CELEX: 51983PC0375
Language: en
Date: 1983-06-14
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) ESTABLISHING A COMMUNITY SCHEME TO PROVIDE FORESTS IN THE COMMUNITY WITH INCREASED PROTECTION AGAINST FIRE AND ACID RAIN

13.7.83                              Official Journal of the European Communities                            No C 187/9
              Proposal for a Council Regulation establishing a Community scheme to provide forests in
                          the Community with increased protection against fire and acid rain
                             (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 27 June 1983)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                     Whereas acid depositions, by their many direct and
COMMUNITIES,                                                    indirect effects on vegetation and the soil, contribute
                                                                to the deterioration and even the death of forests;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the
European Economic Community, and in particular
Articles 43 and 235 thereof,
                                                                Whereas measurements of acid depositions on forests
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,              are not yet taken on the same permanent and general
                                                                basis as they are in the large urban and industrial
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-               areas of the Community;
liament,
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,                                               Whereas forests should also be provided with appro-
                                                                priate monitoring installations in the form of
                                                                networks of posts for the observation and
Whereas the protection of Community forests against             measurement of acid depositions;
fire and acid depositions is a matter of particular
importance and urgency for the safeguarding of this
essential resource which has a very great influence,
through a wide variety of factors, on the maintenance
of the basic equilibrium of our environment and                 Whereas multi-disciplinary investigations should be
which contributes in particular to the development of           carried out to determine the effects of acid
agriculture, a related sector heavily dependent on              depositions on forests and to work out appropriate
hydrological and pedo-climatic factors deriving from            remedies;
the various functions of the forest;
Whereas forest fires, by the extent of the damage
                                                                Whereas the effects of acid depositions take different
which they cause each year, do irreversible harm to
                                                                forms from one Member State to another and from
the environment, with consequences detrimental to
                                                                one forest area to another within each Member State;
the Community; whereas the losses thus entailed
                                                                whereas, if the effect of such deposits is to be assessed
aggravate the Community's deficit in timber
                                                                objectively at Community level, they must be
resources;
                                                                observed by uniform methods, the date should be
                                                                centralized and all the information thus gathered
Whereas increased protection against forest fires will          should be processed;
generate employment in regions where economic
conditions are particularly unfavourable;
Whereas aid for the acquisition of equipment, both              Whereas the results of the observations and research
for the reinforcement of fire prevention and for the            on preventive and curative measures should be the
fighting of forest fires, will enable the Member States         subject of full-scale tests in appropriate pilot areas so
to supplement their defences;                                   that the validity of the said results can be checked
                                                                and so that, where appropriate, they may be
Whereas the effectiveness of measures to fight forest           circulated and made more widely available;
fires may be greatly increased by cooperation between
Member States, including the provision of mutual
assistance if necessary;
                                                                Whereas the Community should help to finance the
Whereas voluntary mutual assistance in the event of             implementation of the various measures for the
forest fires may be more effective if measures are also         protection of forests against fires and acid
taken to improve the training of staff and to                   depositions; whereas the estimated funds required
harmonize fire-fighting methods;                                amount to 100 million ECU;
 ---pagebreak---   No C 187/10                          Official Journal of the European Communities                                13.7.83
  Whereas the Treaty makes no provision for the                   (a) developing personnel training;
  necessary power,
                                                                  (b) encouraging the harmonization of methods and
                                                                       the standardization        of  infrastructure    and
  HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
                                                                       equipment;
                          Article 1                               (c) coordinating the research necessary for achieving
                                                                       the objectives mentioned in (a) and (b).
  A Community scheme is hereby established to provide
  Community forests with increased protection against:
                                                                                           Article 5
  — forest fires,
                                                                  To assist any Member State to control a forest fire
                                                                  which is beyond its own fire-fighting capacity, the
 — acid depositions.
                                                                  Member States shall cooperate by providing voluntary
                                                                  mutual assistance.
                          TITLE I
                                                                  The Commission, having consulted the Committee
                        Forest fires                              referred to in Article 6, shall establish a standardized
                                                                  system of providing such assistance and shall
                                                                  coordinate the application thereof.
