Common Position (EC) No 13/2001

adopted by the Council of 26 February 2001

with a view to adopting Regulation (EC) No .../2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of ... amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 on protection of the Community's forests against fire

(2001/C 97/02)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 175(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee(2),

Having consulted the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty(3),

Whereas:

(1) Since the rural communities, in particular foresters and stock farmers, who are the main trustees of Europe's forest heritage, and in particular their professional organisations, play a fundamental role in drawing up regional fire prevention action plans, in practising preventive silviculture and as first-line firefighters, it is important to create the conditions for the effective participation of these people in the protection of European forests against this abiotic agent.

(2) The period of application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92(4) expired on 31 December 1996. The said Regulation was amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 308/97(5). In its judgment of 25 February 1999 in Joined Cases C-164/97 and C-165/97(6) the Court of Justice of the European Communities annulled Council Regulation (EC) No 308/97 but preserved its legal effects pending the adoption of a new Regulation which replaces the Regulation annulled. In order to guarantee legal certainty, the validity of the measures taken in application of the annulled Regulation should be ensured.

(3) Forests play an essential part in maintaining fundamental balances, particularly as regards the soil, water resources, climate, flora and fauna. Those ecological balances are indispensable for sustainable agriculture and the management of rural areas.

(4) The importance of the Mediterranean forests in the ecosystems of the Member States in the south of the Community, particularly the regions affected by desertification, should be taken into account.

(5) The conservation of the forest ecosystem reflects economic, ecological and social concerns and contributes, in particular, towards maintaining the social situation of those people working in agriculture and in rural areas.

(6) The Community and the Member States attach particular importance to the protection of their forest resources and have given international undertakings on the sustainable development of forests and the protection of forest regions, in particular during the United Nations World Conference on the Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and at the three pan-European Ministerial Conferences on the Protection of European Forests in Strasbourg in 1990, in Helsinki in 1993 and in Lisbon in 1998. The Community scheme provided for by Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 helps to fulfil those undertakings.

(7) Pursuant to Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92, 60 million hectares of forest, equivalent to about one half of Europe's forests, have been classified as fire-risk zones.

(8) Fires continue to restrict the sustainable development of forests in fire-risk zones.

(9) The protection of forests against fire therefore contributes directly to the achievement of the aims set out in Article 33(1)(b) of the Treaty.

(10) The Community system of information on forest fires established under Article 5 of Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 has permitted the development of Community cooperation on forest fires. The development of that system will provide an effective instrument for better evaluating forest-fire protection measures and for better analysing the causes of fires.

(11) The scheme provided for by Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 should therefore be continued, in particular to strengthen the consistency of forest measures financed in fire-risk zones, to reinforce the fight against the causes of fires and to improve prevention and monitoring systems and its duration extended for five years, thus bringing its period of application to 10 years from 1 January 1992.

(12) The measures necessary for the implementation of Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission(7).

(13) This Regulation establishes for the entire duration of the measure a financial framework which is to be the principal point of reference, within the meaning of point 33 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May 1999 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and improvement of the budgetary procedure(8), for the budgetary authority under the annual budgetary procedure.

(14) Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 should accordingly be amended,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 is hereby amended as follows:

1. Articles 9 and 10 shall be replaced by the following:

"Article 9

1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Standing Forestry Committee (hereinafter referred to as 'the Committee').

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period provided for in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months.

3. The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

Article 10

1. The scheme shall run for 10 years from 1 January 1992.

2. The financial allocation for the implementation of the scheme shall be EUR 49,4 million for the period 1997 to 2001.

The annual appropriations shall be authorised by the budgetary authority within the limits of the financial perspective.

3. Before expiry of the period referred to in paragraph 1, the Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and to the Council a report on the application of this Regulation and a proposal for revision covering in particular the ecological, economic and social aspects (qualitative assessment) and the results of a cost-benefit analysis (quantitative assessment).";

2. In Articles 2(5), 4(4) and 5(3) the words "procedure laid down in Article 9" shall be replaced by "procedure laid down in Article 9(2)".

