25.5.2007 Official Journal of the European Union L 134/1 (Acts adopted under the EC Treaty/Euratom Treaty whose publication is not obligatory) DECISIONS COUNCIL DECISION OF THE COUNCIL AND THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE MEMBER STATES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, MEETING WITHIN THE COUNCIL of 25 April 2007 on the signature and provisional application of the Air Transport Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, on the one hand, and the United States of America, on the other (2007/339/EC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE REPRESENTA- TIVES OF THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE MEMBER STATES MEETING WITHIN THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu- nity and in particular Article 80(2), in conjunction with the first sentence of the first subparagraph of Article 300(2) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Whereas: (1) The Commission has negotiated, on behalf of the Com- munity and of the Member States, an Agreement on Air Transport with the United States of America (hereinafter, the ‘Agreement’) in accordance with the Council Decision authorising the Commission to open negotiations. (2)  The Agreement was initialled on 2 March 2007. (3)  The Agreement negotiated by the Commission should be signed and applied provisionally by the Community and the Member States, subject to its possible conclusion at a later date. (4) It is necessary to lay down procedural arrangements for deciding, if appropriate, how to discontinue the provi- sional application of the Agreement and suspend rights pursuant to Article 21(3) of the Agreement. It is also necessary to lay down procedural arrangements for the participation of the Community and the Member States in the Joint Committee set up under Article 18 of the Agreement and in the arbitration procedures provided in Article 19 of the Agreement, as well as for implementing certain provisions of the Agreement, including those con- cerning security, safety, the granting and revocation of traffic rights and government support, HAVE DECIDED AS FOLLOWS: Article 1 Signature and provisional application 1. The signing of the Air Transport Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the United States of America, of the other part, (hereinafter, the Agreement), is hereby approved on behalf of the Commu- nity, subject to a Council Decision concerning the conclusion of the Agreement. The text of the Agreement is attached to this Decision. 2. The President of the Council is hereby authorised to desig- nate the person(s) empowered to sign the Agreement on behalf of the Community, subject to its conclusion.