Estonia has not yet signed the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management. The Protection and Use of Wild Fauna Act is not yet fully in compliance with the acquis since it does not introduce sanctions in case of illegal trade in endangered species. Also, legislation implementing the Birds and Habitat Directives needs to be introduced. Work in this area needs to speed up. The national programme to implement Natura 2000 was approved in July 2000.
Attention also needs to be paid to future financing strategies.
Close cooperation should be developed with International Financial Institutions in this regard. Estonia has already begun to apply the action programme for sustainable development adopted under Agenda 21 for the Baltic Sea region. A Government Regulation on noise emissions was adopted in July 2000. Estonia has concluded negotiations with the European Commission on its participation in the European Environment Agency and the European Environment Information and Observation Network.