PURPOSE: the alignment of Council Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005 on the establishment of a FLEGT licensing scheme for imports of timber into the European Community to the new rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Commission delegated and implementing powers).

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Regulation (EU) No 657/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005 as regards the delegated and implementing powers to be conferred on the Commission.

CONTENT: this Regulations amends Regulation 2173/2005 on the establishment of a FLEGT (forest law enforcement, governance and trade in timber products) licensing scheme for imports of timber into the EU. It aligns Regulation 2173/2005 on articles 290 and 291 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union as regards the implementing and delegated powers conferred upon the Commission.

Delegated powers : the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts to amend: (i) the list of partner countries and their designated licensing authorities as set out in Annex I; (ii) the list of timber products as set out in Annex II to which the FLEGT licensing scheme applies.

The power to adopt delegated acts shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years from 30 June 2014 which may be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration. The European Parliament or the Council may raise objections to a delegated act within a period of two months from the date of notification (this may be extended by four months ). If the European Parliament or Council express objections, the delegated act will not enter into force.

Implementing powers : in order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission to: (i) assess and approve existing schemes that guarantee the legality and reliable tracking of timber products exported from partner countries with a view to becoming the basis of a Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) licence, and (ii) adopt modalities of a practical nature and documents of a standard format, including their possible means (electronic or paper format) in relation to the FLEGT licensing scheme.

Review of an exemption : timber products of species listed in Annexes A, B and C to Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade shall be exempt from the requirement laid down in this amended Regulation. The Commission shall review that exemption, taking into account market developments and the experience gained in the implementation of this Regulation, shall report on its findings to the European Parliament and to the Council and, if necessary, shall come forward with appropriate legislative proposals.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 30.06.2014.

The European Parliament adopted by 604 votes to 7, with 12 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005 on the establishment of a FLEGT licensing scheme for imports of timber into the European Community.

Parliament adopted its position at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure. The amendments adopted in plenary are the result of an agreement reached between the European Parliament and the Council. They amended the proposal as follows:

Review of the exemption : timber products of species listed in Annexes A, B and C to Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade should be exempt from the requirement laid down in this amending Regulation. It is provided that the Commission should review that exemption , taking into account market developments and the experience gained in the implementation of this Regulation, should report on its findings to the European Parliament and to the Council and, if necessary, should come forward with appropriate legislative proposals.

Implementing acts : in order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005, the Commission should, by means of implementing acts, adopt the procedural modalities and the documents of a standard format , including their possible means (electronic or paper format) in relation to the FLEGT licensing scheme.

Delegated acts : the duration of the delegation of power conferred on the Commission should be limited to five years, this period could be tacitly extended for an identical period.

A delegated act should enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or the Council within a period of two months. That period should be extended by four months at the initiative of the European Parliament or of the Council. The reporting period by the European Parliament should be six months (two plus four).

The Committee on International Trade adopted the report by Iuliu WINKLER (EPP, RO) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005 on the establishment of a FLEGT licensing scheme for imports of timber into the European Community.

The committee recommended that the European Parliament’s position adopted at first reading, following the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the Commission proposal as follows:

Two amendments were made to a new Article proposed by the Commission on the exercise of the delegation to reflect the outcome of the trilogue negotiations on the Omnibus I and II files, which aim at aligning a large volume of legislation in the field of the Common Commercial Policy to Articles 290 and 291 TFEU.

· The first amendment aims at ensuring that the duration of the delegation of powers to the Commission is not indeterminate, but is limited to a period of five years, tacitly extendable by a period of identical duration.

The second amendment aims at setting the period available to the Parliament to object to a draft delegated act to two months, but with a possibility of a further extension of four rather than two months . In other words, it aims at extending the period of scrutiny by the European Parliament from four months (2+2) to six months (2+4).

PURPOSE: the alignment of Council Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005 on the establishment of a FLEGT licensing scheme for imports of timber into the European Community to the new rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Commission delegated and implementing powers).

PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005).

PARLIAMENT’S ROLE: Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.

BACKGROUND: the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) makes a distinction between:

the powers delegated to the Commission to adopt non-legislative acts of general application to supplement or amend certain non-essential elements of the legislative act as laid down in Article 290(1) of the TFEU ( delegated acts ), on the one hand, and the powers conferred upon the Commission to adopt uniform conditions for implementing legally binding Union acts as laid down in Article 291(2) of the TFEU ( implementing acts ), on the other.

In the context of the alignment of Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005 to the new rules of the TFEU, powers currently conferred to the Commission by that Regulation have been reclassified into measures of delegated nature and measures of implementing nature.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT: there was no need for an impact assessment.

LEGAL BASIS: Article 207(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

CONTENT: the proposed Regulation seeks to identify the delegated powers of the Commission in Council Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005 and to establish the corresponding procedure for adoption of these acts.

BUDGETARY IMPACT: this measure does not involve any additional Union expenditure.