Galileo Joint Undertaking (Extract from press release on the Transport Council of 12 October)

Brussels, 12 Oct 2006

The Council reached a general approach on a proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 876/2002 setting up the Galileo Joint Undertaking, pending the adoption by the European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee of their respective opinions.

The draft regulation is aimed at amending the statutes of the Galileo joint undertaking in order to provide that the undertaking will cease to operate on 31 December 2006. It complements a second proposed regulation amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1321/2004 establishing the European GNSS Supervisory Authority (Supervisory Authority) that ensures the completion of the development phase of the Galileo programme through the Supervisory Authority. By these means, all activities of the Galileo Joint Undertaking will be taken over by the Supervisory Authority by the end of 2006.

The Galileo Joint Undertaking was set up to carry out the development phase and to prepare for the successive phases of the Galileo programme. Its founding members are the European Community and the European Space Agency. It has two main tasks: firstly, it directs and coordinates the necessary research and development activities. To this end, it has concluded an agreement with the European Space Agency, to which the implementation of these activities has been assigned. Secondly, it manages the procedure for selecting the system's future concession holder, which will be responsible for managing the deployment and operating phases, providing the necessary private capital and ensuring the commercial success of the operation..

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