(1)

Biological and genetic diversity in agriculture is essential to the sustainable development of agricultural production and of rural areas. The necessary measures should therefore be taken to conserve, characterise, collect and utilise the potential of that diversity in a sustainable way to promote the aims of the common agricultural policy (CAP).

(2)

The conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources in agriculture also contributes to the aims of the Convention on Biological Diversity approved by the Community by Council Decision 93/626/EEC (1) and the related Community Biodiversity Strategy which includes an action plan for biodiversity conservation and the protection of genetic resources in agriculture. It is also a major objective of the FAO's Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilisation of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which the Commission and the Member States signed on 6 June 2002.

(3)

The wide range of activities carried out in the Member States (by a public-sector body or natural or legal persons) and by various international organisations and programmes such as FAO, the European Cooperative Programme for Crop Genetic Resources Networks (ECP/GR), the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), the Agricultural Research for Development (ARD) regional and subregional organisations supported by the Community, the European Regional Focal Point (ERFP) of National Coordinators for the Management of Farm Animal Genetic Resources, the European Forest Genetic Resources Programme (Euforgen) and the related commitments of the ongoing Ministerial Conference on the protection of forests in Europe (MCPFE), to which the Community is signatory, call for an effective information exchange and close coordination between the Community main actors and with the relevant organisations throughout the world with regard to the conservation, characterisation, collection and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture so as to enhance their positive impact on agriculture.

(4)

The work undertaken on the conservation, characterisation, collection and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture can help maintain biological diversity, improve the quality of agricultural products, contribute to increase diversification in rural areas and reduce inputs and agricultural production costs by promoting a sustainable agricultural production and contributing to the sustainable development of rural areas.

(5)

The ex situ and in situ conservation of genetic resources in agriculture (including in situ/on farm conservation and development) should be promoted. This should cover all plant, microbial and animal genetic resources that are or could prove useful for agriculture and rural development, including forest genetic resources, in line with the needs of the CAP, with a view to conserving genetic resources and increasing the use of under-utilised breeds and varieties in agricultural production.

(6)

Knowledge of the genetic resources available in the Community, their origins and their characteristics still needs to be improved. Relevant information on existing facilities and activities implemented at national or regional level regarding the conservation, characterisation, collection and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture in each Member State should be gathered and made available to the other Member States and at Community, as well as at international level, particularly the developing countries, in accordance with the international Treaties and Agreements.

(7)

Development of decentralised, permanent and widely accessible web-based inventories collecting such knowledge and ensuring its availability at Community and international level should be promoted, with particular reference to the ongoing efforts to develop an inventory of ex situ collections held in European gene banks (the Epgris — European Plant Genetic Resources Information Infra-Structure ‘Eurisco’, funded by the fifth framework programme).

(8)

The Community should complement and promote the efforts made in the Member States for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity in agriculture. Added value at Community level should be promoted by concerting existing actions and supporting the development of new trans-border initiatives involving the conservation, characterisation, collection and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture.

(9)

Provision should therefore be made for measures that complement or go beyond the scope, as regards beneficiaries and/or eligible actions for funding of Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) (2).

(10)

In order to contribute to the achievement of those aims, a Community programme was established under Council Regulation (EC) No 1467/94 of 20 June 1994 on the conservation, characterisation, collection and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture (3), for a period of five years. That programme terminated on 31 December 1999 and should be replaced by a new Community programme. Regulation (EC) No 1467/94 should therefore be repealed.

