COMMON POSITION (EC) No 50/98 adopted by the Council on 16 June 1998 with a view to adopting Council Decision 98/ /EC, of . . . amending Decision 93/389/EEC for a monitoring mechanism of Community CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions (98/C 333/03)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 130s(1) thereof,

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

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

Acting in accordance with the procedure referred to Article 189c of the Treaty (3),

Whereas all Member States and the Community are Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which, from its entry into force on 21 March 1994, commits all Parties to develop, periodically update, publish and report to the Conference of the Parties national inventories of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, using comparable methodologies agreed on by the Conference of the Parties;

Whereas that same Convention commits all Parties to formulate, implement, publish and regularly update national, and where appropriate, regional programmes containing measures to mitigate climate change by addressing anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol;

Whereas the First Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC decided that Annex I Parties to the said Convention should submit to the secretariat national inventory data on emissions by sources and removals by sinks on an annual basis and that the Guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories and Technical Guidelines for assessing climate change impacts and adaptations adopted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change should be used in preparing their reports pursuant to the Convention;

Whereas it is necessary to amend Decision 93/389/EEC (4) to allow for the updating of the monitoring process, in particular the post - 2000 monitoring of greenhouse gas emission limitations and reductions and its application to all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, in line with the obligations of the UNFCCC and taking into account the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol to that Convention, adopted by the Third Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC on 10 December 1997;

Whereas it is vital to be able to assess accurately and regularly the extent of progress being made towards the Community's commitments under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol to that Convention;

Whereas the Community considers the monitoring mechanism to be an essential instrument in the assessment of this progress;

Whereas the provisions of the monitoring mechanism established under Decision 93/389/EEC need to apply equally to anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol and the monitoring process should continue to be updated to reflect further decisions in the framework of the Kyoto Protocol;

Whereas it is recognised that the 31 July deadline for reporting inventories provided for by Decision 93/389/EEC is difficult to meet for all Member States;

Whereas at its meeting of 22 and 23 June 1995 the Council reaffirmed the determination of the Community to meet its commitments under the Convention and confirmed its conclusions of 29 October 1990, 15 and 16 December 1994 and 9 March 1995;

Whereas Decision 93/389/EEC should be amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

Articles 1 to 8 of Decision 93/389/EEC shall be replaced by the following:

'Article 1

This Decision establishes a mechanism for:

- monitoring all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions not controlled by the Montreal Protocol in the Member States, and

- evaluating progress towards meeting commitments in respect of these emissions.

Article 2

National programmes

1. The Member States shall devise, publish and implement national programmes for limiting and/or reducing their anthropogenic emissions by sources and enhancing removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol in order to contribute to:

- the stabilisation of CO2 emissions by 2000 at 1990 levels in the Community as a whole, assuming that other leading countries undertake commitments along similar lines, and on the understanding that Member States which start from relatively low levels of energy consumption and therefore low emissions measured on a per capita or other appropriate basis are entitled to have CO2 targets and/or strategies corresponding to their economic and social development, while improving the energy efficiency of their economic activities, as agreed at the Council meetings of 29 October 1990, 13 December 1991 and 15 and 16 December 1994,

- the fulfilment of the Community's commitments relating to the limitation and/or reduction of all greenhouse gas emissions not controlled by the Montreal Protocol under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and under the Kyoto Protocol,

- transparent and accurate monitoring of the actual and projected progress of Member States, including the contribution made by Community measures, in meeting any agreed national contributions to the Community's commitments under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and under the Kyoto Protocol.

These programmes shall be periodically updated.

