L 197/30 Official Journal of the European Communities 21.7.2001 DIRECTIVE 2001/42/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 175(1) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (3), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (¥), in the light of the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee on 21 March 2001, Whereas: (1)  Article 174 of the Treaty provides that Community policy on the environment is to contribute to, inter alia, the preservation, protection and improvement of the quality of the environment, the protection of human health and the prudent and rational utilisation of natural resources and that it is to be based on the precautionary principle. Article 6 of the Treaty provides that environ- mental protection requirements are to be integrated into the definition of Community policies and activities, in particular with a view to promoting sustainable develop- ment. (2)  The Fifth Environment Action Programme: Towards sustainability — A European Community programme of policy and action in relation to the environment and sustainable development (%), supplemented by Council Decision No 2179/98[EC (°) on its review, affirms the importance of assessing the likely environmental effects of plans and programmes. (3)  The Convention on Biological Diversity requires Parties to integrate as far as possible and as appropriate the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity into relevant sectoral or cross-sectoral plans and programmes. () O] C 129, 25.4.1997, p. 14 and O] C 83, 25.3.1999, p. 13. () O] C 287, 22.9.1997, p. 101. () O] C 64, 27.2.1998, p. 63 and O] C 374, 23.12.1999, p. 9. (*) Opinion of the European Parliament of 20 October 1998 (O] C 341, 9.11.1998, p. 18), confirmed on 16 September 1999 (O] C 54, 25.2.2000, p. 76), Council Common Position of 30 March 2000 (O] C 137, 16.5.2000, p. 11) and Decision of the European Parliament of 6 September 2000 (O] C 135, 7.5.2001, p. 155). Decision of the European Parliament of 31 May 2001 and Decision of the Council of 5 June 2001. () O] C 138, 17.5.1993, p. 5. () O L 275, 10.10.1998, p. 1. (4) ) Environmental assessment is an important tool for inte- grating environmental considerations into the prepara- tion and adoption of certain plans and programmes which are likely to have significant effects on the envir- onment in the Member States, because it ensures that such effects of implementing plans and programmes are taken into account during their preparation and before their adoption. The adoption of environmental assessment procedures at the planning and programming level should benefit undertakings by providing a more consistent framework in which to operate by the inclusion of the relevant environmental information into decision making. The inclusion of a wider set of factors in decision making should contribute to more sustainable and effective solu- tions. The different environmental assessment systems oper- ating within Member States should contain a set of common procedural requirements necessary to contri- bute to a high level of protection of the environment. The United Nations/Economic Commission for Europe Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context of 25 February 1991, which applies to both Member States and other States, encour- ages the parties to the Convention to apply its principles to plans and programmes as well; at the second meeting of the Parties to the Convention in Sofia on 26 and 27 February 2001, it was decided to prepare a legally binding protocol on strategic environmental assessment which would supplement the existing provisions on environmental impact assessment in a transboundary context, with a view to its possible adoption on the occasion of the 5th MinisteriaFConference ‘Environment for Europe’ at an extraordinary meeting of the Parties to the Convention, scheduled for May 2003 in Kiev, Ukraine. The systems operating within the Community for environmental assessment of plans and programmes should ensure that there are adequate transboundary consultations where the implementation of a plan or rogramme being prepared in one Member State is Eke y to have significant effects on the environment of another Member State. The information on plans and programmes having significant effects on the environ- ment of other States should be forwarded on a reci- procal and equivalent basis within an appropriate legal framework between Member States and tEese other States.