Article 2

Any reference to a measure taken in application of Regulation (EC) No 308/97 shall be taken as a reference to a measure taken in application of this Regulation from the day of the latter's entry into force.

Article 3

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of 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 ...

For the European Parliament

The President

For the Council

The President

(1) JO C 307 E, 26.10.1999, p. 33.

(2) OJ C 51, 23.3.2000, p. 24.

(3) European Parliament opinion of 6 July 2000 (not yet published in the Official Journal), Council Common Position of 26 February 2001 and European Parliament decision of ... (not yet published in the Official Journal).

(4) OJ L 217, 31.7.1992, p. 3.

(5) OJ L 51, 21.2.1997, p. 11.

(6) [1999] ECR I-1139.

(7) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

(8) OJ C 172, 19.6.1999, p. 1.

STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL'S REASONS

I. INTRODUCTION

1. Council Regulation (EC) No 307/97 of 17 February 1997 amending Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86 on the protection of the Community's forests against atmospheric pollution(1) and Regulation (EC) No 308/97 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 on protection of the Community's forests against fire(2) took Article 43 of the Treaty as their legal basis.

2. On 30 April 1997 the European Parliament brought proceedings before the Court of Justice. On 25 February 1999 the Court delivered its judgment in Joined Cases C-164/97 and C-165/97. The judgment annulled both Regulations and stated that the Council should have used Article 130s (now Article 175) of the Treaty as the only legal basis.

However, the Court ordered the effects of the annulled regulations to be maintained until the Council had adopted new regulations on the same subject within a reasonable time.

In July 1999 the Commission submitted two new proposals intended to replace the two annulled regulations with regulations having the same purpose, but using Article 175 of the Treaty as the legal basis, thus involving the codecision procedure. The financial allocation was adjusted in line with the actual budget allocations during the first four years of the programmes and those provided for in the preliminary draft budget for 2001.

The Economic and Social Committee and the European Parliament issued their opinions on the above proposals on 8 December 1999 and 6 July 2000 respectively. The Commission submitted two amended proposals on 20 December 2000 in order to take account of the European Parliament's opinion.

3. At its meeting on 26 February 2001, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty, the Council adopted its Common Position on the Commission's proposals, taking as its legal basis Article 175(1) of the Treaty.

II. OBJECTIVE

4. The objective of the regulation on the protection of the Community's forests against atmospheric pollution is to continue intensive monitoring schemes in order to maintain fundamental ecological balances and conserve forest ecosystems, and that of the regulation on the protection of the Community's forests against fire is to strengthen the consistency of forest measures, reinforce the fight against the causes of fires and improve prevention and monitoring systems. The period of operation of the schemes is increased to 15 years, as from 1 January 1987, as a result of the five-year extension.

III. COMMON POSITION

5. In the light of above objectives, the Council has approved the substance of the Commission proposals but made a number of amendments, the reasons for which are given below. The majority of the amendments are based on amendments by the European Parliament, particularly in the recitals which refer to the general role of forests in ecosystems and the role of Mediterranean forests in halting the progress of desertification, to the consequences of forest damage, to attainment of the objectives in Article 33(1)(b) of the Treaty and to the pan-European Ministerial Conference in Lisbon. With regard to budget funding, the Council has taken as funding available the figure for the 2001 budget adopted jointly with the Parliament. The articles on committee procedure were inserted by the Council to take account of the new Decision (1999/468/EC) on committee procedure, without entailing any substantive changes. An article and a recital on the effects of the annulled regulations had to be added in order to ensure legal certainty.

A. Regulation on the protection of the Community's forests against atmospheric pollution

First citation(3)

6. The precise legal basis is indicated by a reference to Article 175(1).

Recital 1

7. In order to underline that this Regulation replaces Regulation (EC) No 307/97 - the purpose of which was to extend the scheme provided for by Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86 - the Council has added that the Court of Justice annulled Council Regulations (EC) Nos 307/97 and 308/97 in its judgment of February 1999. The Council has added a sentence to ensure that the effects of measures taken on the basis of the annulled regulations remain valid after the entry into force of new regulations.

Recital 3

8. The Council has made minor adjustments to the recital proposed by the European Parliament, in order to reflect all the various types of forest found in the Community.

