
Article 1 

1. The position to be taken on behalf of the Union within the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors regarding the revision of Annex III to the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement shall be based on the draft Decision of the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors attached to this Decision.
2. Minor technical changes to the draft Decision may be agreed by the representatives of the Union in the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors without further decision of the Council.
Article 2 
After its adoption, the Decision of the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Article 3 
This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption.
Done at Brussels, 4 July 2016.
For the Council
The President
M. LAJČÁK
Article 1 
In order to reflect the cessation of activities of the CDE by 31 December 2016, Annex III to the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement is amended as follows:

((1)) the title of Annex III is replaced by the following:
''.
((2)) Article 1 is replaced by the following:
'Cooperation shall support the institutional mechanism to promote agriculture and rural development. In this context, cooperation shall help to strengthen and reinforce the role of the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) in ACP institutional capacity development, particularly information management, in order to improve access to technologies for increasing agricultural productivity, commercialisation, food security and rural development.'.
((3)) Article 2 is deleted.
((4)) Article 3 is renumbered as Article 2.
Article 2 

1. Before the end of the closure phase, namely 31 December 2016, the European Commission shall contract a Curator to ensure the implementation of the passive phase as from 1 January 2017 for a period of four years, or until the CDE has settled all its liabilities and realised all its assets, whichever happens earlier.
2. The Curator shall be responsible for the implementation of the passive phase. The Curator shall provide annual reports to the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors on the progress made on the implementation of the passive phase.
Article 3 

1. The CDE Statutes, the CDE Financial Regulation and the CDE Staff Regulation shall remain in force until the end of the closure phase.This Decision constitutes the new legal framework of the CDE as from 1 January 2017.
2. As from 1 January 2017 the legal personality of the CDE, as defined in Article 1 of the CDE Statutes, shall be maintained solely for the purposes of the liquidation of the CDE.
3. During the passive phase, the CDE Executive Board, as established in Articles 9 and 10 of the CDE Statutes, will continue to exist until the date of the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors decision on the discharge proposal pursuant to Article 4 of Decision No 4/2014.As from the passive phase, the tasks of the CDE Executive Board shall be limited to the approval of the closure report, adoption of the accounts related to the closure phase and the transmission of a discharge proposal to the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors for decision. From 1 January 2017, it shall hold no more than one meeting per year. This does not exclude the possibility for the CDE Executive Board to decide by written procedure.Unless decided otherwise by the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors, the discharge is deemed to be approved three months following the date of the transmission of the discharge proposal, or by 31 December 2017, whichever is the earlier.
4. The costs related to the passive phase shall be financed under the 11th European Development Fund.
5. The entitlements of the CDE in respect of third parties and entitlement of third parties in respect of the CDE shall be subject to a limitation period of three years as from 1 January 2017.
Article 4 
The assignment of the ACP-EU Joint Working Group on the closure of the CDE, as established by the Joint Declaration of the ACP-EU Council of Ministers of 19-20 June 2014, shall end with the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors decision on the discharge proposal pursuant to Article 4 of Decision No 4/2014.
Article 5 
This Decision shall enter into force upon its adoption, with the exception of Article 1 which shall enter into force on 1 January 2017.
Done at …,
For the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors
The President