CELEX: 22005A1222(02)
Language: en
Date: 1998-10-16 00:00:00
Title: Protocol on the implementation of the Alpine Convention of 1991 in the field of energy

L 337/36          EN                              Official Journal of the European Union                                                  22.12.2005
                                                                  PROTOCOL
                    on the implementation of the Alpine Convention of 1991 in the field of energy
                                                               Energy Protocol
                                                                    Preamble
         THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY,
         THE REPUBLIC OF AUSTRIA,
         THE FRENCH REPUBLIC,
         THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC,
         THE PRINCIPALITY OF LIECHTENSTEIN,
         THE PRINCIPALITY OF MONACO,
         THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA,
         THE SWISS CONFEDERATION,
         and
         THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY,
         IN ACCORDANCE with their task, arising from the Convention on the Protection of the Alps (Alpine Convention) of
         7 November 1991, of pursuing a comprehensive policy for the protection and the sustainable development of the Alpine
         region;
         IN COMPLIANCE with their obligations under Article 2(2) and (3) of the Alpine Convention;
         CONSCIOUS of the importance of establishing forms of energy production, distribution and use which are not harmful to
         nature and the countryside, which are environmentally friendly and compatible with the promotion of energy-saving
         measures;
         TAKING account of the need to reduce greenhouse gases in the Alpine region and thereby comply with commitments
         under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change;
         CONVINCED of the need to harmonise economic interests and ecological requirements;
         CONSCIOUS that the Alpine region is of particular importance in Europe and that, in terms of geomorphology, its
         climate, water, vegetation, fauna, countryside and culture, this is a heritage as unique as it is diverse, and that the region’s
         high mountains, valleys and the Pre-Alps are environmental entities which all States, not just Alpine ones, have a duty to
         protect;
         CONSCIOUS that the Alps are more than where the local population live and work but are also very important to extra-
         Alpine regions, in particular because it is a transit region with a high level of trans-European traffic of people and goods,
         but also international energy distribution networks;
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              TAKING ACCOUNT of the environmental sensitivity of the Alpine region, particularly concerning production, transport
              and energy-use activities which interact with the key aspects of nature protection, town and country planning and land
              use;
              TAKING ACCOUNT of the fact that, faced with risks to environmental protection, in particular due to possible climate
              change caused by humans, it has become necessary to pay particular attention to the close links between mankind’s social
              and economic activities and the conservation of ecosystems which require, especially in the Alpine region, appropriate
              and diversified measures to be adopted in agreement with the local population, political institutions and economic and
              social organisations;
              CONVINCED that the local population must be able to define its own social, cultural and economic development plan
              and take part in its implementation in the existing institutional framework;
              CONVINCED that certain problems can only be resolved in a cross-border framework and require joint measures on the
              part of the Alpine States and the local communities directly concerned;
              CONVINCED that meeting energy needs is an important factor in economic and social development, both within and
              outside the Alpine region;
              CONSCIOUS of the extent of the use and further development of economic instruments which could enable the actual
              costs to be better taken into account when calculating energy prices;
              CONVINCED that the Alpine region will make a long-term contribution to meeting Europe’s energy needs and that it
              must itself have, apart from sufficient drinking water, sufficient energy resources to improve local living conditions and
              economic productivity;
              CONVINCED that the Alpine region plays a particularly important role in the interconnection of European countries’
              energy systems;
              CONVINCED that, in the Alpine region, measures aimed at rational energy use and sustainable use of water and wood
              resources contribute towards meeting national energy needs and that it is increasingly important to make use of biomass
              and solar energy;
              HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:
                              CHAPTER I                                          (a) harmonise their energy-saving plans with their plans for the
                                                                                     general development of the Alpine region;
                      GENERAL PROVISIONS
                               Article 1                                         (b) adapt production, transport and energy distribution systems
                                                                                     in order to make optimal overall use of the infrastructure
                             Objectives                                              system in the Alpine region, taking account of the need for
The Contracting Parties shall commit themselves to creating                          environmental protection;
framework conditions and adopting measures for energy
saving, production, transport, distribution and utilisation
                                                                                 (c) limit the impact of energy on the environment by opti-
within the territorial scope of the Alpine Convention in order
                                                                                     mising the provision of services to energy end-users
to establish sustainable development in the energy sector which
                                                                                     through, amongst other things and as far as possible,
is compatible with the Alpine region’s specific tolerance limits.
