U.K. Presidency News:   News from the summer recess may be found on:

U.K. Presidency pages: http://www.eu2005.gov.uk          

Next Presidencies:

1st January -30th June 2006: Austrian Presidency

1st July -31st December 2006: Finnish Presidency

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

° Report provides comprehensive analysis of Europe's nano infrastructure: Nanoforum, the thematic network funded by the EU under the Fifth Framework Programme, has produced a report detailing Europe's nanotechnology infrastructure and networks. Provisions and levels of development vary from country to country but 'much could be achieved through better publicity of existing infrastructure and providing further financial support for access'. Overall the report writers identified 240 infrastructures in 28 countries. Of these 240, 16 were classified as major EU research infrastructures. To access the report, please visit: http://www.nanoforum.org

° Joint Research Centre (JRC) and D.G. Environment support risk forecasting for forest fires in the EU: The European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) network includes representatives from 19 countries.  With the Commission and Member State fire services, it has published an overview of the impact of forest fires in Europe for 2004 and a fire risk forecast for 2005. In recent years forest fires in the EU's Mediterranean region have increased: in 2003 total area burnt was 740,000 hectares. Some 70,000 fires have already been recorded in 2005, 19 people have lost their lives, the outlook for the rest of the year is poor. The situation is aggravated by persistent drought: fire behaviour has changed from traditional fire spread to surging forest fires. http://inforest.jrc.it/effis/

° European Space Agency's (ESA) Envisat assesses aftermath of Spanish fires: The damage caused by July's 4-day  forest fires in the Guadalajara province of Spain, in which 11 volunteer fire fighters lost their lives, has been measured using instruments onboard the ESA’s Envisat. As the Spanish authorities seek to assess the extent of the damage caused when a barbecue in pine woodland burned out of control and high winds spread the flames across the landscape, a rapid estimate has been carried out using data from Envisat's medium resolution imaging spectrometer (MERIS).  The results showed a burnt area estimate of 11,313 hectares, which tallies well with estimates from other sources of around 12,000 hectares  As well as fire damage estimates, the MERIS instrument is also being used in combination with other satellite sensors to provide fire and flood risk-management services, as part of the Risk-EOS initiative.  http://envisat.esa.int/instruments/meris /

° EU project warns of massive CO2 releases due to European drought: an EU funded Integrated Project (IP) has warned that the dying crops, desiccated soil and forest fires associated with the dry conditions will release millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, further accelerating global warming. The prediction is based on measurements taken by the CarboEurope IP during Europe’s 2003 droughts. Scientists estimate that during July-August 2003, some 500 million tonnes of CO2 escaped from western Europe's forests and fields (equivalent to twice the emissions from fossil-fuel burning in the region over the same period). http://www.carboeurope.org/

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:  

° European Commission calls for study in ICT standardisation needs: The Commission's Enterprise and Industry DG has published a call for tenders for a study on the specific policy needs for information and communication technologies (ICT) standardisation. In 2004 the Commission issued a Communication on 'The role of European standardisation in the framework of European policies and legislation', in which it announced that it would initiate a strategic review of policy in the ICT domain. Tender request deadline is 13.09.2005 - further information from:
http://ted.publications.eu.int/udl?REQUE ST=Seek-Deliver&LANGUAGE=en&DOCI D=153420-2005
European Commission, D.G. Enterprise & Industry, Attn: Costas Andropoulos,  Ave. d'Auderghem 45 - 06/66,  B-1040 Brussels  Fax: +32-2 296 7019   E-mail: entr-innov-ict-ebiz@cec.eu.int.

