15Under Article 155 of the EC Treaty, the Commission is responsible for ensuring application of the Treaty and, accordingly, compliance with international agreements concluded by the Community which, pursuant to Article 228 of the Treaty, are binding both on the Community institutions and the Member States. For the Commission to succeed in that task, it must not be hindered in the exercise of its power under Article 169 of the Treaty to bring proceedings before the Court where a Member State has failed to fulfil its obligations under such an agreement. The initiation of proceedings before the Court by the Commission cannot therefore depend on the outcome of consultations within the Article 113 Committee; a fortiori, it cannot hinge on whether a consensus between the Member States has first been found to exist within the Committee with regard to the interpretation of the Community's commitments under an international agreement.
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