                                                                                     adopting the following measures:
In so doing the Contracting Parties will make an important
contribution to protecting local communities and the envir-
onment and to safeguarding resources and the climate.                                — reducing energy needs through the use of more efficient
                                                                                         technologies;
                               Article 2                                             — making wider use of renewable energy sources to meet
                                                                                         remaining energy needs;
                        Basic commitments
1.     In accordance with this Protocol, the Contracting Parties                     — optimising existing plants which produce energy from
shall:                                                                                   non-renewable sources;
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(d) limit the negative effects of power plants on the envir-              2.     The Contracting Parties shall undertake to also take
     onment and the landscape, including those concerning the             account of the aims of this Protocol in their other policies,
     management of waste produced by them, by adopting                    particularly in the fields of town and country planning and
     preventive measures for the new plants and, if necessary,            regional development, transport, agriculture and forestry as
     improving existing ones;                                             well as tourism in order to avoid negative or conflicting
                                                                          effects in the Alpine region.
                                                                                                        Article 4
2.     In the event of the construction of new, large power
plants and a significant increase in the capacity of existing                     Participation of regional and local authorities
ones, the Contracting Parties, in accordance with current law,
shall proceed to evaluate the impact on the Alpine environment            1.     Each Contracting Party shall define, within its institutional
and to evaluate the territorial and socioeconomic effects of this         framework, the best level of coordination and cooperation
in accordance with Article 12. The Parties shall recognise the            between the institutions and regional authorities directly
right to consultation at international level on projects with             concerned so as to encourage solidarity of responsibility, in
cross-border effects.                                                     particular to exploit and develop synergies when applying
                                                                          energy policies in the Alpine region and implementing
                                                                          measures under them.
3.     The Contracting Parties shall take account in their energy         2.     The regional and local authorities directly concerned shall
policies of the fact that the Alpine region lends itself to using         be parties to the various stages of preparing and implementing
renewable energy sources and shall encourage mutual colla-                these policies and measures, within their competence and within
boration in development programmes in this area.                          the existing institutional framework.
                                                                          3.     The Contracting Parties shall encourage international
                                                                          cooperation between the institutions directly concerned by the
4.     The Contracting Parties shall preserve protected areas and         problems linked to energy and the environment so as to
their buffer zones, other protected and quiet zones as well as            encourage an agreement on the solutions to common problems.
areas of unspoilt nature and countryside; they shall optimise
energy infrastructures according to the different levels of vulner-
ability, tolerance and the ongoing deterioration of the Alpine
                                                                                                       CHAPTER II
ecosystem.
                                                                                                  SPECIFIC MEASURES
                                                                                                        Article 5
5.     The Contracting Parties should be aware that an appro-                             Energy saving and rational use
priate research and development policy instigating preventive             1.     The Alpine region requires specific measures for saving,
and improving measures can make a significant contribution                distributing and making rational use of energy. These measures
to protecting the Alps from the impact of energy infrastructures          must take account of:
on the environment. They shall encourage research and devel-
opment activities on this subject and shall exchange the main
results.
                                                                          (a) energy needs which are spread over vast areas and which
                                                                              vary greatly according to altitude, the season and the
                                                                              demands of tourism;
6.     The Contracting Parties shall cooperate with a view to
developing methods for taking better account of the true                  (b) the local availability of renewable energy resources;
costs in the field of energy.
                                                                          (c) the particular impact of atmospheric immissions in basins
                                                                              and valleys due to their geomorphological configuration.
