Common Position (EC) No 18/2000 of 17 December 1999 adopted by the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure refferred to in Article 251 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, with a view to adoting a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council setting up a Community framework for cooperation in the field of accidental or deliberate marine pollution
Date: 1999-12-17
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU Member State, cooperation policy, environmental protection, marine environment, marine pollution

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I

(Information)

COUNCIL

COMMON POSITION (EC) No 18/2000

adopted by the Council on 17 December 1999

with a view to adopting Decision 2000/(cid:133)/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
(cid:133) setting up a Community framework for cooperation in the field of accidental or deliberate
marine pollution

(2000/C 87/01)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

already facilitate mutual assistance and cooperation
between Member States in this field.

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 175(1) thereof,

(3)

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

Having regard to the opinion of
Committee (2),

the Economic and Social

Following consultation with the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
251 of the Treaty (3),

Whereas:

(1)

The actions taken by the Community in the field of
accidental marine pollution since 1978 have made it
possible progressively to develop cooperation between
the Member
action
programme; the resolution and decisions adopted since
1978 (4) constitute the basis for this cooperation.

States within a Community

(2)

Several
agreements on accidental marine
pollution, such as the Bonn Cooperation Agreement,

regional

(1) OJ C 25, 30.1.1999, p. 20.
(2) OJ C 169, 16.6.1999, p. 16.
(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 16 September 1999 (OJ
C 54, 25.2.2000, p. 88), Council common position of 17
December 1999 and Decision of the European Parliament of (cid:133)
(not yet published in the Official Journal).

(4) OJ C 162, 8.7.1978, p. 1.

OJ L 355, 10.12.1981, p. 52.
OJ L 77, 22.3.1986, p. 33.
OJ L 158, 25.6.1988, p. 32.

The Community Information System has served the
purpose of making available to the Member States the
data required for the control and reduction of pollution
caused by the spillage of hydrocarbons and other
the
harmful
Information System will be simplified by the use of a
modern automatic data-processing system.

sea in large quantities;

substances at

The Community Task Force and other actions within
the Community action programme have provided
practical assistance to operational authorities during
marine
promoted
cooperation and preparedness for efficient response to
accidents.

emergencies

pollution

and

environment

The Community programme of policy and action
in relation to the
sustainable
development (5) presented by the Commission envisages
that the Community’s activities will be stepped up in
particular in the field of environmental emergencies
which includes accidental or deliberate marine pollution.

and

The Community cooperation in the field of accidental
marine pollution, by taking action against
the risks,
helps
the Treaty by
to achieve the objectives of
and
promoting
contributing, pursuant to Article 174 of the Treaty, to
preserving
and
protecting human health.

solidarity between Member States

environment

protecting

and

the

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

The establishment of a Community framework for
cooperation providing support measures will help to

(5) OJ C 138, 17.5.1993, p. 5.

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develop cooperation in the field of accidental marine
pollution even more efficiently. Such a framework for
cooperation should be based to a large extent on
experience already gained since 1978 in this field.

reduction of pollution caused by the
spillage of
hydrocarbons and other harmful substances at sea or in
major inland waters (3); that Decision should be repealed
from the date on which this Decision enters into force,

(8) A Community framework for cooperation will also
and

transparency as well

consolidate

as

increase
strengthen the different actions.

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

(9) Accidental or deliberate pollution at
pollution from off-shore installations.

sea

includes

Article 1

(10) Action to provide

information and prepare

those
responsible for and involved in dealing with accidental
marine pollution in the Member States is important and
increases the degree of preparedness for accidents and
also contributes to preventing the risks.

