CELEX: 51991PC0035
Language: en
Date: 1991-02-06
Title: AMENDMENT TO THE PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) ON ACTION BY THE COMMUNITY RELATING TO NATURE CONSERVATION ( ACNAT )

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                         C0M(91) 35 final
                                         Brussels, 6  February 1991
                     Amendment to the proposal for a
                         COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC)
   ON ACTION BY THE COMMUNITY RELATING TO NATURE CONSERVATION (ACNAT)
         (presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 149(3)
                            of the EEC-Treaty)
 ---pagebreak---                               EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
    1.  On May 21 1990. the Commission presented to the Council a proposal
        for a regulation on action by tho Community relating to naturo
        Conservation (ACNAT)(D as adopted by the Commission on May 11
        1990.(2)
        On December 13 1990, the European Parliament adopted with a large
        majority 27 amendments to the Commission proposal.
    2.  5 of these amendments related to the recitals, 8 related to the
        articles and 5 related to the annexe are, at least partly,
        acceptable to the Commission as far as they are dealing with
        Improvements or clarifications of the initial text.
    3.  Therefore the Commission has decided, pursuant to Article 149 (3) of
        the EEC Treaty, to amend the Initial proposal for a regulation, as
        fol lows.
(1) OJ No. C 137 of 6.6.1990,
P.6
(2) COM(90) 125 final
 ---pagebreak---                                   Recital  7a(new)
                                              Whereas the success of Community
                                              action for preserving the natural
                                              areas     protected     by      Oirective
                                               ..•/.../EEC (habitats), wild birds
                                              protected by Directive 79/409/EECT
                                              and the species protected by the
                                              International Conventions on nature
                                              conservation, depends on additional
                                              funding that should be considered
                                              when   drawing up the financial
                                              instrument for the environment (LIFE).
                                 Recital 9a (new)
                                             Whereas it is important that Member
                                              States allocate money for .ACNAT,
                                              particularly as nature conservation
                                             was declared a priority at the 1990
                                              Dublin summit;
                                    Recital 10
Whereas      in    the    absence    of      Whereas      in     the   absence          of
applications from a Member State, the        applications from a Member State,
Commission    should,   in exceptional       the     Commission        should,          in
cases, be able to take the initiative        exceptional cases, be able to take
and   propose    measures   to  counter      the initiative and propose measures
threats of extinction or direct risks        to counter threats of extinction or
of disappearance, to meet needs which        direct risks of disappearance, to
transcend frontiers or to deal with          meet needs which transcend frontiers
particularly urgent problems In,, the        or to deal with particularly urgent
context of the Ber/u» Convention, or         problems I D the context of the Bernie
the Bonn Convention;                         Convention, the Ramsjir Convention acor
                                             the Bonn Convention!W
(11) OJ No L 38 of 10.2.1982, p. 1
(12) OJ No L 210 of 19.7.1982, p; 10          (11) 0J No L 38 of 1 0 . 2 . 1 9 8 2 , p. 1
                                              (11a) 0J No L 21 of 2 8 . 1 . 1 9 7 5 , p. 24
                                                     Commission Recommendation of
                                                     20 December 1974
                                              (12) 0J No L 210 of 1 9 . 7 . 1 9 8 2 , p. 10
                                Recital 11a (new)
                                              Whereas the opinion of competent non-
                                              governmental organizations should be
                                              taken    Into    consideration          when
                                              considering    the   success of          this
                                              Regulation.
 ---pagebreak---                                        Recital 12a (new)
                                                                                                    V
                                                    Whereas ACNAT simplifies the procedure
                                                    in force under Regulation No. 2242/87
                                                    so that nature conservation projects
                                                     can receive their money more quickly.
                                           Article 2(1)
  1.    To be eligible for financial                 1. To be eligible for financial
        support, a project shall be of                   support, a project shall directly
        interest to the Community and                    contribute to the conservation of
        of    Interest      in      terms     of         the biotopes or habitats defined
        protection of the environment                    in Article l(l)(a) or the species
        and/or the management of natural                 defined in Article 1(1)(b).
        resources.
        The level of the Community's                     Unchanged.
        contribution shall depend on the
        extent to which it is shown that
        the      project          concerned
        corresponds to such interests.
                                         Article 3(1)
       Applications      for       financial           Applications               for       financial
       support for projects shall be                   support for projects shall be
       sent to the Commission by the                   sent to the Commission by the
       Member States and shall contain:                Member States and shall contain
                                                       the information specified in the
                                                       Annex.
   for the projects referred to in                     Delete
   Article l(l)(a), the information
   specified in the Annex;
   for the projects referred to 1n                     Delete
   Article l(l)(b), the Information
   needed     to   justify       action     at
   Community level .
                                      Article 3(2)(c)
(c)   contributing to the       solution of        (c)   contributing to the solution of
      particularly urgent      problems in                particularly urgent problems in
      the    context    of      the     Berne             the       context        of    the    Berne
      Convention        or      the      Bonn            Convention,                 the      Ramsar
      Convention.                                         Convent 1 on,             or    the     Bonn
                                                          Convention.