2. Each Member State shall include in its national programme:

(a) estimates of the effect of policies and measures on emissions and removals and incorporation of these in projections for CO2 and other geenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol between the base year and 2000, in line with the reporting requirements under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change;

(b) as a minimum for the six greenhouse gases listed in Annex A to the Kyoto Protocol (carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)),

- its 1990 base year anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide in accordance with Article 3(1),

- its 1990 and/or 1995 base year anthropogenic emissions of hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride determined in accordance with Article 3(1),

- inventories of its anthropogenic emissions by sources and removal by sinks, determined in accordance with Article 3(1),

- details of national policies and measures implemented or committed to since the base year which contribute significantly to its efforts to reduce emissions and enhance sinks of greenhouse gases, organised by gas and by sector and including the objective of the measure, the type of policy instrument used by measure, the status of implementation of the policy or measure as well as, where possible, intermediate indicators of progress for policies and measures,

- measures being taken or envisaged for the implementation of relevant Community legislation and policies,

- estimates of the effect of policies and measures on emissions and removals and incorporation of these in projections:

(i) for the greenhouse gases listed in Annex A to the Kyoto Protocol between the base year and the period 2008 to 2012, and

(ii) to the extent possible, for the greenhouse gases listed in Annex A to the Kyoto Protocol between the base year and 2005,

in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 8, on the basis of standard procedural guidelines, including information for a quantitative understanding of the key assumptions used to develop the said projections and the methodology used for the provision of the estimates,

- an assessment of the economic impact of the above measures, to the extent possible;

(c) information on the following gases: carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) and sulphur oxides, in line with the reporting requirements under the UNFCCC, including:

- data on emissions,

- a description of policies and measures being taken or envisaged for the limitation and/or reduction of the emissions of these gases,

- as far as possible, estimates for emissions projections at regular intervals in the future and as being agreed on in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 8, on the basis of standard procedural guidelines, including information for a quantitative understanding of the key assumptions and the methodology used for the provision of the estimates.

Article 3

Inventories and data reporting

1. Member States shall determine their anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, as specified in Article 2(2), in accordance with the methodologies accepted by the IPCC and agreed on by the Conference of the Parties. They shall be revised, in accordance with the procedure under Article 8, as appropriate, to take fully into account any relevant future decisions by the Conference of the Parties.

2. Member States shall each year, not later than 31 December, report to the Commission their anthropogenic CO2 emissions and CO2 removal by sinks for the previous calendar year.

Member States shall also report national inventory data on emissions by sources and removals by sinks of the other greenhouse gases referred to in Article 2(2) on an annual basis. They shall report to the Commission by 31 December their final data for the previous year but one, and provisional data for the previous year.

Member States shall also report by 31 December on the most recent projected emissions by sources and removals by sinks of the greenhouse gases listed in Annex A to the Kyoto Protocol for the period 2008 to 2012 and, as far as possible, for 2005.

The Commission shall take further steps to promote the comparability and transparency of national inventories and reporting.

3. The Commission shall, in cooperation with the Member States, establish, on the basis of the information provided by them, inventories of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and removal by sinks in the Community. The Commission shall circulate to all Member States by 1 March these inventories based on data received in accordance with paragraph 2.

Article 4

Procedures and methods for evaluation

In accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 8, the Commission shall establish procedures and methods for the evaluation of national programmes as referred to in Article 6 and the frequency of updating by the Member States.

Article 5

Evaluation of national programmes and of the state of emissions in the Community

1. Member States shall forward to the Commission their existing national programmes not already forwarded, or updates of programmes already forwarded, within three months of receiving notification of this Decision.

Future national programmes and their updates shall be forwarded to the Commission within three months of their adoption.

2. The Commission shall forward to the other Member States the national programmes received within one month of their reception.

3. The Commission shall evaluate the national programmes, in order to assess whether progress in the Community as a whole is sufficient to ensure fulfilment of the commitments referred to in Article 2(1).

4. The Commission shall report to the European Parliament and the Council the results of its evaluation within six months of the reception of the national programmes.

The European Environment Agency will assist in compiling this report as appropriate, in accordance with its annual work programme.

Article 6

Evaluation of progress

The Commission shall assess annually in consultation with Member States whether the actual and projected progress of Member States, including the contribution made by Community measures, towards fulfilling the Community's commitments under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol is sufficient to ensure that the Community and its Member States are on course to fulfil their commitments and shall report to the European Parliament and the Council, on the basis of information received under Articles 2, 3 and 5. The Commission's report shall be made available to the European Parliament and the Council even in the case of incomplete data being received from Member States, and the Commission may include in this case the best available data in the report, in consultation with the Member State concerned.

