Council Regulation (EC) amending Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 on the protection of the Community's forests against fire (96/C 268/07) (Text with EEA relevance) COM(96) 341 final - 96/0186(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 first period of application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 of 23 July 1992 on the protection of the Community's forests against fire (1) expires on 31 December 1996;

Whereas forests play an essential part in maintaining fundamental balances, particularly as regards soil, water resources, climate, flora and fauna; whereas those ecological balances are indispensable for 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 in rural areas;

Whereas the European Union attaches particular importance to the protection of its forest resources; whereas it has undertaken international commitments on the sustainable development of forests and the protection of forest regions, in particular during the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and at the two pan-European Ministerial Conferences on the protection of European forests in Strasbourg in 1990 and in Helsinki in 1993; whereas the Community scheme for the protection of forests against fire as provided for by Regulation (EC) No 2158/92 helps to fulfil those undertakings;

Whereas, pursuant to that Regulation, 60 million hectares of forest, equivalent to about a half of European forests, have been classified as fire-risk zones;

Whereas fires continue to restrict the sustainable development of forests in fire-risk zones, thus reducing the contribution of forests to the development of sustainable agriculture and the management of rural areas;

Whereas protecting forests against fire therefore directly contributes to the achievement of the objectives laid down in Article 39 (1) (b) of the Treaty;

Whereas the Community system of information on forest fires established under Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 2158/92 has permitted the development of Community cooperation on forest fires; whereas 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;

Whereas, therefore, the Community scheme for the protection of forests against fire defined by Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 should 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; whereas, therefore, provision should be made for extending the scheme laid down in Regulation (EC) No 2158/92, as amended by this Regulation, for five years from 1 January 1997, thus bringing the duration of the programme to 10 years from 1 January 1992;

Whereas it is estimated that ECU 70 million will be necessary to implement the programme during the second period,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

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

Article 10 (1) and (2) are replaced by the following:

'1. The scheme shall run for five years from 1 January 1997.

2. The amount of Community financial resources deemed necessary for the implementation of the scheme is ECU 70 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 217, 31. 7. 1992, p. 3.