# EUR-Lex - 52013PC0917 - EN

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# 52013PC0917

**Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on the acceptance of the Amendment to the 1999 Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone /* COM/2013/0917 final - 2013/0448 (NLE) */**

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

The 1979 Convention on Long-Range
Transboundary Air Pollution (the LRTAP Convention) concluded under the auspices
of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is the main international
legal framework for cooperation and measures to limit and gradually reduce and
prevent air pollution and its adverse effects upon human health and the
environment in the UNECE region, with a specific focus on long-range
transboundary air pollution.

The LRTAP Convention was signed on behalf
of the European Economic Community on 14 November 1979 and approved by Council
Decision 81/462/EEC of 11 June 1981.[1]

To date, the LRTAP Convention has been
extended by eight Protocols, including the 1999 Protocol to Abate
Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone (the Protocol). This
Protocol promotes a multi-pollutant approach to prevent or minimize exceedances
of critical loads of acidification and nutrient nitrogen and critical levels of
ozone for human health and vegetation. To that effect, it sets national
emission ceilings for each Party to be met by 2010 and thereafter for the
following four air pollutants: sulphur (mainly sulphur dioxide, SO2), nitrogen
oxides (NOx), ammonia (NH3) and volatile organic compounds other
than methane (VOC). To support the achievement of the national emission
ceilings, the Annexes of the Protocol establish emission limit values to
control emissions of air pollutants generated at source from relevant
categories of stationary and mobile sources.

The accession of the Community to the
Protocol was approved on behalf of the Community by Council Decision 2003/507/EC of 13 June 2003[2]. The Protocol,
which entered into force on 17 May 2005, has been transposed into EU law mainly
through Directive 2001/80/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
23 October 2001 on large combustion plants[3] and Directive
2001/81/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2001 on
national emission ceilings for certain atmospheric pollutants (NEC Directive)[4].

In accordance with Article 10(2) of the
Protocol, the obligations have been reviewed in 2005 to 2007. The review
concluded that more efforts would be needed to meet the environmental and human
health-related objectives of achieving critical loads and levels for long term
protection of human health and the environment. In 2007, the Parties opened
negotiations with a view to amending the Protocol.

The negotiation process led to the adoption
by consensus of the Parties present at the 30th session of the
Executive Body for the LRTAP Convention (EB) of two Decisions (EB Decisions
2012/1 and 2012/2), which amended the text of the Protocol and its Annexes and
added two new annexes (X and XI) [5].
Two other Decisions on the implementation of the Protocol provisions (provisional
application of adjustments to national emission reduction commitments[6] or to national emission
inventories) were also adopted by consensus of the Parties.[7]

EB Decision 2012/1, which updates the
definitions of critical loads and critical levels, as set out in Annex I of the
Protocol, does not call for ratification by the Parties. In accordance with
Article 13(4) of the Protocol, this amendment was communicated to all Parties
to the Protocol on 7 March 2013[8]
and entered into force on 5 June 2013.

EB Decision (2012/2) amends the main text
of the Protocol and all its Annexes (except for Annex I). In accordance with
Article 13(3) of the Protocol, this Decision has to be ratified by the Parties.

The amended Protocol sets out new national
emission reduction commitments to be met by 2020 and beyond for the
above-mentioned four air pollutants as well as for fine particulate matter (PM2,5).
It also promotes emission reductions for black carbon (a component of
particulate matter a short-lived climate pollutant), updates the emission limit
values set in the Protocol Annexes, establishes new standards on the content of
non-methane volatile organic compounds in products, and completes the reporting
obligation of the Parties regarding the emissions of air pollutants as well as
the progress made in the fields of technology and research.

The amendment to the Protocol shall be
transposed into EU law through several legal instruments. To that purpose, the
Commission has proposed a Directive of the European Parliament and of the
Council to amend[9]
the NEC Directive and a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council
on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from medium
combustion plants[10].
Both those Directives shall apply alongside existing EU emission source control
Directives, including Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of
the Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial emissions[11].

In view of the above, it is appropriate for
the European Union to accept the Amendment to the Protocol.

The Annex to this Decision includes the
amending text to the Protocol as laid down in Decision 2012/2 of the EB.

2013/0448 (NLE)

Proposal for a

COUNCIL DECISION

on the acceptance of the Amendment to the
1999 Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution
to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 192, in
conjunction with Article 218(6)(a) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the
European Commission,

Having regard to the consent of the
European Parliament,

Whereas:

(1)       The Union is a Party to
the UNECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution following its
approval in 1981[12]
.

(2)       The Union is a Party to
the 1999 Protocol to the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution
to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-Level Ozone following its
approval on 13 June 2003[13]
.

(3)       The Parties to the
Protocol of the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution to Abate
Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-Level Ozone opened negotiations in
2007 with a view to improving further the protection of human health and the
environment, including through the establishment of new emission reduction
obligations for selected air pollutants to be achieved by the year 2020 and the
updating of emission limit values addressing emissions of air pollutants at
source.

(4)       The Parties present at the
30th session of the Executive Body of the UNECE Convention on Long-Range
Transboundary Air Pollution adopted [by consensus?] Decisions 2012/1 and 2012/2
amending the Protocol to the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air
Pollution to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-Level Ozone.

(5)       Decision 2012/1 entered
into force and became effective on the basis of the expedited procedure
provided for in Article 13(4) of the Protocol.

(6)       Decision 2012/2 requires
ratification by the Parties to the Protocol in accordance with Article 13(3) of
the Protocol.

(7)       The Amendment to the
Protocol to the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution to Abate
Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-Level Ozone should therefore be
accepted on behalf of the European Union,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The Amendment to the Protocol
to the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution to Abate
Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-Level Ozone is
hereby accepted on behalf of the Union.

The text of the Amendment to the Protocol
is attached to this Decision.

Article 2

The President of the Council shall
designate the person empowered to proceed, on behalf of the European Union, to the
deposit of the instrument of acceptance provided for in Article 13(3) of the
Protocol to the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution to Abate
Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-Level Ozone, in order to express the
consent of the European Union to be bound by this Protocol, as amended.

Article 3

This Decision
shall enter into force on the day of its adoption.

Done at Brussels,

For
the Council

The
President

[1]               OJ L 171, 27.6.1981,
p. 11.

[2]               OJ L 179, 17.7.2003,
p. 1.

[3]               OJ L 309,
27.11.2001, p. 1.

[4]               OJ L 309,
27.11.2001, p. 22.

[5]               Decisions 2012/1 and 2012/2, 30th session
of the Executive Body for the Convention, 30 April – 4 May 2012. The text of
those Decisions is available at: http://www.unece.org/env/lrtap/multi_h1.html

[6]               National emission ceilings set out in Annex II of the
Protocol shall now be replaced by national emission reduction commitments
established in Annex II of the Protocol, as amended.

[7]               Decisions 2012/3 and 2012/4, 30th session
of the Executive Body for the Convention, 30 April – 4 May 2012. The text of
those Decisions is available at: http://www.unece.org/env/lrtap/multi_h1.html

[8]               Ref.: ECE/ENV/2013/30.

[9]               COM(2013) XXX

[10]             COM (2013) XXX

[11]             OJ L 334, 17.12.2010,
p. 17.

[12]             OJ L 171, 27.6.1981, p.11.

[13]             OJ L 179, 17.7.2003, p.1.