On the 4th of April 2008, the European Commission published it's Proposal for a decision of the Council on the signature on behalf of the European Community of the Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation between the European Community of the one part and the Government of New Zealand of the other part. The Agreement it will be concluded for an initial period of five years and continue in force after this initial period unless either Party notifies the other that it shall be terminated.

New Zealand is the only non European industrialised country with which the EC still does not have a Science and Technology agreement in force. Currently the cooperation between the Community and New Zealand is based on a Technical Arrangement for Cooperation in Science and Technology between the Commission and the Government of New Zealand which was signed and entered into force on 17 May 1991. This arrangement does not foresee an institutionalised coordination of cooperative activities nor does it provide for specific rules covering the treatment and protection of intellectual property rights.

Thus, upon a proposal of the Commission, the Council authorised the Commission on 18 September 2007 to negotiate on behalf of the European Community an S&T cooperation agreement with the Government of New Zealand and issued the relevant negotiating directives. The negotiations resulted in the attached draft agreement text initialled on 20 November 2007.

The Agreement is consistent with the negotiating directives:

• It is based on the principles of mutual benefit.
• Reciprocal opportunities for access to each other’s programmes and activities relevant to the purpose of the Agreement.
• Non-discrimination.
• The effective protection of intellectual property and,
• Equitable sharing of intellectual property rights.

The negotiation and conclusion of a Science and Technology cooperation agreement with New Zealand lies in European interest. Such an agreement would allow to fully exploit the co-operation potential with this industrialised country. Given that an informal "Science and Technology arrangement" has already existed since 1991, the additional administrative burden and workload deriving from an upgrade would be relatively limited.