                             Article 3
   Conformity with international law and other policies                   2.     The Contracting Parties shall seek to make energy use
                                                                          more environmentally friendly and shall, as a priority,
1.     This Protocol shall be implemented in accordance with              encourage energy saving and rational energy use, particularly
international legal standards, particularly those of the Alpine           concerning production processes, public services and large
Convention and the Protocols drafted pursuant to it, and in               hotel complexes, as well as facilities for transport and sport
accordance with current international agreements.                         and leisure activities.
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3.    They shall adopt measures and make provisions, parti-                                             Article 7
cularly in the following areas:
                                                                                                  Hydroelectric power
                                                                           1.     The Contracting Parties shall ensure that the ecological
(a) improving insulation in buildings and the efficiency of                functions of watercourses and the integrity of the landscape
    heating systems;                                                       are maintained through appropriate measures, such as estab-
                                                                           lishing minimum flows, implementing standards for the
                                                                           reduction of artificial fluctuations in water level and shall
                                                                           guarantee animal migration in the case of new hydroelectric
(b) optimising the performance of heating, ventilation and air
                                                                           plants, and existing ones where possible.
    conditioning systems;
(c) periodic monitoring and reduction, where appropriate, of               2.     The Contracting Parties may adopt measures aimed at
    polluting emissions from thermal plants;                               improving the competitiveness of existing hydroelectric plants,
                                                                           subject to compliance with their safety and environmental
                                                                           standards.
(d) saving energy through modern technological processes for
    energy use and conversion;
                                                                           3.     They shall also undertake to protect water resources in
                                                                           areas reserved for drinking water, in protected areas and their
(e) individual calculation of the costs of heating and hot water;          buffer zones, other protected and quiet zones as well as areas of
                                                                           unspoilt nature and countryside.
(f) planning and promoting new buildings which use low-
    energy technologies;
                                                                           4.     The Contracting Parties shall recommend reopening
                                                                           disused hydroelectric plants rather than building new ones.
                                                                           The provision under paragraph (1) on the protection of
(g) promoting and implementing municipal or local energy and               aquatic ecosystems and other related systems shall also be
    climate projects in accordance with measures provided for              applied to the reopening of existing hydroelectric plants.
    in Article 2, paragraph 1.c;
(h) improving energy performance in buildings undergoing                   5.     The Contracting Parties may, in the framework of their
    renovation and encouraging the use of environmentally-                 national legislation, examine how they can make end-consumers
    friendly heating systems.                                              of Alpine resources pay market-related prices, and the extent to
                                                                           which the local population can be fairly compensated for
                                                                           services supplied in the general interest.
                             Article 6
                 Renewable energy resources
                                                                                                        Article 8
1.    The Contracting Parties shall undertake, within the limits
of their financial resources, to promote and give preferential                                  Energy from fossil fuels
treatment to renewable energy resources which are environ-                 1.     The Contracting Parties shall ensure that the best available
mentally friendly and do not harm the countryside.                         techniques are used in new thermal plants using fossil fuels to
                                                                           produce electricity or heat. The Contracting Parties shall limit
                                                                           emissions from existing plants in the Alpine region as far as
2.    They shall also encourage the use of decentralised plants            possible through the use of appropriate technologies and/or fuel
for the use of renewable energy sources such as water, the sun             types.
and biomass.
                                                                           2.     The Contracting Parties shall examine the technical and
3.    The Contracting Parties shall encourage the use of                   economic feasibility and the environmental compatibility of
renewable energy resources, even in combination with existing              replacing fossil fuel thermal plants with ones which use
conventional supplies.                                                     renewable energy sources or are decentralised.
4.    The Contracting Parties shall particularly encourage energy
produced through the rational use of water and wood from                   3.     The Contracting Parties shall adopt measures in favour of
sustainably managed mountain forests.                                      cogeneration in order for energy to be used more rationally.
