CELEX: 51990PC0319
Language: en
Date: 1990-07-17
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION ADOPTING A FOUR-YEAR PROGRAMME 1990 - 1993 TO DEVELOP REGULAR OFFICIAL STATISTICS OF THE ENVIRONMENT

22. 8. 90                                Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 209/29
              Proposal for a Council Decision adopting a four-year programme 1990 to 1993 to develop
                                           regular official statistics of the environment
                                                         COM(90) 319 final
                                         (Submitted by the Commission on 24 July 1990)
                                                           (90/C 209/07)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                               Whereas such an adequate framework does not yet exist
                                                                       and must be built up;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community and in particular Article 130s
                                                                       Whereas it is essential that developments in official envi-
thereof,
                                                                       ronment statistics are coordinated to meet essential inter-
                                                                       national, Community and national needs at minimum
                                                                       public and private cost and that this can most
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                     conveniently be done within the established procedures
                                                                       of cooperation between Eurostat (the Statistical Office of
                                                                       the European Communities), the statistical services of
                                                                       international organizations and those of Member States;
Having regard       to   the    opinion    of  the   European          whereas it is therefore appropriate to adopt a four-year
Parliament,                                                            programme to ensure this coordinated development;
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
                                                                       Whereas developing environment statistics forms part of
Social Committee,
                                                                       the Statistical Programme of the European Communities
                                                                       1989 to 1992 laid down by Council resolution of 19 June
                                                                       1989 O ;
Whereas the EEC fourth environmental                     action
programme (1987 to 1992) laid down by Council
resolution of 19 October 1987 (') has established priority
areas for Community environment policy and has                         Whereas this four-year programme of environment stat-
stressed the importance of information;                                istics is complementary to and builds on the 1985 to
                                                                       1988 Corine programme established by Council Decision
                                                                       85/338/EEC ( J ), as extended by Council Decision
                                                                       90/150/EEC (4) to cover the years 1989 and 1990;
Whereas the need to assess issues and to devise, monitor
and evaluate policies needs to be based on adequate
factual information;
                                                                       Whereas the European environment agency is required
                                                                       to cooperate with existing community structures
Whereas such adequate factual information needs to                     including Eurostat and a clearly defined programme for
                                                                       developing official statistics of the environment will
include a framework of environmental data serving as
                                                                       facilitate this cooperation;
acknowledged reference points for other environmental
data;
                                                                       Whereas the timely delivery of suitable comparable data
Whereas there is a clear need for quantitative infor-                  can only be guaranteed by appropriate legal provisions
mation on the relationship between environmental                       and these provisions have to be prepared together with
policies and issues and other policies and issues arising              the relevant Commission services; whereas the provisions
from the environmental objectives of the Single                        can most efficiently be met by Commission measures
European Act and this can be ensured only by linking                   prepared following consultation with Member States;
the framework of environmental data into the general
structure of official statistics including appropriate adap-
tations to this structure;
                                                                       O OJ No C 161, 28. 6. 1989, p. 1.
                                                                       C) OJ No L 176, 6. 7. 1985, p. 14.
                                                                       (4) OJ No L 81, 28. 3. 1990, p. 38.
O OJ No C 328, 7. 12. 1987, p. 1.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 209/30                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                    22. 8. 90
Whereas important work on the methodology and                     HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
collection of environmental data is carried out by stat-
istical services of international organizations, in
particular the United Nations' Statistical Office, the
United Nations' Economic Commission for Europe and
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Devel-                                           Article 1
opment; whereas the present programme should take                  1.    A programme to develop regular official statistics
account of this work;                                             on the environment is hereby adopted for a four-year
                                                                  period starting on the date of the coming into force of
                                                                  this Decision.
Whereas it is urgent to provide data as soon as possible
to meet the most urgent policy needs;
                                                                  2.     The object of the programme is to provide a set of
Whereas it is necessary to keep the Council and the               regular key environmental information integrated with
Parliament informed of progress on this programme to              other statistics provided to the Commission by the
develop and consolidate official environment statistics;          official statistical services of Member States and available
                                                                  in all Member States by the end of 1995. It will be
                                                                  designed to meet the Community's needs in the area of
                                                                  environmental policy. It will take account of work on
Whereas the details of data to be provided by the                 environment statistics carried out by other Community
Member States to the Commission including appropriate             bodies and by international organizations. It will prepare
definitions, methodology and manner of transmission               appropriate Community legislation governing the
need to be fixed by the Commission;                               furnishing of data by Member States.
Whereas consultation with Member States on the
carrying out of this programme can be made through the
                                                                                              Article 2
Committee on the Statistical Programme of the
European Communities set up by Council Decision                   1.     The programme will be executed by the Statistical
89/382/EEC, Euratom ('), and whereas that Committee               Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) and the
can also be called on to give its opinion on the                  official statistical services of the Member States. It will
Commission's specific proposals for collection and                include:
submission of statistical data by Member States;
Whereas that Committee has been consulted on the                     (i) methodological/conceptual studies,
general lines of this programme and has approved them;
                                                                    (ii) practical studies,
Whereas the creation of a structure of regular environ-            (iii) pilot surveys (by official statistical organizations in
mental information integrated with the official statistical              Member States or other appropriate bodies),
systems of Member States requires substantial theoretical
and practical work and a Community financial contri-               (iv) concertation,
bution to certain aspects of predominantly Community
interest is appropriate;                                            (v) data collection,
                                                                   (vi) dissemination,
Whereas there is a need to gauge the amount of
Community       funds    required    to    implement     this     (vii) concretization in Community legal instruments.
programme; whereas this amount is in line with the
financial perspective annexed to the Interinstitutional
Agreement of 29 June 1988 (2) and the appropriations
actually available will, in compliance with this
                                                                  2.     The details of the programme including priorities
agreement, be determined in accordance with budgetary
                                                                  and the way it is implemented shall be decided by the
procedure,
                                                                  Commission following the procedure set out in Article 4.
