Considerations on COM(2019)545 - EU position at the 39th session of the Executive Body under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution

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dossier COM(2019)545 - EU position at the 39th session of the Executive Body under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution.
document COM(2019)545 EN
date December  5, 2019
 
table>(1)The 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (the ‘Convention’) has a Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone (the ‘Protocol’) which was adopted in 1999.
(2)Pursuant to Article 13 bis of the Protocol, the Parties present at a session of the Executive Body of the Convention (the ‘Executive Body’) may adopt amendments to the Protocol and its annexes.

(3)The Protocol was amended in 2012 through the adoption of Decisions 2012/1 and 2012/2 by the Parties present at the 30th session of the Executive Body. The Amendments set out in Decision 2012/1 entered into force and became effective on the basis of the expedited procedure provided for in the Protocol. The Amendment set out in Decision 2012/2 required acceptance by the Parties to the Protocol and was approved by the Union by Council Decision (EU) 2017/1757 (1). That amendment entered into force on 7 October 2019.

(4)At its 39th session on 9-13 December 2019, the Executive Body is to decide on the adoption of amendments to Article 3 bis of the Protocol and Annex VII to the Protocol as proposed by the the United States of America, with the aim of facilitating ratification of the Protocol by non-EU Parties.

(5)It is appropriate to establish the position to be taken on the Union’s behalf within the Executive Body, as the subject and content of the Protocol to be amended are covered by the Union acquis, and in particular by Directive (EU) 2016/2284 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2).

(6)The position of the Union at the 39th session of the Executive Body should be to support the proposal to amend Annex VII to the Protocol.

(7)Where Parties from Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central-Asia countries present at the 39th session of the Executive Body indicate that the proposal to amend Article 3 bis of the Protocol is useful, the position of the Union at the 39th session of the Executive Body should be to support that proposal. Where those Parties do not indicate that the proposal to amend Article 3 bis of the Protocol is useful, the position of the Union should be to invite the United States of America to withdraw its proposal and, if the United States of America does not withdraw it, the Union should be able to object to the proposal,