CELEX: 51997PC0028
Language: en
Date: 1997-02-05
Title: Amended proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on a Community Action Programme promoting non-governmental organisations primarily active in the field of environmental protection

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNIIItS
                                      Brussels, 05 02 1997
                                      U)M(97) 2X tiiwl
                                      9V(H3() (SYN)
                  Amended proposal lor a
                  mUNCAL MUSIUN
            on a Çoinmunjty Action Programjnç
         promoting non-governmental organisations
              primarily active in thsfieldof
                 gnYifoomflninl protection
(presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 189 a (2)
                     of I he KC-Trealy)
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---                                EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
Pursuant to Article 189a paragraph 2 of the EC Treaty, the Commission submits an amended
proposal for a Council Decision on a Community Action Programme promoting non-
governmental organisations primarily active in the field of environmental protection. The
amended proposal takes account of a number of amendments from the European Parliament,
adopted at its November 1996 plenary session. '
Ammdrnffltii acceptedfrythe Commission
The Commission can accept wholly, in part, or in principle a total of 12 amendments.
Recital 5 has been deleted to avoid any misunderstandings about the role of NQOs at
Community level (amendment 1). A new recital 11 a has been inserted which takes account,
with redrafting, of amendment 2 concerning the recognition of "in-kind" income of NOOs. A
new recital lib has been inserted to take account of the need for transparency concerning the
use of financial support to NGOs(part of amendment 3). Recital 14 has been amended by
clarification that Community support is financial (amendment 5).
A definition of environmental NGOs has been added to Article 1 (part two of amendment
6).In the interests of consistency , this necessitates the amendment of similar definitions
throughout the proposal, including recitals 10 and 11 and Articles 4 and 7.2. Article 2.2.1 has
been amended by the addition of the text of amendment 7 which introduces further
development of Community environment policy as an aim of financial assistance. Article 2.2.2
has been amended to the effect that activities "initiated by these organisations themselves" are
added to the field of activities covered by assistance to NOOs (part of amendment 8).
Article 6 .1 concerns the maximum proportion of NGO budgets which can be funded by the
Commission and has been amended (amendment 23) to allow for a maximum of 60 %.
Article 6 .2 has been redrafted to take account of the Parliament's wish that funding should
last longer than three years (principle of amendment 22). Article 6.3 has been amended to
take account, with redrafting, of that part of amendment 25 which deals with NOOs' "in-kind"
income.
Article 7.3 sets out a new timetable for the call for tenders and decisions on funding, as
prescribed in amendment 24. The acceptance of this amendment necessitates the deletion of
recital 13 and the second sentence of Article 7.1. Article 12 concerns the possibility of
continuation of the programme beyond the phase provided for by the current proposal and to
allow for all eventualities has been amended by the insertion of the words "if appropriate" and
 "or not continuing" (the latter being part of amendment 18).
         Provisional minutes of                the session of          13.11.96, doc. PE
 253.832, Part 2, pages 37-42
 ---pagebreak--- Amendments not ftcçepN by lh<? Commission
That part of amendment 3 which refers to "political independence" cannnot be accepted
because this is such a vague concept and difficult to prove. Amendment 4 cannot be accepted
because it is considered superfluous: umbrella organisations are already covered by the
proposal. Similar reasoning applies to the non-acceptance of part one of amendment 6 .
Likewise, the Commission cannot accept that part of amendment S which proposes to add
measures designed to strengthen cooperation between NGOs from different countries. Article
1 of the Commission proposal already refers to "non-governmental organisations operating at
a European level" so the Commission considers that over-explicit definitions would be an
operations! constraint which could prejudice access to funds by new NGOs.
Amendments 9 and 21 propose respectively selection criteria and exclusion criteria. The
Commission cannot accept either of these amendments. U prefers not to establish rigid criteria
in the proposal. It should be borne in mind however that the transparency of the funding
procedure is guaranteed: each year, a call for proposals, mentioning the selection criteria and
priority themes , is published in the Official Journal of the European Communities. Afierthe
selection procedure the list of beneficiaries, with die respective funding amounts, is also
published in the Official Journal.
The Commission considers that NGOs cannot be both beneficiaries and Judges of the fttntiiug
system and cannot therefore accept amendment 11. Amendment 13 cannot be accepted
because the Commission does not differentiate between umbrella organisations and other
organisations. It is difficult to evaluate shares of activities so that part of amendment 25
which proposes that "at least a significant number" of activities be completed during the year
for which subsidies are given, is not acceptable.
Amendment 15 is considered superfluous since all beneficiaries are asked to keep proper
accounts regardless of the amount of support given. Amendment 17 cannot be accepted
because it would be operationally too vague.
