ENVIRONMENT: TOO MANY COMMITTEES SPOIL MARINE POLLUTION BROTH.

Community cooperation over accidental marine pollution aims to support Member States' efforts at national, regional and local levels in order to make them more effective and create the best conditions for efficient cooperation. The Commission proposal has the objective of bringing together and consolidating the different actions carried out in this field over the last twenty years under a single solid legal basis, and to extend it to operational spills. It includes a continued Community action programme starting from January 1, 2000. In its amended Proposal, the Commission had accepted and/or reformulated 20 of the 29 amendments that the European Parliament had proposed on the first reading, agreeing that it would be useful to introduce or reinforce provisions for dumped munitions, operational spills and a greater implication of the general public or relevant bodies.Most of the amendments accepted by the Commission have been taken on board by the Council which added two important amendments of its own. The first explicitly adds "deliberate pollution" to the title of the Decision. The second extends the duration of the framework for cooperation from 5 to 7 years. The Council also accepted the European Parliament's desire to refer to existing international...