RFU and clubs announce eight-year plan
Under the agreement, which comes into effect from 1 July next year and runs until 30 June 2016, the RFU will provide around #110million to the Guinness Premiership clubs.
Also, a Professional Game Board will be created to oversee the sport.
The current `long-form agreement' will remain in place until the end of the season.
The new agreement will lead to the creation of three elite player squads (EPS) - there will be Senior, Saxons and Under-20 squads each of 32 players.
An elite player management programme will be set at the beginning of each season for each senior EPS player by the RFU's elite rugby director and the England head coach following discussion and consultation with the club director of rugby.
To improve the preparation for England matches, all senior EPS players will be released 13 or 14 days before the start of the autumn internationals and RBS 6 Nations and for the duration of both international windows.
There will also be a minimum two weeks' preparation for the senior EPS players before each summer tour on which England will take their strongest available squad.
An annual player programme for each Saxons EPS player will be discussed and agreed between the RFU elite rugby director and each club director of rugby. An annual player programme for each under-20s EPS player will be drawn up by the club academy manager for the approval of the RFU director of the National Academy.
Premier Rugby Limited and each of its clubs will be responsible for ensuring full implementation of the elite player management programmes.
The England team coaches and RFU National Academy coaches will have access to and regular contact with all senior EPS players to provide and deliver programme support in respect of the individual elite player management programmes.
Also, a medical protocol has been agreed for the Senior EPS to ensure that each player is in the best possible physical condition and health at all times.
In return, the RFU has agreed to pay PRL clubs #102 million over the course of the agreement, plus a share of the net revenues from a fourth autumn international every other year which should take the total RFU payment for PRL Clubs to around #110m over the period of the agreement.
Clubs will receive payment under the agreement only by having players in one or more of the three EPS squads.
RFU chief executive Francis Baron said: "I am very pleased to have negotiated this agreement with PRL. It has taken a considerable amount of time, but it was vital to get it right and seek to resolve once and for all the issues that have caused 'club v country' conflict - through a long-term agreement that is right for the game as a whole.
"Our aim has been to produce the most comprehensive and detailed agreement covering the professional game that has been drawn up anywhere in the world.
"We believe we have done that: we have secured an agreement which both gives the national side the strongest platform it has ever had to maintain and build on its success, while maintaining the integrity of our excellent club game.
"This agreement is in the interests of everyone involved in the game.
"The agreement meets the RFU's key objectives for the future of the professional game: it protects the safety and welfare of players; it secures the financial viability of the game and will increase participation at all levels. This is a truly exciting period for English rugby."
The Professional Game Board will have a number of tasks, which include reviewing and monitoring performances of the England teams, responsibility for drawing up the professional domestic season structure and to review and recommend changes in criteria for membership of the Premiership to the RFU and PRL.
It will be chaired initially by current RFU management board chairman Martyn Thomas, and containing four representatives each from the RFU and PRL, two from the Professional Rugby Players Association - chief executive Damian Hopley and chairman David Barnes - plus First Division Rugby executive director, the former England manager Geoff Cooke.
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RFU and clubs announce eight-year plan