                                          Article 5(1)
 1.    The    Commission     shall      decide         The         Commission          shall     decide
       whether    to  grant       or    refuse         whether          to   grant         or    refuse
       financial support for projects                   financial        support f o r        projects
       after consulting the Advisory                    after        consulting        the    Advisory
       Committee      referred        to     1n        Committee           referred            to    in
       Article 4 and on the basis of                   A r t i c l e 4. ( D e l e t e 11 words)
       tH»  AHininnc  H«»l i V*»***»H bv   that
 ---pagebreak---                                                         Article 6
         Financial support may be granted                      Financial support may be granted to
         to natural persons, or to legal                       natural    persons,     or     to    legal
         persons            constituted                in      persons, who are responsible for the
         accordance wi th national law.                        project. (Delete 6 words)
         who     are     responsible          for the
         project.
 If the creation of a legal entity with the legal capacity to  Delete two sentences.
 carry out a project involves additional costs for the
 participants, the project may be carried out simply by
 cooperation between natural or legal persons. In that
 case, responsibility for complying with the obligations
 resulting from Community support shall be specified in
 the contract to be concluded with the Commission.
                                                        Article 8
    The     Commission          shall      present        an  The    Commission    shall    present      an
    annual report on the implementation                       annual report on the Implementation
    of this Regulation to the European                        of this Regulation to the European
    Parliament,         the       Council       and     the   Parliament,     the   Council      and    the
    Economic and Social Committee.                            Economic and Social Committee,in which
                                                              also a list of the unsuccessful appli-
                                                              cations is included.       ~~~                ~
                                                              It                   shall     seek     the
                                                              opinions of the representatives of
                                                              the     comoptpnt    non-governmental
                                                              organizations       on   the     overall
                                                              operation of this Regulation, and a
                                                              summary of these opinions shall be
                                                              annexed to the annual report.
                                                   Article tO (1a) (new)
                                                               1a. At the end of the third year of
                                                              implementation of the regulation,
                                                              and on the basis of the Information
                                                              provided    in accordance with the
                                                              provisions of Article 8. and of the
                                                              experience acquired, the Commission
                                                               shall propose, if appropriate, the
                                                              establishment of a system to monitor
                                                               all the measures for which Community
                                                               financial support has been granted.
                                                  Article 10(2)
2.      The       Council,             acting         by      2. The Council, acting by qualified
        qualified majority on a proposal                          majority on a proposal from the
        from       the      Commission,           shall           Commission, and after consulting
        decide whether              to extend         or          the European Parliament, shall
        amend this Regulation.                                    decide whether to extend or amend
 ---pagebreak---                                         Annex
List of particulars to be provided            List of particulars to be provided under
under Article 3 for the projects referred     Article 3 for the projects
to In Article 1 m    (a)                      (5 words deleted)
    The location of the site In question,         The location of the site in
    and, where necessary, a map showing           quest Ion,and, where necessary, a map
    the boundaries of the area covered by         showing the boundaries of the area
    the project.                                  covered by the project (*).
    The Importance of the site to the             The Importance of the site to the
    Community for the conservation of             Community for the conservation of
    nature and, as appropriate, the degree        nature and, as appropriate, the degree
    of the risk to the blotopes and               of the risk to the blotopes and
    species concerned.                            species concerned (*).
    The nature and extent of the problems         The nature and extent of the problems
    which the project Is Intended to              which the project is intended to
    resolve, and In particular the nature         resolve, and in particular the nature
    and gravity of the threat.                    and gravity of the threat.
    A detail led description of the               A detained description of the
    project, and in particular of the             project, and in particular of the
    organization of its management and of         organization of its management and of
    the results expected.                         the results expected.
    The timetable for carrying out the            The timetable for carrying out the
    project.                                      project.
    The cost of the project, Its viability        The cost of the project, Its viab     ty
    and the financing arrangements                and the financing arrangements
    proposed.                                     proposed.
    The extent to which Community                 The extent to which Community
     financial support is urgently needed          financial support through ACNAT Is
     In order to Implement the project.           urgently needed in order to implement
                                                   the project.
                                                   Indications concerning the relation of
                                                   the project to measures financed by
                                                   the Structural Funds.
                                                   Indications concerning the preparation
                                                  of a management plan for the site In
                                                   question or the species concerned.
                                                  Any other evidence In support of the
    Any other evidence in support of the           applicatIon.
    applicatIon.
                                                  The protection provided for the site
    The protection provided for the site           in question at present and the
     in question at present and the               protection planned (*).
    protection planned.
                                                  The proposed method of disseminating
    The proposed method of disseminating           the results of the project.
     the results of the project.
                                              (*) shall apply only to projects referred
                                                  to In Article I M H a ) .
 ---pagebreak---                                                                                 ISSN .0254-1475
                                                                    COM(91) 35 final
                                                      DOCUMENTS
EN                                                                                         014
                                   Catalogue number : CB-CO-91-051-EN-C
                                                              ISBN 92-77-69291-X
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