WRITTEN QUESTION E-1649/03 by Alexander de Roo (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. The Kapittelduinen (dunes).
Date: 2003-05-16
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU environmental policy, Netherlands, coastal protection, environmental protection, protected area

C 11 E/206

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

15.1.2004

In any case, at this stage the Commission does not intend to propose regulatory measures which, in the
case of a mode of transport which can be used only over very short distances, would more properly be a
matter for local and national authorities.

(1) OJ L 225, 10.8.1992.
(2) OJ L 124, 9.5.2002.

(2004/C 11 E/232)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1649/03

by Alexander de Roo (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(16 May 2003)

Subject: The Kapittelduinen (dunes)

When notifying (new) areas to be covered by the Habitats Directive, the Netherlands Government failed to
classify the Kapittelduinen as an area covered by the Habitats Directive. In its report entitled ‘Classification
of the Kapittelduinen as an area to be covered by the Habitats Directive’, the South-Holland Countryside
Foundation urged the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries to regard the line of
dunes running the length of the Dutch coastline as one single area forming part of the National Ecological
Network. Virtually all the other dunes are covered in this way. This exception is bewildering.

Does the European Commission agree with me that the Kapittelduinen should be included in the new list
of areas to be covered by the Habitats Directive?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(25 June 2003)

According to Article 4 of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural
habitats and of wild fauna and flora (1)
(the ‘Habitats Directive’) the Member States propose to the
Commission a list of sites to be included on a list of sites of Community importance. The national lists are
established on the basis of criteria set out in Annex III of the Directive and of relevant scientific
information. As far as natural habitat types are concerned, the criteria for selecting sites at the national
level include the degree of representativity, the area and the degree of conservation of natural habitat types
that are present on a site, as well as the value of the site for the conservation of these habitat types. While
applying and interpreting the criteria, the Member States have a certain degree of discretion, allowing them
for example, to select only the most representative sites for a given natural habitat type.

On 19 May 2003, the Netherlands transmitted to the Commission a new list of proposed sites of
Community importance. This list includes several thousands of hectares of coastal dunes, including inter
alia the main habitat types that are also present in the ‘Kapittelduinen’. Furthermore, in June 2002, at the
second bio-geographic seminar for the Atlantic Region in Den Haag, it was concluded that the Netherlands
had proposed a sufficient number of sites (in area and geographic distribution) for the three major habitat
types which cover altogether 90 % of the area of the ‘Kapittelduinen’, namely the ‘fixed coastal dunes’, the
‘shifting dunes’ and the ‘dunes with Hippophae rhamnoides’.

The Commission is therefore of the opinion that there is no further obligation for the Netherlands to
include the ‘Kappittelduinen’
in the list of proposed Sites of Community Importance according to the
Habitats Directive.

(1) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.