1. The Commission may authorise any Member State to conclude agreements, under national arrangements, with a country or territory which does not form part of the territory of the Community as determined in accordance with Article 299 of the Treaty, which contain derogations from this Regulation, in order to allow for transfers of funds between that country or territory and the Member State concerned to be treated as transfers of funds within that Member State.

To improve the ability of Member States to investigate trafficking effectively

It does not limit the government's capacity to conclude treaties unilaterally.

This Convention shall be open for signature at Aarhus (Denmark) on 25 June 1998, and thereafter at United Nations Headquarters in New York until 21 December 1998, by States' members of the Economic Commission for Europe as well as States having consultative status with the Economic Commission for Europe pursuant to paragraphs 8 and 11 of Economic and Social Council Resolution 36 (IV) of 28 March 1947, and by regional economic integration organisations constituted by sovereign States' members of the Economic Commission for Europe to which their Member States have transferred competence over matters governed by this Convention, including the competence to e ...[+++]nter into treaties in respect of these matters.

The Community is largely competent in this subject matter by virtue of the Council Directive of 1986 on the legal protection of topographies of semiconductor products (1) although Member States remain competent in some aspects/ (1) Council Directive 87/54/EEC of 16 December 1986 (O.J. L 24, 27.01.1987, p. 36 The Treaty has proved to be controversial because of its outright rejection by the United States and Japan, the two most important world producers of integrated circuits, on the grounds that it does not set high enough minimum sta ...[+++]ndards of protection. However, certain other industrialised countries, while not denouncing the Treaty in such forthright terms, have also argued within the TRIPs negotiations for higher standards of protection than are provided in the Treaty. In April, the Community submitted within the GATT negotiations a comprehensive new proposal for an agreement on TRIPs which would include an obligation to respect the substantive provisions of the Washington Treaty, subject to additional provisions in three key areas which would result overall in a standard of protection equivalent to that so far adopted in the laws of the Community, the United States, Japan and other countries. * * * * * * * * * * * Joint statement by Messrs BANGEMANN and ANDRIESSEN on the subject of possible adherence by the Community and Member States to the Washington Treaty _____________ 1) In May of last year a Diplomatic Conference was held in Washington DC under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) with the aim of concluding a multilateral Treaty on the protection of intellectual property in respect of integrated circuits.

In this regard, we believed then as we believe today that the treaty-making process recognized the mutual respect and authority of the parties to enter into the treaties.