Official U.S. government information about the
Global Positioning System (GPS) and related topics
Joint Statement between the European Commission (EC) and the United States
Brussels, Belgium, 25 February 2004
The United States and the European Commission, joined by the European Union Member States, held a successful round of negotiations in Brussels on 24-25 February 2004. The delegations built upon progress made in The Hague and in Washington and were able to reach agreement on most of the overall principles of GPS/Galileo cooperation, including,
- Adoption of a common baseline signal structure for their respective open services
- Confirmation of a suitable baseline signal structure for the Galileo Public Regulated Service (PRS)
- A process allowing optimization, either jointly or individually, of the baseline signal structures in order to further improve performances
- Confirmation of interoperable time and geodesy standards to facilitate the joint use of GPS and Galileo
- Non-discrimination in trade in satellite navigation goods and services
- Commitment to preserve national security capabilities
- Agreement not to restrict use of or access to respective open services by end-users
- Agreement to jointly finalize associated documents after which the agreement will be presented for signature
The delegations will continue to work diligently to resolve the few remaining outstanding issues which concern primarily some legal and procedural aspects.
/signature/
Heinz Hilbrecht
Head of the EU delegation
/signature/
Ralph Braibanti
Head of the US delegation