Practical reasons again explain why the Commission cannot accept all of amendment 18. If
that part of the amendment which foresees changing the timetabling of the Commission's
three-year report were accepted, it would mean that report would be largely incomplete. As
regards that part of amendment 18 which indicates the legal base for future proposals, the
Commission cannot prejudge its decision on such proposals.
Amendment 19 and part of amendment 20 propose changes in the percentages of funding
allocated for different purposes. These cannot be accepted because they would mean less
money being available for cooperation activities which are very important for European
NGOs. That part of amendment 20 which deletes the reference to cooperation between actors
and NOOs and to the Fifth Ivnvironmcntal Action Programme partners, cannot be accepted
because it is against the general aim of the Commission's proposal.
                                                        3
 ---pagebreak---  AMENDED PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION ON A COMMUNITY ACTION
      PROGRAMME PROMOTING NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS
PRIMARILY
            ACTIVE IN THE FIELD OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
        (presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 189 a (2) of the EC Treaty)
          ORIGINAL TEXT                                        AMENDED TEXT
                                           First recital
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the Having regard to the Treaty establishing the
European Union, and in particular Article European Union, and in particular Article
130S thereof,                                   130 S £1} thereof,
                                          Fifth recital
Whereas the participation of representative
European environmental organisations is
required for the implementation of the
Council Regulation on a Community
ecolabel award scheme and the Commission
Decision on the setting up of a Consultative deleted
Forum on the environment;
                                        Eighth recital
Whereas the capacity of the national,          Whereas the capacity of the national,
regional and local        non-governmental     regional and local environmental non-
organisations to exchange perspectives,        governmental organisations to exchange
problems and possible solutions relating to    perspectives, problems and possible
environmental problems having a                solutions relating to environmental problems
Community dimension, should be enhanced,       having a Community dimension, should be
                                               enhanced,
 ---pagebreak---                                             Tenth recital
Whereas the European environmental               Whereas the European environmental non-
organisations are essential to co-ordinate and   governmental organisations are essential to
channel to the Commission, information and      co-ordinate and channel to the Commission,
views on the new and emerging perspectives      information and views on the new and
such as on nature protection and                emerging perspectives sueh as on nature
transboundary environmental problems ;           protection and transboundary environmental
which cannot be or are not being fully dealt     problems ; which cannot be or are not being
with at the Member State or subordinate         fully dealt with at the Member State or
level;                                           subordinate level;
                                           Eleventh recital
Whereas, therefore, in conformity with the       Whereas, therefore, in conformity with the
principle of subsidiarity, an action             principle of subsidiarity, an action
programme encouraging the activities of          programme encouraging the activities of
 European environmental organisations            European environmental non-governmental
 should be established;                          organisations should be established;
                                      Eleventh recital a (new)
                                                 Whereas environmental non-govcrnmcntal
                                                organizations often use voluntary labour and
                                                often receive donations in kind: whereas
                                                account (tip \Q \Q% of total eligible,
                                                expenditure) may be taken pf this special
                                                feature of their accounting systems when
                                                their revenue and expenditure, as well as
                                                their applicfltiPflS for sufrsjdieg,     arc
                                                considered;
                                      Eleventh recital b (new)
                                                Whereas financial support should to
                                                designed in such a way as to take account
                                                ttLllw wedforopenness concerning the use
                                                Qf ftiounoort;
                                            r
 ---pagebreak---                                         Thirteenth recital
WhcroM priority actionsforimplcmcntatigns
should ha identified at the latest bv 30
September of each year for the following deleted
Xejc
                                        Fourteenth recital
Whereas it is necessary to specify the Whereas it is necessary to specify the
detailed rules for Community support under detailed rules for Community financial
the programme                                  support under the programme;
                                            Article 1
A Community action programme                   A Community action programme
promoting non-governmental organisations       promoting non-governmental organisations
to protect the environment is hereby           to protect the environment is hereby
established. The general objective of this     established. The general objective of this
programme shall be the development and         programme shall be the development and
implementation of Commuait)'                   implementation of Community
environmental policy and legislation by        environmental policy and legislation by
promoting the environment protection           promoting the cnvironmenl protection
activities undertaken by non-governmental      activities undertaken by environmental
organisation operating at a European           non-governmental organisations operating
level.                                         at a European level.
                                               For    the   purposes   of   this  Decision.
                                               environmental non-governmental
                                               prganisfltjona operating at a European level
                                               arc private, non-goyernmentftl and non-
                                               profit-making organisations with m
                                               environmental objective aimed at the publie
                                               good.
