Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) amending Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86 on the protection of the Community's forests against atmospheric pollution
C 307 E/32 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 26. 10. 1999 Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) amending Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86 on the protection of the Community’s forests against atmospheric pollution (1999/C 307 E/05) (Text with EEA relevance) COM(1999) 379 final - 1999/0159(COD) (Submitted by the Commission on 22 July 1999) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 175 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of Committee, the Economic and Social Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions, Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty, (1) Whereas the period of application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86 of 17 November 1986 on the protection of atmospheric against forests pollution (1) expired on 31 December 1996; Community’s the (2) Whereas forests play an essential part in maintaining fundamental ecological balances, particularly as regards the and flora; whereas those ecological balances are indispensable for sustainable agriculture and the management of rural areas; soil, water resources, climate, fauna (3) Whereas the conservation of the forest ecosystems is social important for functions and contributes, safe- guarding the social function of those people working in agriculture and in rural areas; and towards in particular, economic, ecological its (4) Whereas the Member and international the Community at States committed themselves the pan-European Ministerial Conferences on the Protection of Forests in Europe, held in Strasbourg in 1990 and in Helsinki forest damage; whereas the scheme provided for by Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86 contributes to the fulfilment of this commitment; in 1993 to continuous surveillance of level at (5) Whereas results from the systematic survey network show obvious trends in spatial and temporal distribution of forest damage over the entire area of the Community; (6) Whereas plots for the intensive and continuous monitoring of forest ecosystems have been set up by the Member States; whereas a continuation of this monitoring activity (1) OJ L 326, 21. 11. 1986, p. 2. Regulation as last amended by Regu- lation (EEC) No 2157/92 (OJ L 217, 31. 7. 1992, p. 1). over a longer period will improve the understanding of the causal relationship between changes in forest ecosystems and the factors influencing them; (7) Whereas consequently the scheme provided for by Regu- lation (EEC) No 3528/86 should be continued and its duration extended for five years, its period of application thereby being extended to fifteen years as from 1 January 1987; reference the prime (8) Whereas the financial allocation established by this Regu- the measure and the full duration of lation covers constitutes budgetary authority during the annual budgetary procedure within the meaning of point 33 of Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May 1999 between the European on Parliament, budgetary discipline and improvement of the budgetary procedure; the Commission the Council and the the for (9) Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86 should therefore be amended, HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 Article 11 of Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86 is replaced by the following: Article 11 1. The scheme shall run for 15 years from 1 January 1987. 2. The financial allocation for the scheme shall be EUR 34 million for the period 1997 to 2001. the implementation of Annual appropriations shall be authorised by the budgetary authority within the limits of the financial perspective. 3. Before expiry of the period referred to in paragraph 1, the Commission shall submit to the Council a report on the application of this Regulation. í Article 2 This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that the European of Communities. its publication in the Official Journal of This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States