Article 7

Other greenhouse gases

(deleted)

Article 8

Committee

1. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee composed of the representatives of the Member States and chaired by the representative of the Commission.

2. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft within a time limit which the chairman may lay down according to the urgency of the matter. The opinion shall be delivered by the majority laid down in Article 148(2) of the Treaty in the case of decisions which the Council is required to adopt on a proposal from the Commission. The votes of the representatives of the Member States within the committee shall be weighted in the manner set out in that Article. The chairman shall not vote.

3. (a) The Commission shall adopt the measures envisaged if they are in accordance with the opinion of the committee.

(b) If the measures envisaged are not in accordance with the opinion of the committee, or if no opinion is delivered, the Commission shall, without delay, submit to the Council a proposal relating to the measures to be taken. The Council shall act by a qualified majority.

If, on the expiry of a period of three months from the date of referral to the Council, the Council has not acted, the proposed measures shall be adopted by the Commission`.

Article 2

This Decision shall enter into force on 1 January 1999.

Article 3

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at . . .

For the Council

The President

(1) OJ C 120, 18.4.1998, p. 22.

(2) OJ L 89, 19.3.1997, p. 7.

(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 18 September 1997 (OJ C 304, 6.10.1997, p. 109), Council Common Position of 16 June 1998 and European Parliament Decision of . . . (not yet published in the Official Journal).

(4) OJ L 167, 9.7.1993, p. 31.

STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL'S REASONS

I. INTRODUCTION

1. On 4 September 1996 the Commission submitted to the Council a proposal based on Article 130s(1) of the EC Treaty, for a Council Decision amending Decision 93/389/EEC for a monitoring mechanism of Community CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions.

2. The Economic and Social Committee delivered its opinion on 17 October 1996.

3. The European Parliament delivered its opinion on 18 September 1997.

4. The Commission forwarded an amended proposal to the Council on 3 March 1998.

5. The Council adopted its Common Position on 16 June 1998 in accordance with Article 189c of the Treaty.

II. OBJECTIVE

The Common Position aims at amending Council Decision 93/389/EEC, so as:

- to update the Community monitoring mechanism for all greenhouse gas emissions not controlled by the Montreal Protocol for the period post - 2000, also taking into account the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol adopted at the Third Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on 11 December 1997, and

- to evaluate progress made within the Community towards fulfilling the commitments regarding those emissions under the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol to that Convention.

III. ANALYSIS OF THE COMMON POSITION

GENERAL COMMENTS

The Council was guided by the following two main considerations in elaborating the Common Position:

- firstly, updating the monitoring mechanism on the basis of the Commission proposal, and making it technically consistent with the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol, which was meanwhile adopted (on 11 December 1997),

- and secondly, making the monitoring mechanism a useful instrument for evaluating the progress made within the Community towards meeting the commitments deriving from both the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol.

The Common Position incorporates, in whole or in part, an important number of European Parliament's amendments, which were incorporated in the Commission's amended proposal. There are no European Parliament's amendments that the Commission rejected and the Council included in its Common Position. Further indications are given under 'Specific comments` below, including on additional technical substantive changes introduced by the Council in the text of the Common Position as a consequence of the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol.

SPECIFIC COMMENTS

Preamble

The preamble now includes two new 'whereas` clauses (respectively, the fifth and sixth 'whereas` clauses) on the basis of the amendments of the European Parliament. Furthermore, the 'whereas` referring mainly to the different phases in the process leading to the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol were eliminated and replaced with shorter wording referring to the outcome of that process, i.e. the requirements contained in the Kyoto Protocol.

In addition to other minor adjustments (such as the deadline for reporting inventories (now, 31 December) and further dates of previous Council conclusions) to ensure consistency with the modified Articles, a reference was also introduced to the possible future updating of the monitoring mechanism to reflect further decisions in the framework of the Kyoto Protocol.

Article 1

Article 1 was modified so as to be brought in line with the contents and objective of the Common Position (see Section II).