                                          6
 ---pagebreak---                                  Article 2 (2), firtU mihptiragranh
Community financial assistance may be            Community financial assistance may be
provided for actions which are of                provided for actions which are of
Community interest, contribute significantly     Community interest and contribute
to the implementation of Community               significantly to the implementation and
environmental policy and meeting the             further development of Community
principles underlying the Fifth Action           environmental policy and meeting the
Programme                                        principles underlying the Fifth Action
                                                 Programme
                                Article 2 (2), second subparagraph
This assistance shall cover, in particular,thc   This assistance shall cover, in particular.the
awareness campaigns and actions,                 awareness campaigns and actions,
information         and     documentation         information and documentation
infrastructure, demonstration projects and       infrastructure, demonstration projects and
coordination activities of non-governmental      coordination activities of environmental
organisations.                                    non-governmental organisations MiiftMJ&
                                                 ih? organisations themselves,
                                               Article 4
 Financial assistance shall consist of the co-    Financial assistance shall consist of the co-
 financing of actions and/or subsidies to         llnancing of actions and/or subsidies to
 non-governmental organisations.                  environmental non-governmental
                                                  organisations.
                                            Article 6(1)
 1. The rate of Community assistance shall. 1. While environmental non-governmental
 in principle, not exceed 40%                     organisations are expected to seek other
 of the budgeted operational and forms of support as well, the rate of
 administrative expenditures.                     Community assistance might, in principle,
                                                  ço^oo]Lti>Jjffîi of the budgeted operational
                                                  unci administrative expenditures.
                                          -1
 ---pagebreak---                                           Article 6 (2)
2. The subsidy to cover administrative         2. The subsidy to cover administrative
support shall last, in principle, for not      support shall last, in principle, for not
more than three years                          more thanJfiujLyears
                                          Article 6 (3)
3. The Community assistance will be for 3. The Community assistance will be for
activities which are to take place in the activities which are to take place in the
current or a subsequent year of the grant.     current or a subsequent year of the grant.
                                               Unpaid work m donation» in kind, if
                                               orooerlv documented, mav be taken into
                                               account, up to a level of 10% of total
                                               eligible expenditure. yxhsn assessing
                                               environmental non-governmental
                                               organisations' revenue and expenditure,
                                          Article 7(1)
1. The Commission shall publish a notice in    1. The Commission shall publish a notice in
the Official Journal of the European           the Official Journal of the European
Communities, outlining the priority activities  Communities, outlining the priority activities
to be fmanced and detailing the selection      to be financed and detailing the selection
and award criteria and the application and     and award criteria and the application and
approval procedure.                            approval procedure.
The notice shall be published bv 30
September of the preceding year in which deleted
the grants are to be awarded.
 ---pagebreak---                                            Article 7 (2)
2. Proposals for activities to be financed      2. Proposals for activities to be financed
shall be submitted to the Commission by         shall be submitted to the Commission by
non-governmental organisations operating        environmental non-governmental
at European level and promoting                 organisations operating at European level
environmental protection measures of            and promoting environmental protection
particular interest to the Community.           measures of particular interest to the
                                                Community.
                                           Article 7 (3)
3. Actions under this programme shall be           3- The call for tender activities under this
approved following an assessment of the            programme shall be announced in the
proposals bv 30 April of each year and             Official Journal every year before 31
shall give rise to an agreement,                   January. After an assessment of the
governing the rights and obligations of            proposals, the Commission shall decide
partners, concluded with the beneficiaries         before 31 Mav which activities it will
responsible for implementation.                    subsidise. These decisions shall be
                                                   published in the Official Journal, and shall
                                                   give rise to an agreement, governing the
                                                   righto imd obligations of partners, concluded
                                                   with the benelicinries responsible for
                                                   implementation.
                                            Article 12
No later than 30 June 1999, the                    No later than 30 June 1999, the
Commission shall submit a report to the            Commission shall submit a report to the
European Parliament and the Council on             European Parliament and the Council on the
the implementation of this programme               implementation of this programme and
and covering the first three years and             covering the first three years and shall make
shall make proposals lor any adjustment            propomtto if Appropriate for any adjiiNlmcnl
to be made with a view to continuing the           to be made with a view to continuing or not
action beyond the current phase.                   continuing the action beyond the current
                                                   p       h       a       s       e      .
                                            3
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---                                                                    ISSN 0254-1475
                                                             COM(97) 28 final
                                              DOCUMENTS
EN                                                                         14  II
                                    Catalogue number :       CIK'0-()7-()24-I:N-C
                                                              ISMN «>2-7N-l520l-.l
Office for Officiai Publications of the European Communities
I.-29K5 l.uxcmhoiiri;
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