NoC 137/6 Official Journal of the European Communities 6. 6. 90 
II 
(Preparatory Acts) 
COMMISSION 
Proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) on action by the Community relating to nature 
conservation (Acnat) 
COM(90) 125 final 
(Submitted by the Commission on 21 May 1990) 
(90/C 137/06) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Article 13Cs 
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, pursuant to Article 2 of the Treaty, the 
Community has as its task inter alia to promote 
throughout the Community a harmonious development 
of economic activities, a continuous and balanced 
expansion and an increase in stability; 
Whereas, pursuant to Article 130r (4) of the Treaty, the 
Community shall take action relating to the environment 
to the extent to which the objectives of this action can be 
attained better at Community level than at the level of 
the individual Member States, and, without prejudice to 
certain measures of a Community nature, the Member 
States shall finance and implement the other measures; 
Whereas action by the Community relating to the envi­
ronment should have as its objective to preserve, protect 
and improve the quality of the environment, to 
contribute towards protecting human health, and to 
ensure a prudent and rational utilization of natural 
resources; 
Whereas, in order to ensure the full achievement of the 
objectives set out in the 1973 C), 1977 (2) and 1983 (5) action programmes of the European Communities on the 
environment and in the 1987 action programme (4) 
whose general guidelines were approved by the Council 
and the representatives of the Governments of the 
Member States, it is necessary that the Community 
contribute financially towards certain specific measures 
under this Regulation; 
Whereas it is important that the Community should be 
able to make a contribution towards the maintenance 
and re-establishment of seriously threatened biotopes of 
endangered species, pursuant to Council Directive 
79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild 
birds (*), as last amended by Directive 86/122/EEC ("), 
and towards the maintenance and re-establishment of 
seriously threatened habitats, pursuant to Council 
Directive . . ./. . . /EEC on the protection of natural and 
seminatural habitats and of wild fauna and flora; 
Whereas it is necessary for the Community to be able to 
participate in the implementation of measures for 
conserving or re-establishing endangered species 
pursuant to the aforementioned Directives, and 
completing actions undertaken with the same aim in the 
Community research programmes; 
Whereas it is necessary that the Community should, 
within the limits of the funds available in the budget for 
these purposes, grant financial support to measures to 
conserve nature protection zones of Community 
importance and endangered species, in the context of the 
implementation of Directive 79/409/EEC and 
Directive .../.. ./EEC; 
Whereas for reasons of budgetary discipline Community 
action on the environment must be focused on priority 
and highly urgent projects; 
(') OJ No C 112, 20. 12. 1973, p. 1. 
O OJ No C 139, 13. 6. 1977, p. 1. 
(') OJ No C 46, 17. 2. 1983, p. 1. O OJ No C 328, 7. 12. 1987, p. 1. 
0) OJ No L 103, 25. 4. 1979, p. 1. 
(') OJ No L 100, 16. 4. 1986, p. 22. 
6. 6. 90 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 137/7 
Whereas it is necessary to create incentives for better 
nature conservation in the Community, in particular in 
regions with only very limited capacity to ensure conser­
vation measures with their own resources; 
Whereas, in the absence of applications from a Member 
State, the Commission should, in exceptional cases, be 
able to take the initiative and propose measures to 
counter threats of extinction or direct risks of disap­
pearance, to meet needs which transcend frontiers or to 
deal with particularly urgent problems in the context of 
the Berne Convention (*) or the Bonn Convention (2); 
Whereas an Advisory Committee should be set up to 
assist the Commission in implementing this Regulation 
and in particular in selecting the projects for which 
financial support may be granted; 
Whereas application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 
1872/84 (3) and Council Regulation (EEC) No 
2242/87 (4) on action by the Community relating to the 
environment has demonstrated the benefits of a 
Community system to support action relating to the envi­
ronment, in this case the field of nature conservation; 
Whereas the latter Regulation should therefore be 
replaced, as regards the part concerning nature conser­
vation, taking account of new requirements, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 
Article 1 
1. The Community may grant financial support for: 
(a) projects providing an incentive towards the main­
tenance or re-establishment of: 
— seriously threatened biotopes of endangered 
species which are of particular importance to the 
Community under Directive 79/409/EEC, 
or 
— seriously threatened habitats which are of 
particular importance to the Community under 
Directive .../.. ./EEC; 
(b) projects providing an incentive towards the 
implementation of measures to conserve or 
(') OJ No L 38, 10. 2. 1982, p. 1. 
O OJ No L 210, 19. 7. 1982, p. 10. 
(») OJ No L 176, 3. 7. 1984, p. 1. 
(4) OJ No L 207, 29. 7. 1987, p. 8. re-establish endangered species pursuant to Directive 
79/409/EEC or Directive .../.. ./EEC. 
2. The necessary funding shall be entered annually in 
the general budget of the European Communities. 
3. The financial support may be: 
(i) normally, not more than 50 % of the cost of the 
projects; 
(ii) by way of exception, not more than 75 % of the cost 
of projects concerning: 
— biotopes or habitats of species threatened with 
extinction in the Community, 
or 
— habitats in danger of disappearance in the 
Community, 
or 
— populations of species threatened with extinction 
in the Community. 