                          Article 2
  The Community schdme              shall comprise the            The Community shall provide financial assistance by
  implementation of stricter         preventive measures          bearing the costs of transporting fire-fighting
  including:                                                      equipment and personnel from their usual base to the
                                                                  location of the fire.
 — encouragement for the creation of jobs relating to
      the conduct and execution of brush-clearance and            At the request of the Member States concerned, the
      pruning operations,                                         Commission shall decide on the grant of Community
                                                                  aid.
 — the purchase of brush-clearance equipment,
  — the provision of forest roads, fire belts and water                                   Article 6
      supplies,                                                   An Advisory Committee on Forest Fire Protection is
                                                                  hereby set up.
  — the installation of ground lookout systems, both
      fixed and mobile,
                                                                  The Committee shall consist of two representatives
                                                                  from each Member State.
  — the development of aerial lookout systems,
  — the organization of information and awareness                 It shall be chaired       by a representative      of  the
      campaigns, particularly amongst the population of           Commission.
      school age.
                                                                                          TITLE II
                          Article 3
  The Community scheme shall comprise the                                              Acid depositions
  implementation of fire-fighting measures including:
                                                                                           Article 7
  — the installation of tactical and operational centres,
                                                                  The Community scheme shall comprise the
, — the purchase of fire-fighting equipment,                      establishment of a network to monitor forest health in
                                                                  the Community.
  — the purchase of fire-fighting           aids   such   as
      retardants and wetting agents.                              The principal object of the network shall be to
                                                                  observe acid depositions and the deficiencies of
                                                                  vegetation and forest floors in the Community in
                          Article 4
                                                                  order to measure their effects on the health and
  The Community scheme shall comprise the                         growth of trees and to determine, where necessary,
  implementation of specific measures designed to                 appropriate preventive or curative measures to ensure
  increase the effectiveness of fire prevention and fire-         the safeguard and development of Community forest
  fighting by the following means:                                resources.
 ---pagebreak--- 13.7.83                             Official Journal of the European Communities                           No C 187/11
The network shall consist of a series of posts located                                  TITLE III
in the main forest areas of the Community. The
location of these posts shall be decided by the
                                                                             General and financial provisions
Commission acting on a proposal from the Member
States concerned and after consulting the Scientific
Committee provided for in Article 9, so as to ensure                                    Article 11
that the results provided by the network are repre-
sentative.                                                     The duration of the Community scheme shall be five
                                                               years as from 1 January 1984.
                         Article 8
                                                               The Community shall participate in this activity up to
The Community scheme shall comprise the setting up             the limit of appropriations entered to this effect in the
in each Member State of a multi-disciplinary team of           general budget of the European Communities, and
scientists including forestry engineers, agronomists,          according to the terms of this Regulation.
soil scientists, chemists, entomologists, climatologists
and environmentalists.
                                                                                       Article 12
The tasks of the national multi-disciplinary teams
                                                               Before 1 November of each year the Member States
shall be:                                                      shall submit to the Commission, in respect of the
                                                               following year, their programmes for the protection
— to draw up, at periodic intervals, forest health             of forests against fire and acid depositions.
    reports with special reference to acid depositions
    and to quantify the impact of preventive and
    protective measures,                                       The programmes shall:
— to define an overall approach to combat the                  (a) specify the geographical areas concerned;
    effects of acid depositions on forests, on the basis
    of the data gathered by the monitoring network.
                                                               (b) describe the existing situation;
                         Article 9                             (c) describe the objectives to be attained and state
                                                                    priorities;
The Commission shall be responsible for providing
scientific guidance, supervision and follow-up for the
national multi-disciplinary teams.                             (d) contain an estimate of the costs and necessary
                                                                    financial resources with, as appropriate, an
                                                                    indication of the projected rate of expenditure.
It shall be supported by:
— research institutes designated by it in the light of         For the first year, programmes shall be submitted to
    their experience and capacities,                           the Commission by the Member State before 1 March
                                                               1984.
