Commission Decision of 14 January 2021 approving, on behalf of the European Union, the amendments to Annexes 14-A and 14-B of the Agreement between the European Union and Japan for an Economic Partnership 2021/C 81 I/01

The amendments to Annexes 14-A and 14-B to the Agreement set out in the draft Decision of the Joint Committee, are hereby approved on behalf of the European Union. The draft Decision of the Joint Committee is set out in the Annex to this Decision.

The representative of the European Union in the Joint Committee is authorised to approve the adoption of the Decision of the Joint Committee on behalf of the European Union.

This Decision shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union. After its adoption, the Decision of the Joint Committee shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

In Part 1 of Annex 14-A and in footnote 1 to the title ‘The European Union’ of Section A of Part 2 of Annex 14-B, references to EU regulation shall be amended as described in Annex 1 to this Decision.

a) In Section A of Part 1 of Annex 14-B to the Agreement, the GIs listed in Annex 2 to this Decision shall be added under the corresponding list of GIs of the respective Member State of the European Union. b) In Section B of Part 1 of Annex 14-B to the Agreement, the geographical indication ‘西尾の抹茶/Nishio Matcha’ shall be removed from the list of GIs of Japan as indicated in Annex 3-Part 1 to this Decision and the GIs listed in Annex 3-Part 2 to this Decision shall be added to the list of GIs of Japan. c) In Section A of Part 2 of Annex 14-B to the Agreement, the GIs listed in Annex 4 to this Decision shall be added under the corresponding list of GIs of the respective Member State of the European Union. d) In Section B of Part 2 of Annex 14-B to the Agreement, the GIs listed in Annex 5 to this Decision shall be added to the list of GIs of Japan.

a) In the third and fourth years of implementation of the Agreement, the Joint Committee will decide on the addition to Annex 14-B of the Agreement of a number of up to 28 names from the European Union and from Japan respectively to be protected as GIs under the Agreement, up to 83 names in total for each Party including the names under Article 2 of this Decision, provided that those names are GIs protected in the territory of the Party in accordance with its laws and regulations. b) As from the fifth year of implementation of the Agreement, the Parties will work to continuously include additional GIs in view of the interests of each Party.

This Decision is drawn up in duplicate. Articles 1 and 2 and Annexes to this Decision are drawn up in duplicate in the authentic languages of the Agreement provided for in paragraph 1 of Article 23.8 of the Agreement, all texts being equally authentic.

This Decision shall be implemented by the Parties as referred to in paragraph 1 of Article 22.2 of the Agreement. The amendments to the Agreement adopted through this Decision shall be confirmed by and enter into force upon the exchange of diplomatic notes in accordance with paragraph 3 of Article 23.2 of the Agreement.