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4.    In border regions, the Contracting Parties shall, as far as         locations and environments following the completion of public
possible, harmonise and connect their emission and immission              or private works in the energy field relating to the Alpine
monitoring systems.                                                       environment and ecosystems. This shall be done, as far as
                                                                          possible, by employing environmental engineering techniques.
                               Article 9                                                               Article 12
                          Nuclear energy                                                   Environmental impact analysis
1.    The Contracting Parties shall undertake, within the                 1.     The Contracting Parties shall, in accordance with national
framework of international conventions, to exchange compre-               legislation and international conventions and agreements, carry
hensive information on plants and other nuclear installations             out an initial evaluation of the environmental impact of any
which have, or could have, consequences for the Alpine region,            planned power plant under Articles 7, 8, 9 and 10 of the
with the aim of ensuring the long-term protection of the health           present Protocol, and of any substantial change made to these
of the people, the flora and fauna, and their biocoenosis, habitat        plants.
and interactions.
                                                                          2.     The Contracting Parties shall recognise the advisability of
2.    Furthermore, the Contracting Parties shall ensure the               adopting, as far as possible, the best available techniques so as
harmonisation and connection, as far as possible, of their                to eliminate or limit environmental impact by making provision
systems for monitoring environmental radioactivity.                       for the decommissioning of disused and non-environmentally
                                                                          friendly plants.
                              Article 10                                                               Article 13
               Transport and energy distribution                                                       Dialogue
1.    The Contracting Parties shall continue to rationalise and           1.     The Contracting Parties shall undertake to consult one
optimise all existing infrastructures while taking account of             another prior to starting any project which may have cross-
requirements for environmental protection and especially the              border effects.
need to preserve very sensitive ecosystems and the landscape,
while at the same time, where appropriate, taking steps to
protect the local people and the Alpine environment.
                                                                          2.     For projects which may have cross-border effects, the
                                                                          Contracting Parties concerned must be able to present their
                                                                          comments in good time, and these will be taken into account
                                                                          when issuing permits.
2.    When constructing electricity transmission lines and
power stations linked to them, as well as oil and gas
pipelines, including pumping stations and booster stations and
plants which are very significant from an environmental point                                          Article 14
of view, the Contracting Parties shall implement all the
necessary measures to avoid disturbance to the local people                                         Further action
and the environment, including, if possible, the use of pre-
                                                                          The Contracting Parties may take further action than measures
existing facilities and grids.
                                                                          on energy and sustainable development set out in this Protocol.
3.    Concerning electricity transmission lines, the Contracting                                      CHAPTER III
Parties shall take particular account of the importance of
protected areas and their buffer zones, other protected and                          RESEARCH, TRAINING AND INFORMATION
quiet zones as well as areas of unspoilt nature and landscape,                                         Article 15
as well as birdlife.
                                                                                             Research and observation
                                                                          1.     The Contracting Parties shall, in close collaboration and
                              Article 11                                  taking account of results already achieved at various national
                                                                          and international levels, encourage and harmonise research and
       Renaturalisation and environmental engineering                     systematic observation in order to achieve the targets set out in
                                                                          this Protocol; in particular concerning the methods and criteria
The Contracting Parties shall use pilot studies and environ-              for analysis and for evaluation of the impact on the envir-
mental impact studies provided for under current legislation              onment and the climate, as well as specific technologies for
to establish arrangements for the restoration of aquatic                  saving and making rational use of energy in the Alpine region.
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2.     They shall also take account of the results of research in            3.    The Standing Committee shall draw up a report on the
the process of defining and checking targets and energy policy               compliance of the Contracting Parties with the obligations
measures as well as in their training and technical assistance               arising from the Protocol, for the attention of the Alpine
activities at local level for the benefit of local people, economic          Conference.
operators and regional and local authorities.
                                                                             4.    The Alpine Conference shall take note of this report. If it
3.     The Contracting Parties shall ensure that the various                 finds that obligations have not been met, it may adopt recom-
national results of the research and systematic observation are              mendations.
integrated in a joint permanent observation and information
system and that they are made accessible to the public under
the existing institutional framework.
