Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1655/2000 concerning the Financial Instrument for the Environment (LIFE)
Date: 2003-07-08
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU aid, EU financial instrument, environmental protection, use of aid

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 8.7.2003
COM(2003) 402 final

2003/0148 (COD)

Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

amending Regulation (EC) No 1655/2000
concerning the Financial Instrument for the Environment (LIFE)

(presented by the Commission)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

At  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  1655/2000  concerning  the  Financial
Instrument  for  the  Environment  (LIFE)1,  the  Commission  had  proposed  a  management
committee  to  oversee  its  implementation:  approval  of  LIFE-nature  projects  (Article 3(7)),
LIFE-environment  (Article  4(10)),  LIFE-third  countries  (Article  5(7)),  and  projects  from
accession candidate countries (Article 6(5)). The Commission had taken the view that as the
choice of projects was a measure with substantial budgetary implications, the procedure to be
followed was that of a management committee. In support of its standpoint, the Commission
had 
the  criteria  of  Article 2  of  Council
Decision 1999/468/EC  of  28  June  1999  laying  down  the  procedures  for  the  exercise  of
implementing powers conferred on the Commission2 and had made a statement to that effect
at the time of the adoption of the Common Position of the Council.

importance  of  applying 

insisted  on 

the 

However,  the  Council  had  unanimously  rejected  the  Commission  proposal  regarding  the
committee  procedure  to  be  applied.  Therefore,  as  regards  the  adoption  of  measures  for  the
implementation  of  Regulation (EC)  No 1655/2000,  the  Council,  in  drafting  Article 11(2),
opted for the regulatory procedure provided for in Article 5 of Decision 1999/468/EC.

At the time of the adoption of Regulation (EC) No 1655/2000, the Commission had made a
statement3.  In  particular,  the  Commission  had  maintained  that  “to  ignore  the  terms  of
Article 2 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC  in  a case  as  clear  as this is contrary to both  the
spirit and the letter of the Council Decision”. For this reason the Commission had stated that
it had to “reserve its position in this matter, including its right to take appropriate future action
before the Court”. Accordingly,  the  Commission  brought an action before  the  Court  for  the
annulment of the provision in question.

In its judgment of 21 January 20034, the Court of Justice annulled Article 11(2) of Regulation
(EC) No 1655/2000. Under Article 233 of the Treaty establishing the European Community,
the  institution  or  institutions  whose  act  has  been  declared  void  are  required  to  take  the
necessary measures to comply with the judgment of the Court of Justice.

The Court ruled  that  the measures  which  the Commission is empowered to adopt  under  the
implementing  powers  conferred  on  it  by  Regulation  (EC)  No 1655/2000  are  of  two  kinds5.
The first are measures relating to the granting of financial assistance to various projects and
accompanying measures referred to in Articles 3-6 of Regulation (EC) No 1655/2000, and the
second  guidelines  for 
the
LIFE-environment component (Article 4(4) of the Regulation).

the  selection  of  demonstration  projects  proposed  under 

Observing  that  the  measures  which  the  Commission  is  empowered  to  adopt  under  the
implementing  powers  conferred  on  it  by  Regulation  (EC)  No 1655/2000  are  management
measures  relating  to  the  implementation  of  a  programme  with  substantial  budgetary
implications within the meaning of Article 2(a) of Decision 1999/468/EC, the Court ruled that
those  implementing  measures  therefore  fall  in  principle  under  the  management  procedure

1

2

3

4

5

OJ L 192, 28.7.2000, p. 1.
OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.
OJ L 192, 28.7.2000, p. 10.
Judgment of the Court of 21.1.2003, Commission v European Parliament and Council, Case C-378/00,
not yet published in the Court Reports.
See in particular points 18 to 20 and 60 to 61 of the judgment.

2

                                                
defined in Article 4 of Decision 1999/468/EC or, in some circumstances, in accordance with
Article 2(c) of that Decision, under the advisory procedure defined in Article 3 thereof.

Following its statement made at the time of the adoption of the Regulation and the judgment
of the Court of Justice of 21 January 2003, which annulled Article 11(2) of Regulation (EC)
No 1655/2000,  and  on  the  basis  of  the  indicative  criteria  defined  in  Article  2  of
Decision 1999/468/EC,  it  is  necessary  to  propose  a  Regulation  amending  Regulation  (EC)
No 1655/2000  as  regards  the  committee  procedure  to  be  followed,  the  effect  of  which  is  to
replace  the  regulatory  committee  by  a  management  committee  for  the  adoption  of  the
measures for the implementation of that Regulation.

3

2003/0148 (COD)

Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

amending Regulation (EC) No 1655/2000
concerning the Financial Instrument for the Environment (LIFE)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

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

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission6,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee7,

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions8,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty9,

Whereas:

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

6

7

8

9

10

11

In  its  judgment  of  21  January  200310  the  Court  of  Justice  of  the  European
Communities  annulled  Article  11(2)  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  1655/2000  of  the
European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  17  July  2000  concerning  the  Financial
Instrument  for  the  Environment  (LIFE)11.  In  that  judgment,  the  Court  declared  that
“the  effects  of  Article 11(2)  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  1655/2000  are  to  be  fully
maintained until the Parliament and the Council adopt new provisions concerning the
committee procedure to which the measures for the implementation of that Regulation
are subject”.

In  accordance  with  Article  233  of  the  Treaty,  the  institutions  whose  act  has  been
declared void are required to take the necessary measures to comply with the judgment
of the Court of Justice.

The  measures  that  the  Commission  is  empowered  to  adopt  under  the  implementing
powers conferred on it by Regulation (EC) No 1655/2000 are management measures
relating to the implementation of a programme with substantial budgetary implications
within  the  meaning  of  Article  2,  point  (a),  of  Council  Decision  1999/468/EC  of

OJ C
OJ C
OJ C
OJ C
Commission  v  European  Parliament  and  Council,  Case  C-378/00,  not  yet  published  in  the  Court
Reports.
OJ L 192, 28.7.2000, p. 1.

4

                                                
28 June 1999  laying  down  the  procedures  for  the  exercise  of  implementing  powers
conferred  on  the  Commission12.  Those  measures  should  therefore  be  adopted  in
accordance with the management procedure provided for in Article 4 of that Decision.

(4) 

Regulation (EC) No 1655/2000 should therefore be amended,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Article 11(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1655/2000 is replaced by the following:

“2.  Where  reference  is  made  to  this  paragraph,  Articles 4  and  7  of  Decision 1999/468/EC
shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period referred to in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months.”

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of
the European Union.

Article 2

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels,

For the European Parliament
The President

For the Council
The President

12

OJ L 184, 17.7.19999, p. 23.

5