Convention on the Protection of the Alps

SUMMARY OF:

Decision 96/191/EC – the conclusion of the Convention on the Protection of the Alps (Alpine Convention)

Convention on the protection of the Alps (Alpine Convention)

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE DECISION AND THE CONVENTION?

• The decision concerns the conclusion of the Convention on the protection of the Alps (Alpine Convention) which was then approved on behalf of the European Community.
• The aim of the Alpine Convention is the long-term protection of the natural ecosystem of the Alps and sustainable development in the area, as well as the protection of residents’ economic interests. The guiding principles of the Convention are prevention, polluter-pays and trans-border cooperation.

KEY POINTS

• The parties to the convention are Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Slovenia, Switzerland and the European Union (EU).
• In order to fulfil the convention’s objectives effectively, the parties to the convention act in the areas of regional planning, the conservation of nature and the countryside, mountain farming, mountain forests, soil conservation, tourism and recreation, energy, transport, prevention of air pollution, water management, population and culture, and waste management.
• The convention provides for the drawing up and adoption of implementing protocols for each of these areas as well as for resolving disputes between the parties.
• The parties are obliged to cooperate in the fields of research and regional monitoring as well as on legal, scientific, economic and technical matters.
• A Conference of the Contracting Parties (‘the Alpine Conference’) holds regular meetings (in principle every 2 years) to look at issues of common interest for the contracting parties and to make decisions and recommendations.

FROM WHEN DO THE DECISION AND THE CONVENTION APPLY?

• The decision has applied since 26 February 1996.
• The convention entered into force for the European Community on 14 April 1998.

MAIN DOCUMENTS

Council Decision 96/191/EC of 26 February 1996 concerning the conclusion of the Convention on the Protection of the Alps (Alpine Convention) (OJ L 61, 12.3.1996, p. 31)

Convention on the protection of the Alps (Alpine Convention) (OJ L 61, 12.3.1996, pp. 32–36)

RELATED DOCUMENTS

Council Decision 98/118/EC of 16 December 1997 concerning the conclusion of the Protocol of Accession of the Principality of Monaco to the Convention on the Protection of the Alps (OJ L 33, 7.2.1998, p. 21)

Council Decision 2005/923/EC of 2 December 2005 on the signing on behalf of the European Community of the Protocol on Soil Protection, the Protocol on Energy and the Protocol on Tourism to the Alpine Convention (OJ L 337, 22.12.2005, pp. 27-28)

Council Decision 2006/516/EC of 27 June 2006 on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Community, of the Protocol on Soil Protection, the Protocol on Energy and the Protocol on Tourism to the Alpine Convention (OJ L 201, 25.7.2006, pp. 31-33)

Council Decision 2006/655/EC of 19 June 2006 on the approval, on behalf of the European Community, of the Protocol on the implementation of the 1991 Alpine Convention in the field of mountain farming (OJ L 271, 30.9.2006, pp. 61-62)

Council Decision 2007/799/EC of 12 October 2006 on the signature, on behalf of the Community, of the Protocol on the Implementation of the Alpine Convention in the field of transport (OJ L 323, 8.12.2007, pp. 13-14)

Council Decision 2013/332/EU of 10 June 2013 on the conclusion on behalf of the European Union of the Protocol on the implementation of the 1991 Alpine Convention in the field of transport (OJ L177, 28.6.2013, p. 13)

last update 22.02.2017