Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) amending Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86 on the protection of the Community's forests against atmospheric pollution (96/C 268/06) (Text with EEA relevance) COM(96) 341 final - 96/0185(CNS)

(Submitted by the Commission on 16 July 1996) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 43, thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee,

Whereas the present period of application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86 of 17 November 1986 on the protection of Community's forests against atmospheric pollution (1), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 2157/92 (2), expires on 31 December 1996;

Whereas forests play an essential part in maintaining fundamental ecological balances, particularly as regards soil, water resources, climate, fauna and flora; whereas those ecological balances are indispensabe for a sustainable agriculture and the management of rural areas;

Whereas the conservation of the forest ecosystems is important for its economic, ecological and social functions and contributes, in particular, to safeguard the social function of those people working in agriculture and rural areas;

Whereas the European Union has committed itself at international level (Ministerial Conference on the protection of forests in Europe, Strasbourg, 1990 and Helsinki, 1993), to a continuing forest damage survey;

Whereas results from the systematic network show obvious trends in spatial and temporary distribution of forest damage over the entire area of the European Union; whereas these measures need to be continued;

Whereas plots for the intensive and continuous monitoring of forest ecosystems have been set up by the Member States; whereas only a continuation of these monitoring activities over a longer period will improve the understanding of the causal relationship between changes in forest ecosystems and the factors influencing it;

Whereas forest damage due to various factors, notably atmospheric pollution and certain unfavourable meteorological events, is problematic for the development of a sustainable agriculture and the management of rural areas;

Whereas consequently the protection of forests against atmospheric pollution contributes directly to the achievement of the objectives laid down in Article 39 (1) (b) of the Treaty;

Whereas consequently the Community scheme on the protection of forests against atmospheric pollution should be continued, and therefore an extension by five additional years should be made, thus scheduling the scheme to run for 15 years from 1 January 1987;

Whereas an amount of ECU 40 million is deemed necessary for the implementation of that multi-annual programme,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86 is hereby amended as follows:

in Article 11 the paragraphs 1 and 2 are replaced by the following:

'Article 11 1. The scheme is scheduled to run for 15 years from 1 January 1987.

2. The amount of Community financial resources deemed necessary for implementation of the scheme is ECU 40 million for the period 1997 to 2001.`

Article 2

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.

(1) OJ No L 326, 21. 11. 1986, p. 2.

(2) OJ No L 217, 31. 7. 1992, p. 1.