° European Commission's Information Society and Media DG has published a study call for networks of innovation in information society development and deployment in Europe: the study aims to assess the effectiveness of network collaboration and knowledge transfers between IST-RTD, innovation and deployment of the information society; identification of where and how the links between IST-RTD, innovation and deployment could be strengthened at EU level. Further information, European Commission D.G. Information Society & Media  Attn: Frank Cunningham/ Beatrice Masoliver,  Fax: +32-2 296 6613  E-mail: infso-c3@cec.eu.int

° EU to challenge US over internet governance: At the November 2005 World Summit on the Information Society, the EU and the US are likely to clash over the question of who will hold the "golden key" to the internet. Internet standards are constantly evolving, and require a minimum level of administration and harmonisation to assure the smooth working of the network. This is what is meant by the term 'internet governance'. The lowest level of internet governance is that of the Domain Name System (DNS ) and of Root name servers. Since 1998, all root servers have to follow the guidance of ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers which acts under a “sole sourced” contract with the US Department of Commerce.  At issue is the fact that technically, the US could abuse its oversight of ICANN to exclude any portion of internet users - even whole countries or continents - from access to the internet.  This issue is presented in a report

 by the United Nations Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG).

Links: Commission (DG Information Society): Communication on the EU's contribution to the second phase of WSIS (2 June 2005 );Commission, DG Information Society: World Summit on the Information Society ;Commission (Press release): Commission outlines EU negotiation principles for the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis

EDUCATION:

°  An update on news in this field will appear after the summer recess in the European Institutions

THE ENVIRONMENT:  

° Internet consultation on action to improve the urban environment in Europe -- Comments by 21 September :  The Commission will propose an EU strategy in December 2005.  This is one of a series of “thematic strategies” as set out in the 6^th Environment Action Programme due to be adopted this year by the Commission, The Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment website is: http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/environment/urban/home_en.htm   Other thematic strategies concern waste, air pollution, natural resources, the marine environment, pesticides, and soil. (An explanation of environmental thematic strategies appears as an Annexe to this month’s ECCE Brussels Brief). For the questionnaire: http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/environment/urban/public_consultation_2005.htm

° World Water Week takes place in Stockholm. The week, from August 21-27, 2005, included the Stockholm Water Symposium, topical plenary sessions and panel debates, scientific workshops, independently organised seminars and side events, exhibitions and festive prize ceremonies.

° European Commission proposes to mobilise the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) for Northern European storm damage: In response to a request made by the Swedish, Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian authorities, four grants totalling nearly € 93 million will be awarded to help deal with the consequences of a severe wind storm that hit Northern Europe in January 2005. The money will reimburse the cost of emergency measures incurred (e.g. rescue services, immediate cleaning up of disaster-stricken areas and restoration of basic infrastructure to working condition).  Damages were particularly high in Southern Sweden, and are estimated at nearly € 2.3 billion. The storm caused the death of nine people and felled 75 million cubic metres timber, affecting electricity supply and telecommunications.  In the three Baltic States, severe damage was caused to agriculture, forestry, electricity and infrastructure networks, transport and communication. Estimated total damages amount to approximately € 192 million in Latvia, € 48 million in Estonia and around € 15 million in Lithuania. http://europa.eu.int/comm/regional_policy/funds/solidar/solid_en.htm

At the end of August the European Commission announced it stands ready to examine any financial assistance request under the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) in light of current floods and fires.  Currently, the Commission is dealing with applications for EU Solidarity Fund assistance from Bulgaria and Romania.  Both were affected by floods over the past months. Decisions on whether assistance from the Fund will be requested regarding the Portugal forest fires and the floods in southern Germany and Austria, will largely depend on the outcome of the damage assessment currently underway by the authorities in these countries. (An explanation of the Fund’s role and action appears as Annexe 2 to this month’s ECCE Brussels Brief.)

° European civil protection assistance to combat Portugal forest fires A request from Portugal to help combat the forest fires raging in more than 50 locations triggered a rapid response from the European Commission’s Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC). The MIC immediately alerted the civil protection authorities of the 30 countries participating in the Community Civil Protection Mechanism. Within 24 hours, additional fire-fighting airplanes and helicopters from several European Member States were in action. Estimates indicate that in recent weeks an area of some 114,000 hectares has been lost to the flames.