(11)

(12)

It is also important to undertake Community action to
improve techniques and methods of
response and
rehabilitation after emergencies.

in emergency
The provision of operational support
the
situations
dissemination of experience from such situations among
Member States has proved to be of significant value.

and facilitating

to Member

States

(13) Actions under this framework should also promote the
polluter-pays principle which should be applied in
accordance with
and
the
international environmental and maritime law.

applicable

national

(14)

(15)

(16)

for

necessary

The measures
this
instrument have to be adopted following Council
Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down
the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers
conferred on the Commission (1).

implementing

cooperation framework, a financial

This Decision lays down,
for the entire duration of
framework
the
constituting the prime reference, within the meaning of
point 33 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May
1999 between the European Parliament,
the Council
and the Commission on budgetary discipline and
for the
improvement of
budgetary
annual budgetary
procedure.

the budgetary procedure (2),
the

authority during

action programme

The provisions of this Decision take over, in particular,
the
up through Council
resolution of 26 June 1978 and the Community
Information
Council
Decision 86/85/EEC of 6 March 1986 establishing a
Community Information System for the control and

System established

through

set

1.
A Community framework for cooperation in the field of
accidental or deliberate marine pollution (hereinafter called the
(cid:145)framework for cooperation(cid:146))
is hereby established for the
period 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2006.

2.

The framework for cooperation is intended:

(a)

to support and supplement Member States’ efforts at
national, regional and local levels for the protection of the
marine environment, coastlines and human health against
the risks for accidental or deliberate pollution at sea,
excluding continuous streams of pollution originating from
land-based sources;

incidents

response in case of
threats of

(b) to contribute to improve capabilities of the Member States
involving spills or
for
imminent
spills of oil or other harmful
substances at sea and also to contribute to the prevention
of the risks. In accordance with the internal division of
competences within Member States, Member States will
exchange information on dumped munitions with a view
to
preparedness
identification
measures;

facilitating

and

risk

(c) and to strengthen the conditions for and facilitate efficient
mutual assistance and cooperation between Member States
in this field.

Article 2

Without prejudice to the division of responsibilities between
Member States and the Commission,
the Commission shall
implement the actions under the framework for cooperation,
as set out in Annexes I and II.

(a) Within the framework for cooperation, a Community
Information System with the purpose of exchanging data
for the preparedness for and response to accidental or
deliberate marine pollution, is established. The system shall
consist of at least the components set out in Annex I.

Types of actions under the framework for cooperation and
financial arrangements for Community contribution are set
out in Annex II.

(1) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.
(2) OJ C 172, 18.6.1999, p. 1.

(3) OJ L 77, 22.3.1986, p. 33. Decision as amended by Decision

88/346/EEC (OJ L 158, 25.6.1988, p. 32).

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(b) A three-year rolling plan to implement the framework for
cooperation, to be reviewed annually, shall be adopted, in
accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 4(2)
and on the basis, inter alia, of the information supplied by
Member States to the Commission.

The Commission may, where necessary, arrange additional
actions to those set out
in Annex II. Such additional
actions shall be assessed in the light of the priorities set
and the financial resources available and shall be adopted
in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
4(2).

(c) The financial framework for the implementation of this
Decision for the period 2000 to 2006 is hereby set at
EUR 7 million.

The budgetary resources allocated to the actions provided
for in this Decision shall be entered into the annual
the European
appropriations of
Union. The
shall be
authorised by the budgetary authority within the limits of
the financial perspectives.

the general budget of
available annual appropriations

Article 3

The rolling plan to implement

contain the

individual

the framework for
to be

actions

1.
cooperation shall
undertaken.

Individual actions shall be selected primarily on the basis

2.
of the following criteria:

(a) contributing to providing information and preparing those
responsible for and involved in dealing with accidental or
deliberate marine pollution, including where relevant port
authorities, in the Member States, in order to increase the
degree of preparedness and contribute to preventing the
risks;

(b) contributing to improving techniques and methods of
response and rehabilitation after emergencies and to
improving techniques for the evaluation of damages caused
to the marine and coastal environment;

(c) contributing to providing better public information to help

clarify risks and relaying accident information;

(d) contributing to strengthening the cooperation of relevant

local bodies as regards risk prevention and response;

(e) contributing

to

providing

operational

by
mobilising experts mainly belonging to the Community
Task Force, in emergency situations to Member States and
to disseminating experience from such situations among
Member States.

support,

3.
Each individual action shall be implemented in close
cooperation with the competent authorities on national,
regional and local levels in the Member States.

