What the Treaty says about the Bases

By a Staff Reporter

THE ACCESSION Treaty, which the Republic of Cyprus signed yesterday, will not apply to the British Sovereign Base Areas (SBA) in Cyprus, except to the extent necessary to ensure the implementation of agreed arrangements.

The arrangements concern the conditions of accession of the Republic of Cyprus and another nine countries, which signed the Accession Treaty with the EU.

They are set out in the Protocol on the SBA in Cyprus, annexed to the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the 10 new members of the EU.

The Protocol on the British Bases stipulates that the arrangements shall have the sole purpose of regulating the particular situation of the SBA and shall not apply to any other territory of the Community, nor serve as a precedent, in whole or in part, for any other special arrangements which either already exist or which might be set up in another European territory provided for in Article 299 of the Treaty.

According to the Protocol, persons resident or employed in the territory of the SBA who are subject to the social security legislation of the Republic of Cyprus shall be treated as if they were resident or employed in the territory of the Republic.

The Protocol notes that the Republic would not be required to carry out checks on people crossing its land and sea boundaries with the SBA and any Community restrictions on the crossing of external borders shall not apply in relation to such persons, while the United Kingdom shall exercise controls on persons crossing the external borders of the SBA.

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