31.12.2007 Official Journal of the European Union L 348/1 (Acts adopted under the EC Treaty/Euratom Treaty whose publication is obligatory) REGULATIONS COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1528/2007 of 20 December 2007 applying the arrangements for products originating in certain states which are part of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States provided for in agreements establishing, or leading to the establishment of, Economic Partnership Agreements THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu- nity, and in particular Article 133 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Whereas: The Partnership Agreement between the members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part, signed in Cotonou on 23 June 2000 (*) (hereinafter referred to as the ‘ACP-EC Partnership Agree- ment) provides that Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) are to enter into force no later than 1 January 2008. The ACP-EC Partnership Agreement provides for the main- tenance of the trading arrangements contained in Annex V to that Agreement until 31 December 2007. Since 2002 the Community has been negotiating Eco- nomic Partnership Agreements with the ACP Group of States in the form of six regions comprising the Caribbean, Central Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa, the Pacific Island States, the South African Development Community and West Africa. Such Economic Partnership Agreements () OJL317,15.12.2000, p. 3. Agreement as amended by Agreement of 22 December 2005 (O] L 209, 11.8.2005, p. 27). will be consistent with WTO obligations, support regional integration and promote the gradual integration of the ACP economies into the rules-based world trading system, thereby fostering their sustainable development and con- tributing to the overall effort to eradicate poverty and to enhance living conditions in the ACP countries. In a first stage, negotiations may be concluded on agreements lead- ing to the establishment of Economic Partnership Agree- ments covering at least WTO compatible goods arrangements consistent with regional economic and political integration processes, to be complemented as soon as possible by complete Economic Partnership Agreements. Those agreements establishing, or leading to the establish- ment of, Economic Partnership Agreements for which negotiations have been concluded provide that the parties may take steps to apply the agreement, before provisional application on a mutual basis, to the extent feasible. It is appropriate to take action to apply the agreements on the basis of these provisions. The arrangements included in this Regulation are to be amended, as necessary, in accordance with the agreements establishing, or leading to the establishment of, Economic Partnership Agreements, as and when such agreements are signed and concluded pursuant to Article 300 of the Treaty and are either provisionally applied or in force. The arrangements are to be terminated in whole or in part if the agreements in question do not enter into force within a reasonable period of time in accordance with the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.