— a Scientific Committee for the protection of
    forests against acid depositions consisting of
                                                               The Commission, having consulted the Committee
    representatives of the multi-disciplinary teams.
                                                               provided for in Article 6 as regards fires and the
                                                               Scientific Committee provided for in Article 9 as
The Committee shall be chaired by a representative of          regards      acid   depositions, shall assess       these
the Commission.                                                programmes and decide on the financial aid from the
                                                               Community.
For the scientific supervision of the scheme, the
Commission may call in scientific advisers.
                                                                                        Article 13
                        Article 10
                                                               The Commission shall provide the necessary coordi-
The Community scheme shall comprise the carrying
                                                               nation for the implementation of all measures
out:                                                           included in the Community scheme established by this
                                                               Regulation, by organizing:
— of full-scale experiments to test the effectiveness
    of preventive and curative methods,
                                                               — meetings and symposia,
— of pilot projects and demonstrations to make the
    results more widely known.                                 — study visits and expert reports,
 ---pagebreak--- No C 187/12                        Official Journal of the European Communities                                   13.7.83
— exchanges of research workers and specialists,                 The Commission shall keep a list of the means
                                                                 available for fighting forest fires and for dealing with
— training courses and practical assessment tests,               acid depositions in forests, together with the
                                                                 corresponding facilities at the disposal of the Member
— the circulation and dissemination of the results of            States.
   the work.
                                                        Article 14
            The Community financial contribution towards the implementation of the various
            measures included in the Community scheme provided for in Article 1 shall be as
            follows:
             I. Forest fires
                1. Stricter    preventive     measures     as    maximum of 30 % of the expenditure
                   referred to in Article 2:                     approved by the Commission
                2. Fire-fighting measures as referred to         maximum of 30 % of the expenditure
                   in Article 3:                                 approved by the Commission
                3. Specific measures as referred to in           maximum of 50 % of the expenditure
                   Article 4:                                    approved by the Commission
                4. Voluntary      mutual     assistance    as    maximum of 100 % of the expenditure
                   referred to in Article 5 :                    approved by the Commission
                5. Coordination as referred to in Article        maximum of 100 °/o of the expenditure
                   6:                                            approved by the Commission
            II. Acid depositions
                1. Setting up of the monitoring network          maximum of 50 °/o of the expenditure
                   as referred to in Article 7 :                 approved by the Commission
                2. Setting up and operation of multi-            maximum of 50 °/o of the expenditure
                   disciplinary teams of scientists as           approved by the Commission
                   referred to in Article 8:
                3. Coordination of the work referred to          maximum of 100 % of the expenditure
                   in Article 9:                                 approved by the Commission
                4. Financing of pilot projects and               maximum of 100 % of the expenditure
                   demonstrations, as referred to in             approved by the Commission.
                   Article 10:
                                                        Article 15
            Member States shall designate the authorities or agencies empowered to carry out the
            programmes and the authorities and agencies to which the Commission will reimburse
            the sums corresponding to the financial contributions from the Community.
                                                        Article 16
            Member States shall adopt, in accordance with their national laws, regulations and
            administrative provisions, the measures necessary to:
            — ensure that the operations financed by the Community are actually carried out in the
                proper manner,
            — prevent irregularities,
            — recover sums lost as a result of any irregularity or negligence.
            Member States shall provide the Commission with all the necessary information and shall
            make any arrangements which may facilitate the checks, including on-the-spot
            inspections, which the Commission considers appropriate for the purposes of Community
            financing. Member States shall inform the Commission of the arrangements made to this
            end.
 ---pagebreak--- 13.7.83                        Official Journal of the European Communities                       No C 187/13
                                                  Article 17
        The Commission shall present an annual report on progress in the field covered by this
        Regulation to the European Parliament and the Council.
                                                  Article 18
        The Commission, after consulting the Committee provided for in Article 6 as regards fire
        and the Scientific Committee provided for in Article 9 as regards acid depositions, shall,
        where necessary, adopt the procedure for implementing this Regulation.
                                                  Article 19
        This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following its publication in the
        Official Journal of the European Communities.
        This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
        States.