27.12.2005 Official Journal of the European Union L 344/23 COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2112/2005 of 21 November 2005 on access to Community external assistance THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu- nity, and in particular Article 181a thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1), Whereas: 1 The practice of tying the granting of aid, directly or indi- rectly, to the purchase of goods and services procured by means of that aid in the donor country reduces its effec- tiveness and is not coherent with a pro-poor development policy. The untying of aid is not an aim in itself, but should be used as a tool to cross-fertilise other elements in the fight against poverty, such as ownership, regional integra- tion and capacity building, with a focus on empowering local and regional suppliers of goods and services in devel- oping countries. In March 2001, the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) adopted a ‘Recommendation on Untying Official Development Assistance to the Least Developed Countries’ (3). The Member States adopted that recommendation and the Commission recognised the spirit of this recommendation as guidance for Community aid. On 14 March 2002, the General Affairs Council held in parallel with the European Council in Barcelona in prepa- ration for the International Conference on Financing for Development, convened in Monterrey on 18 to 22 March 2002, concluded that the European Union would ‘imple- ment the DAC recommendation on untying of aid to least developed countries and continue discussions in view of further untying bilateral aid. The EU will also consider steps towards further untying of Community aid while main- taining the existing system of price preferences of the EU-ACP framework’. (1) OJ C 157, 28.6.2005, p. 99. () OECD/DAC 2001 Report, 2002, Volume 3, No 1, p. 46. 4 On 18 November 2002, the Commission adopted a com- munication to the Council and to the European Parliament entitled ‘Untying: Enhancing the effectiveness of aid’. It pre- sented the Commission’s views on the issue and possible options for the implementation of the abovementioned Barcelona commitment within the EU aid assistance system. In its Conclusions on the Untying of Aid of 20 May 2003 the Council underlined the need to further untie Commu- nity aid. It agreed to the modalities detailed on the above- mentioned Communication and decided on the options proposed. On 4 September 2003, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the abovementioned Commission commu- nication (3), in which it noted the need to further untie Community aid. It supported the modalities detailed in that Communication and agreed to the options proposed. It highlighted the need for further debate geared towards more untying on the basis of further studies and docu- mented proposals, and called explicitly for ‘a clear prefer- ence for local and regional cooperation, prioritising — in ranking order — suppliers from the recipient country, neighbouring developing countries, and other developing countries’, in order to strengthen the efforts of the recipi- ent countries to improve their own production at national, regional, local and family level, as well as actions aimed at improving the availability and accessibility to the public of foodstuffs and basic services, consistent with local habits and production and trading systems. Several elements need to be addressed in order to define access to Community external assistance. The rules of eli- gibility governing access by persons are laid down in Article 3. The rules governing the engagement of experts and the origin of supplies and materials purchased by eli- gible persons are laid down in Articles 4 and 5 respectively. The definition and modalities of implementation of reci- procity are set out in Article 6. Derogations and their implementation are provided for in Article 7. Specific pro- visions concerning operations financed through an inter- national organisation or a regional organisation, or co- financed with a third country, are laid down in Article 8. Specific provisions concerning humanitarian aid are laid down in Article 9. () OJ C 76 E, 25.3.2004, p. 474.