Decisions

The Deputies

1.      adopted the following reply to Assembly Recommendations 1130, 1131, 1140 and 1145:

        "1.     The Committee of Ministers wishes first to refer to its interim reply of January 1991 to Assembly Recommendation 1131 (1990) on the environment policy in Europe (1988‑1989).

        2.      Recommendations

        ‑       No. 1130 on the formulation of a European Charter and a European Convention on environmental protection and sustainable development;

        ‑       No. 1140 on global environmental change and the role of science and democracy;

        ‑       No. 1145 on protection of the East‑West environment, are expressions of the Parliamentary Assembly's concern to encourage the governments to adopt a global and coherent approach to environment problems.

        3.      The Committee of Ministers informs the Assembly that this concern is also shared by the governments which, at the level of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, have adopted the Regional Strategy for the protection of the environment and the rational use of natural resources over the period from now to the year 2000 and, at the level of the Council of Europe, have adopted the European Conservation Strategy (Recommendation No. R Env. (90)1).  These instruments put forward basic orientations for environmental protection policies which cover not only general elements, but also sectoral aspects (air, inland waters, lakes, rivers, seas, soils, wildlife and biotopes, etc.).

        4.      Furthermore, the United Nations is preparing a draft convention on biological diversity at the global level which should be submitted to the 1992 Rio de Janeiro 2nd World Conference on Environment and Development.

        5.      In the framework of the Council of Europe, Project VII.1 'The European dimension of the environment' (Greater Europe) of the Intergovernmental Programme of Activities for 1991 envisages the preparation of the European Assizes on the environment, planned for 1992 (subject to the decisions on the 1992 Programme) with the aim of drawing up an inventory of environmental protection problems which arise at the European level and to draw up orientations for the policy to follow in the future.

6.      In these circumstances, the Committee of Ministers informs the Assembly that, when the above‑mentioned work has been completed, it will resume consideration of the aforesaid Recommendations with a view to deciding as to whether it is appropriate to undertake action at the level of the Council of Europe, as well as the nature of such action.

7.      Concerning certain specific problems raised by the Recommendations in question, it should be borne in mind that:

a.      With regard to the civil law aspects of environmental protection, a draft Convention on damage resulting from activities dangerous to the environment is under preparation by the Committee of Experts on compensation for damage caused to the enviroment (CJ‑EN).  This draft Convention takes full account of the need to ensure that the protection of the environment is pan‑European in scope as pollution does not stop at frontiers.  The draft Convention is intended to provide the maximum protection to persons who have suffered damage and provides for liability not only for incidents which occur in the territory of a Contracting State and result in damage in a Contracting State but also in certain cases for incidents or the damage occurring outside a Contracting State.  In addition the draft Convention provides for the accession of non‑member States of the Council of Europe.

b.      Criminal law aspects of environmental protection were already considered in Resolution (77)28 on the contribution of criminal law to the protection of the environment and Recommendation No. R(88)18 concerning liability of enterprises having legal personality for offences committed in the exercise of their activities.  Furthermore, as a follow‑up to the 17th Conference of European Ministers of Justice (Istanbul, 4‑8 June 1990), the Committee of Ministers instructed the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) to examine the role of criminal law in environmental protection.

c.      With regard to the Social Development Fund (paragraph 8.iv of Recommendation 1145), it is to be noted that its actions take place within the framework of Article II of the Articles of Agreement of the Fund which lay down its objective.  The Administrative Council, by Resolution 934(1987) defined specific fields of action of the Fund within the above‑mentioned Article II.

        Action in ecological disaster areas is not covered as such in these two texts specifying the activity of the Fund.  However, the Fund finances concrete projects for certain categories of persons, and very often the aspect of protection of the environment has been seriously taken into consideration in the evaluation of a project.

        The Committee of Ministers has forwarded Recommendation 1145 (1991) to the Governing Body and to the Administrative Council of the Fund, expressing the wish that the Fund give as high a priority to projects aimed at remedying the consequences of ecological disasters as to projects aimed at remedying the consequences of natural disasters and the influx of refugees."