21.12.2013 Official Journal of the European Union L 350/201 COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION of 7 November 2013 adopting a seventh updated list of sites of Community importance for the Atlantic biogeographical region (notified under document C(2013) 7357) (2013/740/EU) THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora ('), and in particular the third subparagraph of Article 4(2) thereof, Whereas: (1)  The Atlantic biogeographical region referred to in Article 1(c)(iii) of Directive 92[43/EEC comprises the Union territories of Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and parts of the Union territories of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Spain, France and Portugal as specified in the biogeographical map approved on 20 April 2005 by the Committee set up by Article 20 of that Directive, hereinafter the ‘Habitats Committee’. (2) It is necessary in the context of a process which was initiated in 1995 to make further progress in the actual establishment of the Natura 2000 network, which is an essential element of the protection of biodi- versity in the Union. (3)  The initial list and the first six updated lists of sites of Community importance for the Atlantic biogeographical region, within the meaning of Directive 9243 /EEC, were adopted by Commission Decisions 2004/813[EC (%), 2008/23EC (}),  2009/96/EC (),  2010/43[EU (%), 2011/63[EU (9), and Implementing Decisions 2012/13/EU () and 2013/26EU (). On the basis of Articles 4(4) and 6(1) of Directive 92[43[EEC, the 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7. 387, 29.12.2004, p. 1. 12, 15.1.2008, p. 1. 43, 13.2.2009, p. 466. 0, 2.2.2010, p. 43. 3, 8.2.2011, p. 52. 1, 13.1.2012, p. 1. 4, 26.1.2013, p. 379. Member State concerned has to designate the sites included in the list of sites of Community importance for the Atlantic biogeographical region as special areas of conservation as soon as possible and within six years at most, establishing conservation priorities and the necessary conservation measures. In the context of a dynamic adaptation of the Natura 2000 network, the lists of sites of Community importance are reviewed. An update of the list of sites of Community importance for the Atlantic biogeo- graphical region is therefore necessary. On the one hand, the update of the list of sites of Community importance for the Atlantic biogeographical region is necessary in order to include additional sites that have been proposed since 2011 by Member States as sites of Community importance for the Atlantic biogeographical region within the meaning of Article 1 of Directive 92/43[EEC. For those additional sites, the obligations resulting from Articles 4(4) and 6(1) of Directive 92/43/EEC should apply as soon as possible and within six years at most from the adoption of this Decision. On the other hand, the update of the list of sites of Community importance for the Atlantic biogeographical region is necessary in order to reflect any changes in site- related information submitted by Member States following the adoption of the initial and the first six updated Union lists. In that sense, this updated list of sites of Community importance for the Atlantic biogeo- graphical region constitutes a consolidated version of the list of sites of Community importance for the Atlantic biogeographical region. It should be stressed that, for any site included in this Decision, the obligations resulting from Articles 4(4) and 6(1) of Directive 92/43/EEC should apply as soon as possible and within six years at most from the adoption of the list of sites of Community importance in which the site was included for the first time. For the Atlantic biogeographical region, lists of sites proposed as sites of Community importance within the meaning of Article 1 of Directive 92/43/EEC were trans- mitted to the Commission between March 2002 and February 2013 by the Member States concerned in accordance with Article 4(1) of that Directive.