Considerations on COM(2020)801 - Submission, on behalf of the EU, regarding the methodology for adjustments to reflect changes in EU-membership under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution

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dossier COM(2020)801 - Submission, on behalf of the EU, regarding the methodology for adjustments to reflect changes in EU-membership under the ...
document COM(2020)801 EN
date April 30, 2021
 
table>(1)The 1999 Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone to the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, as amended on 4 May 2012 (the ‘amended Gothenburg Protocol’) was approved by the Union by Council Decision (EU) 2017/1757 (1) and entered into force on 7 October 2019.
(2)In the 36th session of the Executive Body of the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (the ‘Convention’), the Parties to the Convention called upon the Union and its Member States to propose a methodology for adjusting the Union emission ceilings set out in table 1 of Annex II to the original Gothenburg Protocol as adopted in 1999, to account for changes in the membership of the Union.

(3)In the 37th session of the Executive Body of the Convention, a decision proposed by the Union and its Member States was adopted by Decision 2017/3 of the Executive Body.

(4)The methodology for updating the Union values set out in tables 2 to 6 of Annex II to the amended Gothenburg Protocol, based exclusively on a mathematical calculation using only information that is already set out in those tables to account for changes in the membership of the Union, is required to enable such changes to be correctly reflected in view of the review of the Union’s compliance with its obligations under the amended Gothenburg Protocol. This does not relate to any adjustment of national emission ceilings or national emission reduction commitments in the tables of Annex II to the amended Gothenburg Protocol.

(5)Once the methodology for updates is adopted by the Executive Body of the Convention, the Commission should submit on behalf of the Union the necessary updates to the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe implementing that methodology, to account for changes in the membership of the Union since the adoption of the amended Gothenburg Protocol. The Commission should also submit any updates required in the event of subsequent changes in the membership of the Union.

(6)It is appropriate to establish the position to be taken on the Union’s behalf in the Executive Body of the Convention as the decision of the Executive Body will be binding on the Union,