Article 4

The Commission shall be assisted by a management

1.
committee, hereinafter referred to as the (cid:145)Committee(cid:146).

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4
and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, without prejudice
to Article 8 thereof.

The period provided for
1999/468/EC shall be three months.

in Article 4(3) of Decision

3.

The Committee shall draw up its rules of procedure.

Article 5

The Commission shall evaluate the implementation of
the
framework for cooperation at mid term and before its end, and
report no later than 36 months after the entry into force of
the Decision and thereafter six years after the entry into force
of the Decision, to the European Parliament and the Council.
In its final report, the Commission shall, if appropriate, make
proposals for new measures to continue this framework.

Article 6

Decision 86/85/EEC shall be repealed.

Article 7

This Decision shall enter into force on 1 January 2000.

Article 8

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at (cid:133)

For the European Parliament

The President

(cid:133)

For the Council

The President

(cid:133)

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ANNEX I

COMPONENTS OF THE COMMUNITY INFORMATION SYSTEM

The Community Information System will use a modern automatic data-processing system. On the Internet site, there
will be general background information at Community level on a Community Home Page and, on National Home
Pages, information related to the national intervention resources available.

Separately, a printed part of the system will be maintained in the form of a Community operational loose-leaf booklet
with information on emergency management in each Member State.

1. The Commission will open a website for the purpose of a general access page of the system and a Community

Home Page.

2.

Each Member State, within six months from the date the Decision enters into force, will:

(a) appoint the authority or authorities responsible for the management of the national part of the system, and

inform the Commission thereof,

(b) open or maintain a National Home Page, or interconnected National Home Pages. This National Home Page or
one of the interconnected National Home Pages will be connected with the whole system through the
Community general access page of the system,

(c)

fill in its National Home Page(s) with the relevant information, namely:

(i)

a description of national structures and of links between national authorities in the field of accidental or
deliberate marine pollution, including focal points to be addressed in questions of emergency response;

(ii) general information on existing teams and equipment for emergency response and clean-up, in particular:

(cid:151) strike teams (sea-borne) consisting of spill response vessels,

(cid:151) strike teams (land-based) to combat shoreline pollution and to organise temporary storage as well as

to conduct actions for the rehabilitation of sensitive coastal areas,

(cid:151) expert teams to carry out environmental monitoring of pollution and/or the impact of the combating

techniques used, including chemical dispersion,

(cid:151) other mechanical, chemical and biological means for combating pollution at sea and cleaning up

coasts, including systems for lightening of oil tankers,

(cid:151) aircraft for aerial surveillance,

(cid:151) location of stockpiles,

(cid:151) emergency towage capacity,

(cid:151) emergency number(s) for public use;

(iii) conditions for offering assistance.

Upon request the focal points will provide additional information.

3.

Each Member State will update its National Home Page(s), specified in paragraph 2, as soon as changes have
occurred.

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4.

Each Member State will provide the Commission with its information on operational emergency management to be
included in the Community operational loose-leaf booklet, including operational procedures for mobilisation and
operational contact points with their references, within six months of the date the Decision enters into force.

5.

Each Member State will notify to the Commission at the earliest opportunity any change related to the information
contained in the loose-leaf booklet.

6. The Commission will make available to each Member State a copy of the loose-leaf booklet and provide any

updating to the Member States.

The models for the Community and National Home Pages and further guidance for the implementation of the
Community Information System will be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 4(2).

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ANNEX II

FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTION

Types of action

Financing arrangements

A. Actions in training and information

1. C o u r s e s a n d w o r k s h o p s (1)

Organisation of courses and workshops for the
national, regional and local officials in Member
the
States and others involved to ensure that
competent
and
efficiently.

respond

services

rapidly

2. E x c h a n g e o f e x p e r t s

Organisation of
the secondment of experts to
another Member State in order to allow the
experts to gain experience or appraise different
techniques used or to study the approaches taken
within other emergency services or other relevant
bodies such as non-governmental organisations
with
or
expertise
deliberate marine pollution.

accidental

specialist

in

Organisation of exchanges of Member States’
experts, enabling them to present or follow short
training courses or modules in another Member
State.

