WRITTEN QUESTION E-1096/01

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(6 April 2001)

Subject: Designation of Natura 2000 areas

Since the Habitats Directive entered into force on 5 June 1994, the Member States have made various proposals for the designation of their Natura 2000 areas.

It appears from the answer to Question E-0165/01(1) that the Commission has received a number of notifications pursuant to Article 6(4) relating to activities at locations not (yet) designated as Natura 2000 areas.

Can the Commission provide a full list of:

1. the approved Natura 2000 areas,

2. the proposals for Natura 2000 areas in the 15 EU Member States which are still under consideration?

(1) OJ C 187 E, 3.7.2001, p. 197.

Joint answer to Written Questions E-1095/01 and E-1096/01 given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(13 June 2001)

Upon receipt of notifications from Member States about activities or plans at locations that were not (yet) designated as Natura 2000 sites, the Commission has not issued any formal reaction. As the Commission holds the opinion that designation of a site as part of the Natura 2000 network should be the first step in the application of article 6 of the Habitats directive, Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora(1), it has not kept any formal records of notifications concerning non-designated locations.

The Natura 2000 network consists of two kinds of sites: Special Protection Areas (SPA's), designated according to the Birds Directive, Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds(2) and Special Areas of Conservation (SAC's), which are adopted by the Member States after having been selected from lists of proposed Sites of Community Interest (pSCI's) for each of the six biogeographical regions of the Community, according to the provisions of the Habitats Directive and, in particular, annex III of that directive.

The complete list of SPA's in the Member States is available on the website http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/nature/natura.htm, which also holds any other relevant information about the setting up and the management of the Natura 2000 network.

Presently, the Member States have not yet submitted to the Commission a complete list, according to the requirements of the Habitats Directive, of pSCI's for any biogeographical region of the Community. This means that no SAC's have been adopted yet by any of the Member States.

The Commission currently holds lists of pSCI's (still to be completed) which have been submitted by the Member States for each of the biogeographical regions covered by their respective territories. These documents are covered by the rule of authorship expressly foreseen in the Code of Conduct on public access to Commission and Council documents, adopted by Commission Decision of 8 February 1994. The Honourable Member should thus request them directly from their authors. Once lists of SAC's are adopted by Member States, they will automatically be made publicly available, but the responsibility for providing the information contained in the lists of pSCI's lies exclusively with the Member States, as authors of these non-published documents.

For the reasons explained above, the Commission must refer the Honourable Member to the respective Member States for obtaining information about their proposed contribution to the Natura 2000 network.

(1) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.

(2) OJ L 103, 25.4.1979.