on the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the application of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters to Community institutions and bodies

(PE-CONS 3614/2006 – C6-0156/2006 – 2003/0242(COD))

(Codecision procedure: third reading)

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee (PE-CONS 3614/2006 – C6-0156/2006),

–   having regard to its position at first reading(1) on the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2003)0622)(2),

–   having regard to its position at second reading(3) on the Council common position(4),

–   having regard to the Commission's opinion on Parliament's amendments to the common position (COM(2006)0081)(5),

–   having regard to Article 251(5) of the EC Treaty,

–   having regard to Rule 65 of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of its delegation to the Conciliation Committee (A6-0230/2006),

1.  Approves the joint text;

2.  Instructs its President to sign the act with the President of the Council pursuant to Article 254(1) of the EC Treaty;

3.  Instructs its Secretary-General to sign the act, once it has been verified that all the procedures have been duly completed, and, in agreement with the Secretary-General of the Council, to have it published in the Official Journal of the European Union;

4.  Instructs its President to forward this legislative resolution to the Council and Commission.

(1) OJ C 103, 29.4.2004 (2) Not yet published in OJ. (3) Texts Adopted, 18.1.2006, P6_TA(2006)0016. (4) OJ C 264, 25.10.2005 (5) Not yet published in OJ.

Background

On 25 June 1998 the European Community, together with the fifteen Member States, signed the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, better known as the "Aarhus Convention". The aim of this Convention, which entered into force in October 2001 and was approved by the Community on 17 February 2005, is to allow the public to become more involved in environmental matters and to actively contribute to improved preservation and protection of the environment.

The signing of the Aarhus Convention obliges the Community to align its legislation to the Convention's requirements. The Community has already adopted a body of legislation, which is evolving and contributes to the achievement of the objectives of the Aarhus Convention, such as Directive 2003/4/EC on public access to information in environmental matters(1) and Directive 2003/35/EC providing for public participation in the drawing up of certain plans and programmes(2). Also the Regulation 2001/1049/EC on public access to documents held by the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council is of relevance(3).

The Commission, however, took the view that these provisions are not sufficient in order to fully apply the requirements of the Aarhus Convention to the EC institutions and bodies, as the Convention is, in part, more detailed and its scope broader than existing EC law. The Commission therefore submitted on 24 October 2003 a proposal for a Regulation on the application of the Aarhus Convention’s three pillars on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters to the Community institutions and bodies.

Following Parliament's first reading on 31 March 2004, the Council adopted its common position on 18 July 2005 accepting -at least partially- only 5 out of the 35 Parliament first reading amendments. Parliament concluded its second reading on 18 January 2006 adopting a total of 25 amendments to the Council common position. The Council informed with letter from 25 April 2006 that it could not accept all of Parliament's amendments and that conciliation was necessary. Conciliation was then formally opened on 2 May.

The conciliation procedure

The Parliament Delegation held its constituent meeting on 15 February 2006 in Strasbourg. Mr Vidal Quadras (Vice-President and Chair of the Delegation), Mr Florenz (Chair of the Committee for Environment, Public Health and Food Safety), Mrs Korhola (rapporteur) and Mrs Sornosa Martinez were given a mandate by the Delegation to negotiate with the Council.

Three trialogues were held between 7 March and 26 April 2006 (7.3.2006, 21.3.2006 and 26.4.2006), followed by subsequent meetings of the EP Delegation (15.3.2006, 4.4.2006 and 2.5.2006), which lead to provisional agreement on 16 amendments, subject to an overall agreement. The Conciliation Committee met then in the afternoon of 2 May 2006 in the Council with a view to formally opening the procedure and possibly also reaching agreement on the outstanding issues. After several hours of deliberations an overall agreement was reached at around 7.30 pm. It was unanimously confirmed by the EP Delegation with 16 votes in favour.

The main points of the agreement reached in conciliation can be summarised as follows:

Access to information

The amendments regarding access to information, particularly amendments 4, 14 and 15 concerning exceptions, proved the most difficult to solve. An opinion from the EP Legal Service indicated that amendments 4 and 14 as originally drafted infringed the principle of legal certainty and had to be reformulated. The EP Legal Service made concrete suggestions for reformulation, fully endorsed by the EP Delegation, which then also formed the basis for the agreement reached with the Council.

The agreement reached is based on the regime of exceptions laid down in existing Regulation 1049/2001/EC on access to documents held by the EC institutions. This solution ensures a coherent and functional approach as there will be one single regime for access to all kind of information held by the EC institutions and bodies.

The EP Delegation also succeeded in strengthening the provisions regarding access to information related to emissions into the environment, by making the relevant exceptions more restrictive as well as ensuring that the interpretation of exceptions will be made in a restrictive way.

Furthermore, following an EP compromise proposal it was agreed that the information made available on registers and databases of the Community institutions and bodies shall also include steps taken in proceedings for infringement of Community law, which is a completely new addition to the Council common position.

Public participation in decision making

For Parliament, the main issue at stake was to extend participation of the public in the preparation, modification or review of environmental plans and programmes to the European Investment Bank as well as to plans and programmes not just "prepared" and "adopted", but also "funded" by the Community institutions and bodies. The EP Delegation secured the former and accepted the Council's position on the latter, noting that public participation to plans and programmes "prepared" and "adopted" by the Community institutions and bodies already provided for a sufficient and satisfactory level of public involvement.

It was also agreed that when taking a decision on an environmental plan or programme the relevant Community institution and body shall inform (and not just "make reasonable efforts to inform") the public about this decision. A reference to public participation regarding "policies" along the lines of the Aarhus Convention has also been included in the recitals.

Access to justice in environmental matters

The EP Delegation succeeded in extending from 4 to 6 weeks the period during which NGOs might request the internal review of an administrative act concerning the environment. It was also agreed that Community institutions and bodies shall apply the requirements of the Regulation nine months after its entry into force. The Regulation enters into force three days after its publication in the EU Official Journal.

On the inclusion of "sustainable development" the EP Delegation took the view that a reference in the recitals was sufficient given that this is a very broad term covering a lot of activities not directly related to the protection of the environment (globalisation, employment). The primary objective of this Regulation though is to assure access to justice for environmental and not for all kind of NGOs. The EP Delegation also secured a reference in the recitals to "accountable" (instead of "law abiding") NGOs, as a further criterion for permitting them to request internal review of acts adopted by a Community institution or body.

Conclusion

The final text can be regarded as a very satisfactory and well balanced compromise. Given that many of the European Parliament second reading amendments have been accepted and satisfactory compromises were reached on the others, the outcome of the conciliation procedure can be regarded as very successful for the European Parliament.

The Parliament Delegation to the Conciliation Committee therefore recommends that the joint text be approved at third reading.

(1) Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information, OJ L 41, 14.2.2003, p. 26. (2) Directive 2003/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 providing for public participation in respect of the drawing up of certain plans and programmes relating to the environment, OJ L 156, 25.6.2003, p. 17. (3) Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.

EXTENSION OF DEADLINES