COMMISSION REGULATION (EEC) No 1696/87 of 10 June 1987 laying down certain detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86 on the protection of the Community's forests against atmospheric pollution (inventories, network, reports)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic 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), and in particular Articles 2 (3) and 3 (2) thereof,
Whereas, pursuant to Article 2 (1) of Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86, the purpose of the Community scheme is to help Member States to:
- establish on the basis of common methods a periodic inventory of damage caused to forests, in particular by atmospheric pollution;
- establish or extend, in a coordinated and harmonious way, the network of observation points required to draw up this inventory;
Whereas, pursuant to Article 2 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86 the Member States are to forward to the Commission the data gathered by the network of observation points;
Whereas, pursuant to Article 3 (1) of Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86, each Member State must, using a uniform scientific method, draw up, in particular on the basis of the inventory data referred to in Article 2, a periodic forest health report with reference to atmospheric pollution and forward the said report to the Commission;
Whereas the detailed rules for the application of the provisions of these two Articles and in particular those concerning the gathering, nature, comparability and forwarding of data from the inventory as well as the drawing up of the periodic forest health report should be adopted;
Whereas applications for aid submitted under Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86 for the purpose of carrying out a periodic inventory and of establishing or extending the network of points referred to in Article 2 (1) should contain all the information needed for an examination of these measures in the light of the objectives and criteria of that Regulation;
Whereas this information should be presented in a standardized form to facilitate examination and a comparison of applications;
Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee on Forest Protection,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
1. A periodic inventory of damage caused to forests in particular by atmospheric pollution shall be established on the basis of a Community network of observation points corresponding to a systematic grid of 16 kilometres × 16 kilometres.
2. Observations shall be carried out at each point on trees chosen following an objective sampling procedure.
3. An evaluation of the state of health of the trees observed shall be made on the basis of specified criteria.
4. By 15 December each year, Member States shall forward to the Commission in a standardized form the data collected for each of the observation points of the Community network.
5. Technical details pertaining to the provisions of this Article are set out in Annex I hereto.
Article 2
1. Applications for aid from the Community:
- to carry out the periodic inventory at Community level, and
- to establish or extend the network of points necessary for this inventory
within the meaning of Article 2 (1) of Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86 shall contain the information and documents specified in Annex II to this Regulation.
Applications shall be submitted in triplicate and in accordance with Annex II.
Member States shall submit applications to the Commission before 1 November each year in respect of the following year. For 1987 these applications shall be submitted by 15 July 1987.
2. Applications not meeting the requirements set out in paragraph 1 shall not be considered.
Article 3
The Member States' reports on forest health shall be drawn up annually, in particular, on the basis of data from the Community network of observation points and from any other representative network at national or regional level in respect of which the methodology specified in Annex I is applied.
The content of the reports shall comply with the requirements set out in Annex III.
Reports shall be forwarded to the Commission each year by 15 January.
Article 4
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, 10 June 1987.