the basis of this Agreement.

Article 8

PROTECTION OF CLASSIFIED

INFORMATION

1. Protection of classified information will be arranged by an independent Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Latvia and the Government of the Czech Republic. Until the mentioned Agreement enters into force the protection of classified information will be regulated by the provision of the Arrangement between the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Latvia and the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic concerning classified military information protection, done in Prague on 10 May 1999.

2. If necessary, provision of the above mentioned agreements on the protection of the classified information can be specified in Implementing arrangements or contractual documents agreed upon by the Parties. However, thus appointed protection must be equal or higher than in agreements mentioned in paragraph 1.

Article 9

QUALITY ASSURANCE

1. The Parties will set up standards based upon of ISO 9000, STANAG and AQAP 100 standards for the needs of their industrial co-operation in defence and for procurement of defence goods and services. Application of these standards will be always agreed upon in the relevant treaties, protocols, agreements and contracts signed between the Parties.

2. Co-operation on quality assurance will be arranged through a separate agreement between the Ministries of Defence of the Parties’ states.

Article 10

FINANCIAL PROVISION

l. The expenditures related to the Joint Committee meeting, except the international transportation expenses and wages, will be met by the Receiving Party on a mutual basis.

2. Guest personnel and dependants who were sent out in accordance with provisions of this Agreement will respect the rule of law of the Receiving Party.

Article 11

JURISDICTION

Guest personnel and dependants, who will stay according this Agreement on the territory of the Receiving Party, shall respect this Nation’s legal regulations. For the crimes committed on the territory of the Receiving Party, right of jurisdiction shall belong to the Receiving Party.

Article 12

SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES

1. Disputes that might arise between the Parties in the interpretation or implementation of this Agreement or the Implementing arrangements will be settled urgently by mutual negotiation in the Joint Committee on the basis of the request of one of the Parties. Any disputes derived from this Agreement (except disputes derived from Implementing arrangements) will be submitted for solutions neither to international court nor to the Third Party.

2. If the disputes are not settled in the Joint Committee within 90 days from the moment of submitting of a request of the Party, they will be settled at the level of the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Latvia and the Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic .

Article 13

SETTLEMENT OF DAMAGES

Damages due to breaching of obligations shall be covered by the Party, whose act has caused the damage.

Article 14

FINAL PROVISIONS

1.This Agreement shall enter into force on the date of exchange of the diplomatic notes between the Parties confirming its internal approval in compliance with their relevant legal regulations. The Agreement is valid for a period of 5 years and it will be automatically extended for a next year unless one of the Parties notifies in writing the denouncement not later than 30 days before the expiration of the Agreement.

2. This Agreement may be revised and amended by a mutual arrangement of the Parties. In such a case the Parties shall start negotiation within 90 days after the Party has informed the other Party on necessity of the above mentioned revision or amendment. The revision or amendment of this Agreement, that was agreed upon, will come into force in accordance with the provision of paragraph 1 of this Article. All revisions and amendments shall be done in writing.

3. In the event of termination of this Agreement the appropriate departments will consult with each other about most satisfactory arrangements to be made for the termination of the individual Implementing arrangement(s).

Done in Riga on June 21, 2000 in two original copies each in the Latvian, Czech and English languages. Each text is equally authentic. In case of different interpretation, the English text shall prevail.

ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT

OF THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC

Name: Ģirts Valdis Kristovskis Name: Vladimir Vetch

Title: Minister of Defence Title: Minister of Defence