° Implementation of new Packaging waste Directive: Directive 2004/12/EC of 11 February 2004 amending Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste roughly doubles packaging recycling targets and strengthens recovery targets (this mainly refers to energy from waste when it is burned in incinerators that produce energy). The definition of packaging is clarified. Certain provisions may be implemented by voluntary agreements if they deliver what is legally required. New targets must be reached in the 2008-2015 period, depending on the Member State. So far only Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Luxembourg and the U. K. have informed the Commission that they have transposed the Directive. http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/waste/index.htm

Environmental cases:

° Case filing C-255/05: Italy has been ordered to pay costs for failing to make environmental impact assessment on waste incinerator in Brescia in breaches of  Council Directive 85/337/EEC on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997, and under Article 12(1) of Directive 2000/76/EC on the incineration of waste

° Case filing C-248/05: Ireland has been ordered to pay costs for allowing landfill in County Wicklow to contain substances dangerous for water supplies (breach of Council Directive 80/68/EEC)

° Case filing C-252/05: Reference on consequences of sewage escape: Thames Water Utilities v South East London Division  The question under review is: Whether sewage which escapes from a sewerage network maintained by a statutory sewerage undertaker pursuant to the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive 91/271/EEC (1) ("UWWTD") and/or the Water Industry Act 1991 ("WIA 1991"), amounts to "directive waste" for the purposes of the Directive 75/442/EEC (2) (as amended by Directive 91/156/EEC) (3) ("the Waste Framework Directive" hereinafter, the "WFD").

If the answer to (1) above is ‘yes’, is the above-mentioned sewage? (a)  excluded from the scope of "directive waste" under the WFD (by virtue of article 2(1) (b)(iv) of the WFD, in particular, by virtue of the UWWTD and/or the WIA 1991); or (b)  does it come within article 2(2) of the WFD and is thus excluded from the scope of "directive waste" under the WFD, in particular, by virtue of the UWWTD.

 See also: http://europa.eu.int/comm/secretariat_general/sgb/droit_com/index_en.htm#infractions

For rulings by the European Court of Justice see http://curia.eu.int/en/content/juris/index.htm

ENERGY:

° Offshore renewable energy options fails to take sufficient account of ecological implications, according to a major new review published in the Journal of Applied Ecology. Northern Europe leads the world in offshore renewable energy developments. Despite their obvious advantages compared with energy derived from fossil fuels, however, they are still likely to have a range of direct and indirect environmental impacts.  Construction and decommissioning are likely to cause significant physical disturbance to the local environment.  As an example high voltage cables could interact with aquatic animals sensitive to electromagnetic fields, particularly sharks and rays and marine mammals that use the Earth's magnetic field to navigate. Further information from http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0021-8901

° The First annual European energy policy conference is due to be held in Brussels on 28^th and 29^th November 2005 and will allow stakeholders to discuss major policy issues surrounding energy in Europe, as the long term future of the sector begins to take shape (details in the Conference section of this brief).

° The Rimini Protocol – an oil-depletion protocol: As notified in the August 2005 on-line Energy Bulletin, this protocol aims to head off economic chaos and political conflict during the second half of the age of oil.  It may now be read on-line, providing an insight into alternative energy scenarios: http://www.peakoil.ie/protocol 

TRANSPORT:

° Key stakeholders discuss study for road toll systems for cars and lorries: the study, 'Interim Electronic Fee Collection Standardisation Report', was commissioned and published by the three European Standardization Organisations - CEN, CENELEC and ETSI, in response to a  European Commission and EFTA Mandate (M/338). It is the first step towards defining a detailed work programme to provide all standards required to support the European Electronic Toll Service (EETS).  Directive 2004/52/EC on the interoperability of road toll systems across Europe was adopted in April 2004.  It includes a range of activities intended to lead to agreement on the definition of the EETS by July 2006.

° Common Position reached on proposed Directive on Charging Heavy Goods Vehicles for the Use of Certain Infrastructures: The text of the Common Position  for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 1999/62/EC on the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures may be found at: Full text of Document 9856/05

Reference point: Energy and Transport DG   

INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCING:

° Lending from European Investment Bank