Article 2 
1. To be eligible for financial support, a project shall 
be of interest to the Community and of interest in terms 
of protection of the environment and/or the 
management of natural resources. 
The level of the Community's contribution shall depend 
on the extent to which it is shown that the project 
concerned corresponds to such interests. 
2. Financial support for the projects referred to in 
Article 1 (1) (a) shall be commensurate with the 
importance of the area to the Community, with the very 
limited capacity of certain regions to ensure conservation 
measures and with the urgency of the need for the 
financial support in question. 
3. Financial support for the projects referred to in 
Article 1 (1) (b) shall be commensurate with the urgency 
of the need to implement the measures and of the need 
for Community financial support and shall take 
particular acount of their incentive effect in the 
Community. 
Article 3 
1. Applications for financial support for projects shall 
be sent to the Commission by the Member States and 
shall contain: 
— for the projects referred to in Article 1 (1) (a), the 
information specified in the Annex, 
No C 137/8 Official Journal of the European Communities 6. 6. 90 
— for the projects referred to in Article 1 (1) (b), the 
information needed to justify action at Community 
level. 
2. In the absence of suitable applications from a 
Member State, the Commission may, in exceptional 
circumstances, take the initiative to propose measures: 
(a) relating to species directly threatened with extinction 
in the Community or relating to habitats directly 
exposed to the risk of disappearance in the 
Community; 
(b) relating to biotopes or habitats transcending 
frontiers; 
(c) contributing to the solution of particularly urgent 
problems in the context of the Berne Convention or 
the Bonn Convention. 
Article 4 
1. An Advisory Committee consisting of represen­
tatives of the Member States and chaired by a 
Commission representative is hereby set up. The 
Committee shall draw up its rules of procedure. 
2. The Commission shall consult the Advisory 
Committee on, inter alia: 
(i) the general conditions governing submission of the 
applications for financial support referred to in 
Article 3; 
(ii) any additional criteria to be applied in selecting 
projects for which applications for financial support 
have been submitted or in selecting projects falling 
within the scope of action proposed by the 
Commission; 
(iii) the selection of projects for which financial support 
is to be granted in accordance with Article 5; 
(iv) the levels of finanical support to be granted to 
projects; 
(v) the priorities to be adopted within the scope defined 
in Article 1. 
3. The Committee shall deliberate on requests for its 
opinion from the Commission. When seeking an opinion 
from the Committee, the Commission may set a time 
limit by which the opinion is to be delivered. No vote 
shall be taken at the end of the Committee's deliber­
ations. However, a Committee member may require that 
his opinion be recorded in the minutes. Article 5 
1. The Commission shall decide whether to grant or 
refuse financial support for projects after consulting the 
Advisory Committee referred to in Article 4 and on the 
basis of the opinions delivered by that Committee. 
2. The Commission shall negotiate and conclude the 
necessary contracts. 
Article 6 
Financial support may be granted to natural persons, or 
to legal persons constituted in accordance with national 
law, who are responsible for the project. 
If the creation of a legal entity with the legal capacity to 
carry out a project involves additional costs for the 
participants, the project may be carried out simply by 
cooperation between natural or legal persons. In that 
case, responsibility for complying with the obligations 
resulting from Community support shall be specified in 
the contract to be concluded with the Commission. 
Article 7 
Recipients of Community financial support shall send the 
Commission, each year or as stipulated in the contract, a 
report on the fulfilment of the commitments towards the 
Commission, and in particular on the progress of work 
in relation to project and the expenditure incurred in its 
performance. 
Article 8 
The Commission shall present an annual report on the 
implementation of this Regulation to the European 
Parliament, the Council and the Economic and Social 
Committee. 
Article 9 
A list of the measures for which Community financial 
support has been granted shall be published annually in 
the Official Journal of the European Community. 
Article 10 
1. This Regulation shall enter into force on the day 
following its publication in the Official Journal of the 
European Communities. 
It shall apply for five years. 
2. The Council, acting by qualified majority on a 
proposal from the Commission, shall decide whether to 
extend or amend this Regulation. 
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and 
directly applicable in all Member States. 
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The location of the site in question and, where necessary, a map showing the boundaries of the area 
coveredby theproject 
The importance of the site to the Community for the conservation of nature and, as appropriate, the 
degreeofthensl^tothebiotopesandspecies concerned 
The nature and extent of the problems which the project is intended to resolve, and in particular the nature 
and gravityof the threat 
Adetaileddescnptionoftheproject,andinparticularoftheorgani^ationof itsmanagementandofthe 
results expected 
Thetimetableforcarrymgouttheproject 
The cost of the project, its viability andthefinancingarrangements proposed 
The extenttowhichCommunityfinancialsupportisurgentlyneededinordertoimplementthe project 
Anyotherevidenceinsupportof theapphcation 
Theprotectionprovidedforthesitemquestion at present andtheprotectionplanned 
Theproposedmethodof disseminating theresults of theproject