COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL concerning the European Union's participation in the Sixth Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (Oslo, 14-16 June 2011)
Date: 2011-04-06
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European forestry policy, energy policy, fire protection, forest conservation, rural development, sustainable development, water management, wood product

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 6.4.2011 
COM(2011) 177 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL 

concerning the European Union's participation in the Sixth Ministerial Conference on 
the Protection of Forests in Europe (Oslo, 14-16 June 2011) 

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL 

concerning the European Union's participation in the Sixth Ministerial Conference on 
the Protection of Forests in Europe (Oslo, 14-16 June 2011) 

The  Sixth  Ministerial  Conference  on  the  Protection  of  Forests  in  Europe  will  take  place 
between  14-16  June  2011  in  Oslo,  Norway.  Over  40  European  States,  among  them  all  EU 
Member States, are expected to attend this Conference, which is organised jointly by Norway 
and Spain. 

The  forest  policy  discussion  under  the  Ministerial  Conferences,  renamed  Forest  Europe  in 
2009,  is  an  inter-governmental,  country-led  process  launched  in  1990  with  the  objective  of 
promoting  the  sustainable  management  of  Europe’s  forests.  It  operates  by  voluntary 
commitments of  its current 47 signatories. The EU has been a party in the process  since  its 
beginning, and, so far, has signed all its resolutions and declarations.  

Since 1990, five ministerial conferences have taken place. The First Ministerial Conference, 
held in 1990 in Strasbourg, was devoted essentially to forest monitoring and protection, and 
forest  research  issues.  The  Second  Ministerial  Conference,  held  in  1993  in  Helsinki, 
addressed  the  sustainable  management  of  forests,  conservation  of  biological  diversity  in 
forests,  the  forest-climate  relationship  and  forestry  in  the  countries  of  Central  and  Eastern 
Europe.  The  commitments  of  the  Third  Ministerial  Conference,  held  in  1998  in  Lisbon, 
focused  on  socio-economic  aspects  of  the  forest  sector  in  Europe  and  adopted  the  pan-
European  criteria  and  indicators  for  sustainable  forest  management.  The  Fourth  Ministerial 
Conference, held in 2003 in Vienna, concerned integration of sustainable forest management 
into the broader context of sustainable development, whereas the last Ministerial Conference, 
in Warsaw in 2007, addressed forests in the context of wood and energy production as well as 
the links between forests and water resources. 

For the past five Ministerial Conferences the Commission, represented by the Commissioner 
for Agriculture, was authorised by the Council to participate on behalf of the European Union 
and to sign the ministerial declarations and resolutions alongside the Member States. 

The Sixth Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe is expected to adopt 
two types of decisions:  

(1) 

(2) 

Legally binding: on the opening of the negotiations and establishing an International 
Negotiating Committee having a mandate to develop a legally binding agreement on 
forests  in  Europe.  The  Rules  of  Procedure  which  will  apply  to  the  International 
Negotiating Committee will be in the annex to that decision. 

Non-legally  binding:  on  developing  new  vision,  mission,  goals  and  targets  for  the 
Forest Europe process, as well as national and European actions to be implemented 
on a voluntary basis, as it was the case with ministerial declarations and resolutions 
of the previous ministerial conferences. 

The ministerial decisions will be submitted to the Ministers for the adoption by signature. 

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The  relevant  Commission  services  have  been  actively  involved  in  the  preparatory  phase  of 
this Conference. 

The European Union’s participation in the Sixth Ministerial Conference is necessary for the 
following reasons: 

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the  Conference  relates  to  the  implementation  at  pan-European  level  of  the 
international commitments taken previously, not only by the Member States but also 
by the European Union; 

with the prospect of opening and conducting negotiations that involve third countries 
towards  a  legally  binding  agreement  in  areas  where  there  is  EU  competence,  the 
Commission will have to take an active role in order to ensure that Treaty provisions 
related to external representation of the EU be respected, that the primacy of the EU 
"Acquis" be taken fully into account and that EU participation in the decision to open 
negotiations,  as  well  as  in  the  actual  negotiations  themselves,  take  place  in  a  close 
cooperation with Member States. 

as  a  signatory  to  the  Strasbourg,  Helsinki,  Lisbon,  Vienna  and  Warsaw  ministerial 
declarations and resolutions, the European Union is directly involved in their follow-
up and implementation; 

the subjects of the ministerial decisions to large extent correspond with the Council 
Resolution of 15 December 1998 on a Forestry Strategy for the European Union and 
the EU Forest Action Plan1, as well as with the objectives of EU policies, including: 
rural  development;  energy;  environment  and  biodiversity;  climate;  research  and 
technological development. 

As a consequence, the Commission recommends that the Council:  

1. 

2. 

decide that the Commission will participate, on behalf of the European Union, in the 
Sixth Forest Europe Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe to 
be held between 14-16 June 2011 in Oslo; 

decide that the Commission will sign on behalf of the EU and alongside the Member 
States  the  Oslo  Ministerial  Decisions.  The  Commission’s  signature  shall  not  imply 
any  commitment  for  joint  measures  falling  outside  the  scope  of  European  Union 
competence. 

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COM(2006) 302 final. 

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LIST OF RELEVANT DOCUMENTS 

ACTS OF THE SIXTH FOREST EUROPE MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE: 

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Oslo Ministerial Decisions 

Rules of Procedure for the International Negotiating Committee to prepare a legally 
binding agreement on forests in Europe 

RELATED DOCUMENT: 

Commission  Recommendation  for  a  Council  Decision  on  the  participation  of  the 
European Union in negotiations on a legally binding agreement on forests in Europe 

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