Article 2

The main modifications introduced in this Article concerning the 'national programmes` principally aim at taking into account the outcome of the Kyoto negotiations meanwhile concluded and in particular the requirements deriving from the Kyoto Protocol for the Community and its Member States. The monitoring mechanism as updated will, in fact, also contribute to the evaluation of progress made by the Community and its Member States towards fulfilling the UNFCCC and the Protocol's commitments. This Article was reorganised also to make a distinction between the requirements of the UNFCCC and of the Kyoto Protocol.

- Paragraph 1

this paragraph was modified so as to include, in its first indent, reference to Council conclusion of 15 and 16 December 1994, for reasons of completeness.

The second indent was slightly adjusted and the third indent was added to reflect the broadened objective of the Common Position: they now refer respectively to the fulfilment of the Community's commitments relating to greenhouse gas emissions under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol, and to the transparent and accurate monitoring of the actual and projected progress of Member States (including the contribution made by Community measures) in meeting their national contributions to those commitments,

- Paragraph 2

this paragraph (and in particular subparagraph (b)) was also amended so as to bring it in line technically with the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol, in particular as far as the commitment period (2008 to 2012), the basket of gases (the six gases listed in Annex A to the Protocol) and the base year (1990 or 1995 for the three additional gases) are concerned. Information to be given under the FCCC for the other greenhouse gases is referred to under subparagraph (c).

Furthermore, on the basis of the European Parliament's amendments, it is indicated that data and information will need to be submitted by the Member States on the basis of standard procedural guidelines.

Article 3

The main amendments in this Article concerning national inventories and data reporting include the following:

- in paragraph 1: reference was added to IPCC methodologies and subsequent relevant decisions by the Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention, so as to ensure compatibility of methodologies in establishing inventories and reporting relevant data,

- in paragraph 2:

(a) modification of the deadlines (31 December) for submitting information and data to the Commission, also to make those deadlines compatible with the further requirements of the UNFCCC and other major international conventions on air pollution;

(b) reference to reporting on the most recent projected emissions for the gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol for the prescribed commitment period (2008 to 2012) and, as far as possible, for 2005;

(c) reference to further steps to be taken by the Commission to ensure the compatibility and transparency of the information provided by Member States (notably, national inventories and communications). This reference was added taking partially into account an amendment proposed by the European Parliament; the further reference to common modelling guidelines that was included in the Commission's amended proposal was not retained by the Council,

- in paragraph 3: modification of the deadline (1 March) for the Commission to circulate to the Member States the above-mentioned information.

Article 5

The Council incorporated the European Parliament's amendment (as also accepted by the Commission in its amended proposal) for retaining this Article. The text of this Article was however modified in the Common Position (and its title adjusted), so as to include further updates of the national programmes.

Other changes introduced by the Council included the following:

- the delay for the Commission to forward to the other Member States the national programmes received was reduced to one month,

- a reference was added to the European Environment Agency, which will assist, as appropriate, in the compilation of the evaluation report to be presented by the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament.

Article 6

The text of this Article was modified to make it consistent with the amended wording of Article 2(1).

The Article now includes an annual assessment by the Commission on actual and projected progress of Member States, including the contribution made by Community measures, towards fulfilling the commitments under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol, and a report to the European Parliament and the Council.

The last part of this Article was added taking into account an amendment proposed by the European Parliament. It refers to the fact that the above-mentioned report shall be made available even in case of incomplete data received from the Member States; in such event the Commission may include the best available data, in consultation with the Member State concerned. The Common Position differs in this from the European Parliament's amendment and the Commission amended proposal which requested to make explicit reference to such absence of data in the report.

Article 7

This Article (Other greenhouse gases) was deleted, as proposed by the Commission.

Article 8

The Common Position envisages a regulatory committee (Procedure IIIa) instead of a committee of an advisory nature (Procedure I) as the European Parliament had proposed and the Commission had accepted in its amended proposal.

The Commission expressed reluctance to change the type of committee, but in the end accepted the modification introduced by the Council.

Article 9

For reasons of clarity and legal certainty, a date for the entry into force of the Decision (1 January 1999) was introduced.

The Commission accepted the modifications incorporated by the Council in its Common Position.