0) OJ No L 181, 28. 6. 1989, p. 47.                               3.     The structure of the programme and the priority
(2) OJ No L 185, 15. 7. 1988, p. 33.                              work areas are set out in Annex 4.
 ---pagebreak--- 22. 8. 90                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                    No C 209/31
                           Article 3                                     3.    The Commission shall take the utmost account of
                                                                         the opinion delivered by the Committee. It shall inform
The Commission shall according to the procedures laid                    the Committee of the manner in which its opinion has
down in Article 4 take the necessary measures for fixing                 been taken into account.
the details of data to be provided by Member States as
soon as the statistical requirements and possibilities for
Member States to provide data in a particular area have
                                                                                                     Article 5
been examined.
                                                                         The funds necessary for the implementation of the
                           Article 4                                     present decision are entered each year in the general
                                                                         budget of the European Communities. This includes
1.    Where the procedure laid down in this Article is                   contributions to costs of data collection in selected
invoked, the matter shall be referred to the Committee                   Member States including pilot and other surveys.
on the Statistical Programmes of the European
Communities (hereinafter referred to as 'the Committee')
by its chairman, either on his own initiative or at the                                             Article 6
request of the representative of a Member State.
                                                                         The Commission shall make a progress report to the
2.    The representative of the Commission shall submit                  Council and the European Parliament not later than
to the Committee a draft of the measures to be taken.                    December 1992 and a further report on completion of
The Committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft                     the programme. The Committee will be consulted on
within a time limit which the chairman may lay down                      these reports.
according to the urgency of the matter.
The opinion shall be recorded in the minutes; in
                                                                                                    Article 7
addition, each Member State shall have the right to ask
that its position be recorded in the minutes.                            This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
                                                                ANNEX
                   Community programme to develop regular official statistics on the environment (1990 to 1993)
              A. Structure
                 1. Physical data
                       defining and preparing the collection and transmission of aggregable, comparable data available
                       over time,
                       studies on the availability and selection of relevant data at international, national, regional and
                       local level,
                       pilot projects for testing the method of collection and integration in general surveys,
                       participation in the development of global accounting systems such as natural resource accounts
                       and integration of the physical data collection in this framework,
                       participation in the development and implementation of new technology (remote sensing),
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 209/32                           Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s                 22. 8. 90
              2. Economic data
                 — defining and preparing the collection and transmission of aggregated comparable data available
                     over time,
                 — studies on the availability and selection of relevant data,
                 — pilot projects for testing the method of collection and integration in general surveys,
                 — defining an accounting concept for the presentation of economic data and their integration in
                     global accounting systems such as satellite environment accounts and links to the system of
                     national accounts (SNA) and to natural resource accounting.
              3. Legal framework
                 Preparation of legal texts defining the content, definitions, classifications and methods of collection
                 of physical and economic data.
              4. Support for Member States data collection work
                 The Commission will look to the Member States' statistical services and specialized research
                 institutes for contributions to special studies, testing and pilot projects. Financial support will be
                 given to the extent resources permit and routine data collection is not involved.
              5. Data management and geographical information systems
                 Eurostat will adapt its informatics infrastructure for the reception, pretreatment, processing and
                 dissemination of the statistical data transmitted and especially its capabilities to handle space related
                 environmental data. Links will be established with the statistical services of the Member States, the
                 Commission's services and the European Environment Agency.
              6. International coordination
                 The programme will be developed in the larger context of international environment statistics e.g.
                 United Nations Statistical Office ECE/Conference of European Statisticians, World Bank, Organ-
                 ization for Economic Cooperation and Development, to avoid duplication and to ensure consistency.
           B. Working areas
              The working areas are determined by policy needs actually expressed in the fourth environmental action
              programme (1987 to 1992) and may be adapted in the light of policy changes.
              The programme on official environment statistics comprises the following topics:
              1. description of the changes in the quality of the environment i.e. soil, water, air and atmosphere: flora
                 and fauna, human health, climate;
              2. description of human activities and their influence on the quality of the environment:
                 — extraction and consumption of raw materials,
                 — production and consumption of agricultural and industrial products,
                 — energy production and consumption,
                 — construction and settlement,
 ---pagebreak--- 11. 8. 90                          Official Journal of the European Communities                                   N o C 209/33
             — leisure and tourism,
             — transport,
             — population growth and social welfare,
             linked to
             — resources depletion (use of renewable and non renewable resources),
             — changes in land cover and land use,
             — pollution by emissions.
          3. Description of the response to the environmental damage and dangers, assessment of the costs and
             benefits and follow up of the Community's environmental policy, for example:
             — conservation and substitution of natural resources,
             — changes in production methods and consumption behaviour,
             — direct and indirect (clean technology) prevention and reduction of emissions and pollution,
             — conservation and protection of nature, soil, flora and fauna.
          Priority areas for 1990 to 1993 are:
          — economic statistics of current expenditure and investment for environmental protection,
          — data collection in collaboration with O E C D and E C E / U N O ,
          — statistics of the management of waste and dangerous products,
          — statistics of the quality and management of water,
          — linkage of transport statistics to environment statistics (including transport of dangerous goods and
              waste),
          — linkage of energy statistics to environment statistics,
          — integration of environmental statistics in industrial surveys (definition of environment industries),
          — integration of environmental statistics in agricultural and forestry surveys,
          — linkage of environment with other statistics through land information (collection of space related
              data).