Recital 5

9. The European Parliament has changed recital 6 of the Regulation amending Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 in order to incorporate the pan-European Ministerial Conference in Lisbon. The Council has made the same change to the Regulation amending Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86 in order to ensure that Regulations (EEC) Nos 2158/92 and 3528/86 are consistent with each other.

Recitals 8 and 9

10. These two recitals have been added, in line with the Parliament's opinion, to emphasise that the protection of forests is important in particular for the development of sustainable agricultural activity, the management of rural areas and the ensuring of a fair standard of living for the agricultural community.

Recital 11

11. This recital has been inserted to reflect the current rules on committee procedure.

Article 1(1) (Articles 7 and 8 of Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86)

12. These two articles reflect the most recent provisions on committee procedure, without affecting the substance of the basic Regulation, with the result that the Committee may sit as either an advisory committee or a regulatory committee. The Commission has, moreover, to keep the European Parliament regularly informed of the proceedings of committees, whether acting as an advisory committee or a regulatory committee.

Article 1(2) (Article 11(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86)

13. The Council has included in its Common Position a financial allocation for 2001 which corresponds to those appropriations entered in the budget on which the Parliament and the Council have agreed.

Article 1(2) (Article 11(3) of Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86)

14. The Council has accepted the Parliament's proposals concerning the Commission's obligation to submit a report on the application of the regulation not only to the Council but also to the Parliament and to submit a revision proposal to both institutions.

Article 1(3) and (4)

15. Following the renumbering of the articles concerning the committee procedure, references to those articles need to be changed.

Article 2

16. In its judgment of February 1999, the Court decided that the effects of the two annulled regulations would be maintained until the Council adopted new regulations on the same subject. In order to ensure legal certainty, the Council has included an article on the effects of measures taken pursuant to the annulled regulations.

Article 3

17. Article 3 takes over Article 2 of the Commission proposal.

B. Regulation on the protection of the Community's forests against fire

First citation

18. See the reasons adduced for the first citation of the regulation on atmospheric pollution.

Recitals 2 and 12

19. These amendments are identical to those to recitals 1 and 11 respectively of the regulation on atmospheric pollution.

Recital 4

20. The Council has accepted this recital as proposed by the Parliament, in order to convey the importance of Mediterranean forests when considering fire protection.

Recital 6

21. Recital 6 has been slightly amended to include a reference to the pan-European Ministerial Conference in Lisbon and to make it clear that three Conferences are involved.

Recital 9

22. The Council has followed the Parliament's proposal in adding a statement that the protection of forests contributes to the achievement of the objectives set out in Article 33(1)(b) of the Treaty.

Article 1(1) (Article 9 of Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92)

23. This article has been updated to reflect the new decision on committee procedure. This Regulation does not make any changes to the substance of the basic Regulation. There is therefore no reason to change the nature of the existing Committee. The Parliament is kept regularly informed, whether a regulatory or an advisory committee is involved.

Article 1(1) (Article 10(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92)

24. See the reasons given for Article 1(2) (budget), of the regulation on atmospheric pollution.

Article 1(1) (Article 10(3) of Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92)

25. The Council has accepted this amendment proposed by the Parliament, which introduces an obligation on the Commission to submit a report on the application of the Regulation and a revision proposal to both institutions. This paragraph, as amended by the Parliament, is identical to that in Article 11(3) of Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86.

Article 1(2)

26. See the reasons adduced for Article 1(3) and (4) of the regulation on atmospheric pollution.

Article 2

27. See the reasons given for Article 2 of the regulation on atmospheric pollution.

Article 3

28. Article 3 takes over Article 2 of the Commission proposal.

IV. GENERAL CONCLUSION

29. The Council thinks that its Common Position, which largely accepts the Parliament's opinion and incorporates the above amendments, constitutes the best way of achieving the Commission's objectives.

(1) OJ L 51, 21.2.1997, p. 9.

(2) OJ L 51, 21.2.1997, p. 11.

(3) Recitals and articles are numbered as in Common Positions (EC) No 12/2001 and (EC) No 13/2001.