                                                                                                          Article 19
                                                                                   Evaluation of the effectiveness of the provisions
                               Article 16                                    1.    The Contracting Parties shall regularly examine and
                                                                             evaluate the effectiveness of the provisions of this Protocol.
                     Training and information                                They shall consider the adoption of appropriate amendments
                                                                             to this Protocol where necessary in order to achieve objectives.
1.     The Contracting Parties shall encourage basic and further
training and the provision of information to the public about
the objectives, measures and implementation of this Protocol.
                                                                             2.    The regional and local authorities shall be associated with
                                                                             this evaluation within the existing institutional framework. Non-
                                                                             governmental organisations active in this field may be
2.     They shall particularly encourage the further development             consulted.
of training, continuous training and technical assistance
concerning energy, including protecting the environment,
nature and the climate.
                                                                                                         CHAPTER V
                                                                                                    FINAL PROVISIONS
                              CHAPTER IV
                                                                                                          Article 20
     IMPLEMENTATION, MONITORING AND EVALUATION
                                                                               Links between the Alpine Convention and the Protocol
                               Article 17
                                                                             1.    This Protocol constitutes a Protocol to the Alpine
                           Implementation                                    Convention within the meaning of Article 2 thereof and any
                                                                             other relevant articles of the Convention.
The Contracting Parties shall undertake to ensure the implemen-
tation of this Protocol by taking any appropriate measures
within the existing institutional framework.
                                                                             2.    Only Contracting Parties to the Alpine Convention may
                                                                             become a party to this Protocol. Any denunciation of the
                                                                             Alpine Convention also implies denunciation of this Protocol.
                               Article 18
          Monitoring of compliance with obligations
1.     The Contracting Parties shall regularly report to the                 3.    Where the Alpine Conference discusses matters relating to
Standing Committee on measures taken under this Protocol.                    this Protocol, only the Contracting Parties to this Protocol may
The reports shall also cover the effectiveness of the measures               take part in the vote.
taken. The Alpine Conference shall determine the intervals at
which the reports must be submitted.
                                                                                                          Article 21
                                                                                                Signature and ratification
2.     The Standing Committee shall examine these reports in
order to ensure that the Contracting Parties have fulfilled their            1.    This Protocol shall be open for signature by the signatory
obligations under this Protocol. It may also ask for additional              States of the Alpine Convention and the European Community
information from the Contracting Parties concerned or have                   on 16 October 1998 and in the Republic of Austria, as the
recourse to other information sources.                                       depositary, from 16 November 1998.
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2.     This Protocol shall enter into force for the Contracting           (a) any signature,
Parties which have expressed their agreement to be bound by
the said Protocol three months after the date on which three
States have deposited their instrument of ratification, acceptance        (b) the deposit of any instrument of ratification, acceptance or
or approval.                                                                  approval,
                                                                          (c) any date of entry into force,
3.     For Parties which express their agreement to be bound by
the Protocol at a later date, the Protocol shall enter into force         (d) any declaration made by a Contracting Party or signatory,
three months after the date of deposit of the instrument of
ratification, acceptance or approval. After the entry into force
of an amendment to the Protocol, any new Contracting Party to             (e) any denunciation notified by a Contracting Party, including
the said Protocol shall become a Contracting Party to the                     the date on which it becomes effective.
Protocol, as amended.
                                                                          In witness whereof, the undersigned, being duly authorised
                            Article 22                                    thereto, have signed this Protocol.
                           Notification
                                                                          Done at Bled on 16 October 1998 in French, German, Italian
The depositary shall, in respect of this Protocol, notify each            and Slovene, all four texts being equally binding, in one copy to
State referred to in the Preamble and the European                        be deposited in the Austrian State archives. The depositary shall
Community of:                                                             send a certified copy to each of the signatory Parties.