Activites

• 1999/05/05 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Decision 1999/296
  • OJ L 117 05.05.1999, p. 0035
• #2173
• 1999/04/26 Council Meeting
• 1999/04/26 End of procedure in Parliament
• 1999/04/26 Act adopted by Council after consultation of Parliament
• 1999/03/12 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(1999)0126 summary

    The Commission's re-examined proposal accepts amendments which aim to suppress expressions such as "as much as possible" in the was of certain commitments. In addition, the Commission accepts amendments requiring each Member State : - to supply information on the effects of policies and measures that will be adopted on the emissions and absorptions and their integration in the losses between the year of reference and 2005; - to prepare an annual report on the most recent projections regarding emissions by their source, and the absorption by their sinks, not only for the first period of commitment (2008-2012) but also for 2005; - to supply projections which are as precise as possible at regular intervals on the emissions of greenhouse gases not listed in Annex A of the Kyoto Protocol. The Commission also accepts the amendments which aim to : - ask the Commission to take supplementary measures in order to ensure (instead of promote) certain improvements concerning national inventories and national communications; - give more time to the Commission (2 months) in order to transmit to other Member States national programmes that it receives; - propose that the Commission clearly indicates in its annual evaluation report if the recent information communicated by the Member States is incomplete or has errors; - replace the type of committee in charge of assisting the Commission by a consultative committee (procedure 1)) instead of a regulatory committee (procedure IIIa).�

• 1999/02/09 Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading
  • T4-0079/1999 summary

    At second reading under cooperation procedure, the decision on common position 50/98/EC adopted by the Council with a view to adopting a Council Decision amending Decision 93/389/EEC for a monitoring mechanism of Community CO2 and other green house gas emissions was approved by the European Parliament. This report by James Fitzsimons (UPE,EI) amends the common position, notably in the following areas: - underlining that the Kyoto protocol requires Annex I parties to have made demonstrable progress in achieving their commitments under the Protocol by 2005; - making stricter requirements as regards national inventories and reporting; - specifying that the committee assisting the Commission will be of an advisory nature; - deleting reference, in relation to the advisory committee, to voting requirements laid down in Article 148(2) of the Treaty; - making provision for the committee's opinion to be recorded in the minutes, as well as the opinions of Member States, if requested by them; - requiring the Commission to take the utmost account of the committee's opinion.�

• 1999/02/08 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 1999/02/02 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
  • A4-0052/1999
• 1998/10/09 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 2nd reading
• #2106
• 1998/06/16 Council Meeting
  • 08829/2/1998 summary

    The common position incorporates, in whole or in part, an important number of the European Parliament's amendments, which were incorporated in the Commission's amended proposal. There are no European Parliament amendments that the Commission rejected and the Council included in its common position. Technical substantive changes were introduced by the Council in the text of the common position as a consequence of the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol (on 11 December 1997): 1) Preamble: the preamble has been simplified, mainly by the deletion of 'whereas' clauses which referred mainly to the different phases in the process leading to the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol and their replacement by a wording referring to the outcome of that process. A reference was also introduced to the possible future updating of the monitoring mechanism to reflect further decisions in the framework of the Kyoto Protocol; 2) Aims of the monitoring mechanism: the common position stipulates that the monitoring mechanism is designed not only to monitor the emissions in Member States but also aimed at evaluating progress towards meeting commitments in respect of these emissions; - national programmes: the modifications aim at taking into account the outcome of the Kyoto negotiations and in particular the requirements deriving from the Kyoto Protocol for the Community and its Member States. The monitoring mechanism as updated will, in fact, also contribute to the evaluation of progress made by the Community and its Member States towards fulfilling the UNFCCC and the Protocol's commitments. A clear distinction has been made between the requirements of the framework Convention and those deriving from the Kyoto Protocol; 3) National inventories and data reporting: - Member States now have until 31 December to submit to the Commission the annual data on their emissions, removal by sinks and projected emissions; - Member States must report on the most recent projected emissions by sources and removals by sinks of six greenhouse gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol for the period 2008-2012 and, as far as possible, for 2005; - the Commission must take further steps to promote the comparability and transparency of information provided by the Member States; - the Commission must forward to all the Member States by 1 March at the latest the inventories of emissions; 4) Evaluation of national programmes and of the state of emissions: - the deadline for forwarding by the Commission to other Member States of the national programmes received has been reduced to one month; - a reference has been added to the European Environment Agency which, if necessary, will assist in compiling the evaluation report to be presented by the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament; 5) Evaluation of progress: the actual and projected progress of Member States towards fulfilling the commitments under the United Nations framework convention and the Kyoto Protocol will be assessed every year. The decision will enter into force on 1 January 1999. Lastly, it should be noted that the common position provides for a regulatory committee (procedure IIIa) instead of a committee of an advisory nature (procedure I) as had been proposed by the European Parliament. �

• #2076
• 1998/03/23 Council Meeting
• 1998/03/02 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(1998)0108 summary

    The Commission's modified proposal takes account fully, partly or in principle of 11 amendments adopted by Parliament at first reading. The main amendments made to the initial proposal seek to: - reiterate the aim of the decision, namely a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades; - stress that the monitoring mechanism is an essential instrument in the assessment of the implementation of policies and climate change related measures; - delete the words 'at the latest from the first updating' in the article requiring each Member State to include certain information in its national programme; - provide for compulsory assessment of the effects of policies and measures between the base year and 2005, between the base year and 2010 and between the base year and regular intervals thereafter; this assessment should be made on the basis of standard procedural guidelines; - replace the words 'ozone precursors' with 'pollutants which affect the tropospheric ozone'; - propose that best estimates for emissions projects be provided on the basis of standard procedural guidelines; - call on the Commission to take further steps to ensure the comparability and transparency of national measurement and compilation methods and take into consideration the need for a clear framework presenting common modelling guidelines; - provide that the Member States forward their national programmes within three months of adoption by the Council of the Commission proposal and for an evaluation within six months of the reception of the national programmes; - specify that the Commission must report to Parliament and the Council annually, even if the data received from the Member States are incomplete (in this case the report must indicate this absence of data); - amend the role of the committee provided for under Decision 93/389/EEC, replacing the regulatory committee (Procedure IIIa) with an advisory committee (Procedure I). �

• #2062
• 1997/12/16 Council Meeting
  • 2062
• 1997/09/18 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0443/1997 summary

    In adopting the report by Mr James FITZSIMONS (UPE, IRL), Parliament hoped to strengthen the mechanism proposed by the European Commission to monitor CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions. It called on the Member States to report each year on the cumulative emissions of each greenhouse gas since 1990, as well as their projected cumulative emissions of each gas for each year over the periods up to 2005, 2010 and 2020. It recommended the 'gas by gas' approach rather than the 'basket approach'. It considered that the European Commission should adopt additional provisions to ensure the comparability and transparency of national measurement and compilation methods, define common modelling guidelines and present a report each year to the Parliament and the Council, mentioning Member States who had not submitted the required data. Finally, it recommended that the Commission be assisted by an advisory Committee. �

• 1997/09/17 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament summary

    Mr d'Aboville (UPE, FR), deputising for the rapporteur, said that public opinion needed to be better informed about the greenhouse effect. He noted that, in December 1995, the intergovernmental group on climate change, a panel composed of over 2 000 eminent scientists, had expressed its concern regarding greenhouse gas emissions and the consequences on the greenhouse effect. According to these scientists, if nothing was done, this could raise the temperature of the earth’s surface in the year 2000 by two degrees in relation to 1990. The rapporteur pointed out that this would lead to a rise in sea levels, desertification and harmful consequences for ecosystems, our economy and social conditions. Commissioner Bjerregaard said that the Commission could accept all the amendments, except for Nos 5, 7 and 13. Amendment No 5 placed an additional burden on Member States without giving clear benefits.

• 1997/07/22 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0253/1997
• 1996/10/23 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1996/09/04 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(1996)0369 summary

    OBJECTIVE: To amend Decision 93/389/EEC for a monitoring mechanism of Community CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions. SUBSTANCE: The Commission proposes to amend Decision 93/389/EEC to allow for the updating of the system and in particular the post-2000 monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions. Under the Commission proposal the provisions of the monitoring mechanism would also apply to anthropogenic emissions by sources and to the removal by sinks of all greenhouse gases not covered by the Montreal Protocol. The that end, the Commission proposes: - that, at a minimum, national programmes include annual inventories, policies and measures as well as trajectories and assessment of effects of measures concerning the three main greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O); - that relevant information is progressively provided in line with the reporting requirements under the Framework Convention on Climate Change for other greenhouse gases (ozone precursors): carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as well as the other greenhouse gases including perfluorocarbons (PFC)s, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). �

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(1996)0369
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A4-0253/1997
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0443/1997
• Debate in Council: 2062
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(1998)0108
• Council position published: 08829/2/1998
• Committee recommendation tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A4-0052/1999
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading: T4-0079/1999
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(1999)0126
• : Decision 1999/296
• : OJ L 117 05.05.1999, p. 0035

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)