1989R1615 — EN — 01.01.1998 — 002.001 — 1
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►B COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC)No 1615/89
of 29 May 1989
establishing a European Forestry Information and Communication System (Efics)
(OJ L 165, 15.6.1989, p. 12)
Amended by:
OfficialJournal
No page date
►M1 CouncilRegul ation (EC) No 400/94 of 21 February 1994 L 54 5 25.2.1994
►M2 CouncilRegul ation (EC) No 1100/98 of 25 May 1998 L 157 10 30.5.1998
NB: This consolidated version contains references to the European unit of account and/or the ecu, which from 1 January 1999
should be understood as references to the euro — Council Regulation (EEC) No 3308/80 (OJ L 345, 20.12.1980, p. 1) andCouncilRegul ation (EC) No 1103/97 (OJ L 162, 19.6.1997, p. 1).
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COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC)No 1615/89
of 29 May 1989
establishing a European Forestry Information and Communication
System (Efics)
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community, and in particular Article 213 thereof,
Having regard to the proposalfrom the Commission (1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and SocialCommittee (3),
Whereas the implementation and monitoring of Regulations (EEC) No
1609/89, (EEC) No 1610/89, (EEC) No 1611/89 and (EEC) No 1612/89,
of Decision 89/367/EEC and of Regulations (EEC) No 1613/89 and
(EEC) No 1614/89 (4) on measures relating to the forestry sector call for
detailed, consistent and comparable information on the situation of anddevelopments in that sector in the Community;
Whereas the forestry data available at Community level is incomplete
and covers only part of the information necessary for taking consistentforestry measures; whereas, however, a considerable amount of
information already exists in many Member States and this should be
collected and made comparable; whereas to that end there should be anappropriate system for the collection, processing, analysis anddissemination of the information;
Whereas such data must cover not only the present situation of
woodlands and their structure and the production and consumption ofwood but also developments in the afforestation of agricultural land, theforestry situation in the various regions of the Community and a
description of the exploitation, processing and marketing of forestry
products;
Whereas it is necessary to grant assistance to certain Member States or
regions to help them to compile data or improve the availability ofcomparable data which can be used at Community level;
Whereas the setting-up of this system require close cooperation between
the Commission and the Member States, and in particular assistancefrom the relevant bodies within the Member States, in order to facilitateaccess to the data;
Whereas in addition to meeting the Community's requirements the
system should facilitate the implementation of decisions taken atnationaland regionall evelconcerning the forestry sector and thereby
improve knowledge of that sector at all levels;
Whereas the system must be set up taking account of existing
information systems at Community level in order to ensure comple-
mentarity and achieve consistency and comparability in data collected inthe Member States.1989R1615 — EN — 01.01.1998 — 002.001 — 2
(1) OJ No C 312, 7. 12. 1988, p. 14.
(2) Opinion delivered on 26 May 1989 (not yet published in the Official Journal).
(3) OJ No C 139, 5. 6. 1989, p. 15.
(4) See pages 1, 3, 5, 6, 14, 8 and 10 respectively, of this Official Journal.
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HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
In order to collect and provide objective, reliable, comparable and
pertinent information on the structure and operation of the forestrysector in the Community, and thus:
— improve consideration of the interests of the forestry sector in
internationaldiscussions,
— facilitate the implementation of measures in favour of the forestry
sector under existing Community policies,
— facilitate implementation of Member States' policies relating to
forestry or having an impact on the forestry sector,
— permit access by the generalpubl ic to information on the European
forestry sector,
a European forestry information and communication system (EFICS),
hereinafter called ‘the System’, is hereby set up, the objective of which
is to collect, coordinate, standardise, process and disseminate informa-tion concerning the forestry sector and its development.
Article 2
The System shall take account of existing data, and in particular
statistics compiled by the Statistical Office of the European Commu-nities, and shall make use of information available in the Member States,in particular data contained in national forestry inventories, and of any
database accessible at Community and international level.
The data collected shall be published subject to its conformity with the
rules of the Commission and the Member States governing information
disclosure, specifically with regard to the confidentiality of statistics.
Article 3
The Commission shall set up the System in close cooperation with the
Member States and internationalbodies active in the fiel d of Europeanforestry statistics during a period commencing 1 January 1989 andending on 31 December 2002.
To improve the comparability and completeness of the data at the
European level, implementation of the System may require that MemberStates, after obtaining the opinion of the Standing Forestry Committee
set up by Decision 89/367/EEC (
1), adjust or supplement their
procedures for the collection of data, in particular where the evaluationof forestry resources and the monitoring of the timber and forestryproducts market are concerned.
The Commission shall, where appropriate, support measures undertaken
by Member States and internationalorganisations such as the UnitedNations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Economic
Commission for Europe and intended to meet the specific requirements
for setting up the System.
Article 3a
1. The Commission shall present to the Standing Forestry Committee
a work-programme detailing the measures which shall be taken byMember States and the Commission with a view to establishing theSystem.
2. The Committee shall deliver its opinion on the work-programme
within a time limit to be fixed by its chairman on the basis of theurgency of the matter in question. The opinion shall be by a majority as1989R1615 — EN — 01.01.1998 — 002.001 — 3
(1) OJ L 165, 15. 6. 1989, p. 14.▼M2
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provided for in Article 148(2) of the Treaty for the adoption of decisions
which the Councilis requested to take on a proposalfrom theCommission. Member States' votes in the Committee shall be weighted
as set out in the said Article. The chairman shall not have a vote.
3. (a) The Commission shall adopt the envisaged measures where they
are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee.
(b) Where the envisaged measures are not in accordance with the
opinion of the Committee, or in the absence of an opinion, the
Commission shall present the Council without delay with a
proposalon the measures to be taken. The Councilshal ldecideon the proposalby qual ified majority.
If the Councilhas fail ed to adopt the measures within a period of
three months of being asked to do so, the Commission shall adopt
the proposed measures and implement them immediately.
Article 4
The financial reference amount for implementing the System shall be
ECU 3 900 000 for the period 1989 to 2002.
The annualappropriations shal lbe authorised by the budgetary authority
within the limits of the available budget.
Article 5
The Commission shall report to the Council, before 1 January 2003, with
an assessment of the implementation of the System and the resultsobtained. In the light of that report it shall, where necessary, makeproposals to the Council on the future organisation and operation of the
System.
Article 6
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.1989R1615 — EN — 01.01.1998 — 002.001 — 4
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