3. E x e r c i s e s (1)

The exercises are intended to compare methods,
to stimulate cooperation between Member States
and to back up progress in and to coordinate the
national emergency services.

4. C o m m u n i t y I n f o r m a t i o n S y s t e m

Development and maintenance of a modern
computerised information system to help the
national authorities dealing with accidental or
deliberate marine pollution by providing the
information needed for emergency management.

B. Actions for improving techniques and methods
of response and rehabilitation (pilot projects) (1)

response

Projects designed to increase the Member States’
and rehabilitation. These
capacity for
projects are aimed mainly at
improving means,
techniques and procedures. Their scope shall interest
all or several Member States, and could include
projects for the implementation of new technologies
related to accidental or deliberate marine pollution.
Projects involving two or more Member States will
be encouraged.

Maximum Community financial contribution: 75 % of the
total cost of the action with a ceiling of EUR 75 000 per
action.

Maximum Community financial contribution: 75 % of the
experts’ travel and subsistence expenses and 100 % of the
costs of coordinating the system.

Maximum Community financial contribution: 50 % of the
costs of participation of observers from other Member
States
associated workshops,
organising
preparing the exercise, producing a final report, etc.

and

for

100 % financing of the Commission part of the system.

Maximum Community financial contribution: 50 % of the
total cost of each project with a ceiling of EUR 150 000.

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Types of action

Financing arrangements

C. Support and information actions

1. E n v i r o n m e n t a l i m p a c t

Actions to support surveys of the environmental
effects after an incident, evaluate the preventive
taken and to largely
and remedial measures
disseminate
experience
results and the
acquired to the other Member States.

their

2. C o n f e r e n c e s a n d e v e n t s (1)

Maximum Community financial contribution: 50 % of the
total cost of each action.

Conferences and other marine pollution events
open to a large audience, in particular when they
involve several Member States.

Maximum Community financial contribution: 30 % of the
total cost of the action with a ceiling of EUR 50 000.

3. O t h e r s u p p o r t a c t i o n s (1)

Actions for defining the state of the art, for the
development of principles and guidance
for
important aspects of the accidental or deliberate
marine pollution and for the evaluations of the
framework for cooperation.

4.

I n f o r m a t i o n

other
exhibition material
Publications,
information to the public on the Community
cooperation in the
accidental or
deliberate marine pollution.

field of

and

100 % financing.

100 % financing.

D. Mobilisation of expertise

Action for mobilisation of experts belonging to the
Community Task Force to intervene in the event of
an emergency situation to reinforce the system set up
by the authorities of a Member State or a third
country facing the emergency and for provision of
an expert on scene to coordinate observers from
other Member States.

Community financial contribution: 100 % of the costs for
the experts’ missions.

(1) The only eligible actions are those interesting all Member States or a significant number of them.

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STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL’S REASONS

I.

INTRODUCTION

1. On 17 December 1998 the Commission submitted a proposal for a Decision (1) based on Article
130s(1) (new Article 175(1)) of the EC Treaty setting up a Community framework for cooperation
in the field of accidental marine pollution.

2. The European Parliament delivered its opinion (2) at first reading on 16 September 1999.

Following that opinion,
1999 (3).

the Commission forwarded an amended proposal on 1 December

The Economic and Social Committee delivered its opinion (4) on 29 April 1999. The Committee
of the Regions decided not to deliver an opinion.

3. On 17 December 1999 the Council unanimously adopted its common position.

II. OBJECTIVE

4. Building on existing instruments, the proposal aims to establish a Community framework for
cooperation in the field of accidental marine pollution. This framework is intended to support and
supplement Member States’ efforts for the protection of the marine environment, human health
and coastlines against the risks of accidental pollution at sea and operational spills, and strengthen
the conditions for efficient mutual assistance and cooperation between Member States in this field.

Within this framework a Community Information System with the purpose of exchanging data for
the preparedness for and response to accidental marine pollution, including operational spills, is
established.

