COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1545/1999
of 14 July 1999
amending Regulation (EC) No 1091/94 laying down certain detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86 on the protection of forests against atmospheric pollution
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86 of 17 November 1986 on the protection of the Community's forests against atmospheric pollution(1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 307/97(2), and in particular Article 3(2) thereof,
(1) Whereas, pursuant to the third indent of Article 2(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86, the purpose of the Community scheme is to help Member States to conduct intensive and continuous surveillance of forest ecosystems on permanent observation plots;
(2) Whereas, pursuant to Article 2(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86 Member States are required to forward to the Commission the data gathered by the network of permanent observation plots for intensive and continuous surveillance;
(3) Whereas this network has been installed by Member States in accordance with Annex I to Commission Regulation (EC) No 1091/94(3), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1390/97(4); whereas the common methodology and the format for the submission of data for the continous inventory of the crown condition, the inventory of soil and foliar condition, increment, deposition measurements, meteorological observations and soil solution monitoring have been laid down in Annexes III to X to Regulation (EC) No 1091/94;
(4) Whereas the results of the ground vegetation assessment are already recorded and the common methodology and the format for the data submission are to be added to Regulation (EC) No 1091/94; whereas the common methodology for measurements of meteorology has to be updated;
(5) Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Forestry Committee,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Regulation (EC) No 1091/94 is hereby amended as follows:
1. Article 1(2) is replaced by the following: "On the permanent observation plots intensive and continuous surveillance of the forest ecosystems shall be carried out. This contains the continuous inventory on the crown condition, the inventory of soil and foliar condition and measurements on increment changes, deposition rates, meteorology, soil solution sampling and analysis and ground vegetation assessment in accordance with objective sampling methods and analysed in accordance with established methods".
2. Article 1(4) is replaced by the following: "Technical details pertaining to the provisions of this Article are set out in Annexes III to XI".
3. In Article 2(1) the following indent is added after the last indent: "- to carry out the assessment of ground vegetation".
4. Annex I is replaced by Annex I to this Regulation.
5. Annex II, is replaced by Annex II to this Regulation.
6. Annex VIIa is amended in accordance with Annex III to this Regulation.
7. Annex IX, is replaced by Annex IV to this Regulation.
8. Annex V to this Regulation is added as Annex XI.
Article 2
This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 14 July 1999.