III. ANALYSIS OF THE COMMON POSITION

5. General remarks

In the light of the objective set out above, the Council has endeavoured to draw up an instrument
which makes the best use of the resources available and avoid duplicating existing instruments.
Guided by these considerations, the Council was able to incorporate in its common position either
in substance or in part most of the European Parliament amendments which the
verbatim,
Commission included in its amended proposal.

6. Specific remarks

(Unless otherwise indicated, the references below are to the text of the common position. A
consistent effort has been made to match the wording of the recitals with that of the Articles
while avoiding duplications, in particular between recitals)

(1) OJ C 25, 30.1.1999, p. 20.
(2) OJ C 54, 25.2.2000, p. 88.
(3) Not yet published in the Official Journal.
(4) OJ C 169, 16.6.1999, p. 16.

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The main amendments made by the Council to the Commission’s amended proposal are as
follows:

Article 1

(i)

time-frame (paragraph 1):

The time-frame as aligned on that of the financial perspectives and therefore extended from
five years (as proposed by the Commission) to seven years (2000 to 2006). This longer
time-frame is reflected in the amended timing of the two reports provided by Article 5;

(ii)

scope (paragraph 2):

(cid:151) for reasons of clarity, to take into account that the limited programme proposed cannot
address all possible sources of pollution affecting the marine environment, directly or
indirectly, and noting that continuous streams of pollution originating from land-based
sources are normally regulated under other Community instruments, the instrument will
address (cid:145)risks for accidental or deliberate pollution at sea, excluding continuous streams of
pollution originating from land-based sources(cid:146). With this clarification, it appears that the
second subparagraph of paragraph 2 of the amended proposal does not add anything to
the definition of the scope of the instrument. Besides, this subparagraph is open-ended. It
is therefore not retained.

The formulation (cid:145)accidental or deliberate pollution at sea(cid:146) replaces (cid:145)accidental pollution at
sea and operational spills(cid:146) throughout the text. Moreover recital 9 makes it clear that
pollution at sea includes pollution from off-shore installations,

(cid:151) as regards harmful substances the common position, while acknowledging the potential
hazardous nature of dumped munitions notes (a) that different competent authorities or
Ministries are involved within Member States, and (b) that the operational provision
proposed by the European Parliament and retained by the Commission (namely putting
the location of dumping sites on websites) has obvious drawbacks. This is reflected in
paragraph 2(b) and in not mentioning dumping sites either in Article 1 or in Annex I
paragraph 3;

(iii) polluter-pays principle:

While actions under this instrument should promote the polluter-pays principle (see recital
13) the provision proposed in the second subparagraph of paragraph 3 of the Commission
amended proposal goes far beyond the objective set
in Article 1. Moreover financial
compensations are only one of the many ways of implementing the polluter-pays principle.

Article 2

the Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May 1999 (see also
In accordance with the terms of
r e c i t a l 1 5 ), paragraph 2(c) mentions a financial framework of EUR 7 million for the period
2000 to 2006, equivalent to the EUR 1 million per year proposed by the Commission.

Article 3

While agreeing with the list of criteria proposed by the Commission the Council is of the view
that the exchange of information between port authorities is more relevant to paragraph (a) than
to paragraph (b).

Article 4

Given the nature of the tasks facing the committee assisting the Commission, the common
position establishes a management committee instead of the advisory committee proposed by the
Commission. The relevant decision-making procedure has been brought into line with Article 4 of
Council Decision 1999/468/EC on committee procedure, and the period allowed for the Council
to act has been set at three months.

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Annex I

Apart from a few technical clarifications (e.g. mentioning interconnected National Home Pages in
paragraph 2(b)), the only significant changes are:

(cid:151) requesting general

information on teams and equipment

for emergency response and
clean-up to be put on the Home Pages, this information being complemented by the focal
points upon request. This approach will ensure a more up-to-date information in case of real
need while avoiding constant updating of Home Pages,

(cid:151) stipulating how models for the Community and National Home Pages are to be adopted (last
paragraph of the Annex), ensuring thereby a more comparable presentation of national and
Community information.