(11)

Selection and implementation of measures under the new Community programme should take into account research, technological development and demonstration activities supported either at national level or under the Framework Programmes of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities. The marketing of seed and plant propagating material to be utilised under the new programme should be without prejudice to the Council Directives 66/401/EEC of 14 June 1966 on the marketing of fodder plant seed (4), 66/402/EEC of 14 June 1966 on the marketing of cereal seed (5), 68/193/EEC of 9 April 1968 on the marketing of material for the vegetative propagation of the vine (6), 92/33/EEC of 28 April 1992 on the marketing of vegetable propagating and planting material, other than seed (7), 92/34/EEC of 28 April 1992 on the marketing of fruit plant propagating material and fruit plants intended for fruit production (8), 98/56/EC of 20 July 1998 on the marketing of propagating material of ornamental plants (9), 1999/105/EC of 22 December 1999 on the marketing of forest reproductive material (10), 2002/53/EC of 13 June 2002 on the common catalogue of varieties of agricultural plant species (11), 2002/54/EC of 13 June 2002 on the marketing of beet seed (12), 2002/55/EC of 13 June 2002 on the marketing of vegetable seed (13), 2002/56/EC of 13 June 2002 on the marketing of seed potatoes (14), 202/57/EC of 13 June 2002 on the marketing of seed oil and fibre plants (15).

(12)

The Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA Agreement) provides that the countries of the European Free Trade Association participating in the European Economic Area (EFTA/EEA countries) should, inter alia, strengthen and broaden cooperation within the framework of the Community's activities in the field of conservation, characterisation, collection and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture.

(13)

For the better implementation of the Community programme, a work programme for the period 2004 to 2006 should be set out detailing the relevant financial provisions to be applied.

(14)

For the purposes of implementing and monitoring the Community programme, the Commission should be able to use the assistance of scientific and technical advisors.

(15)

The Community contribution should all be financed through Heading 3 (Internal Policies) of the Financial Perspective.

(16)

The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (16),

(a)

‘plant genetic resources’ means those of agricultural crops, horticultural crops, medicinal plants and aromatics, fruit crops, forest trees and wild flora which are or could be of use in the field of agriculture;

(b)

‘animal genetic resources’ means those of farm animals (vertebrates and invertebrates) and wild fauna which are or could be of use in the field of agriculture;

(c)

‘genetic material’ means any material of plant, microbial or animal origin, including reproductive and vegetative propagating material, containing functional units of heredity;

(d)

‘genetic resources for agriculture’ means any genetic material of plant, microbial or animal origin of actual or potential value for agriculture;

(e)

‘in situ conservation’ means the conservation of genetic material in ecosystems and natural habitats and the maintenance and recovery of viable populations of species or feral breeds in their natural surroundings and, in the case of domesticated animal breeds or cultivated plant species, in the farmed environment where they have developed their distinctive properties;

(f)

‘in situ/on farm conservation’ means ‘in situ conservation and development’ at the level of the farm;

(g)

‘ex situ conservation’ means the conservation of genetic material for agriculture outside their natural habitat;

(h)

‘ex situ collection’ means a collection of genetic material for agriculture maintained outside their natural habitat;

(i)

‘bio-geographic region’ means a geographic region with typical characteristics regarding the composition and structure of the fauna and flora.

(a)

actions promoting the ex situ and in situ conservation, characterisation, collection and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture;

(b)

the establishment of a European decentralised, permanent and widely accessible web-based inventory of genetic resources currently conserved in situ including in situ/on farm genetic resources conservation activities;

(c)

the establishment of a European decentralised, permanent and widely accessible web-based inventory of the ex situ collections (gene banks) and in situ facilities (resources) and databases currently available or being developed on the basis of national inventories;

(d)

the promotion of regular exchanges of technical and scientific information, in particular on the origins and individual characteristics of available genetic resources, among competent organisations in the Member States.

(a)

EFTA/EEA countries in accordance with the conditions established in the EEA Agreement;

(b)

associated countries, in accordance with the conditions laid down in the respective bilateral agreements establishing the general principles for their participation in Community programmes.

(1)

A common policy on asylum, including a Common European Asylum System, is a constituent part of the European Union's objective of progressively establishing an area of freedom, security and justice open to those who, forced by circumstances, legitimately seek protection in the Community.

(2)

The European Council at its special meeting in Tampere on 15 and 16 October 1999 agreed to work towards establishing a Common European Asylum System, based on the full and inclusive application of the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 28 July 1951 (Geneva Convention), as supplemented by the New York Protocol of 31 January 1967 (Protocol), thus affirming the principle of non-refoulement and ensuring that nobody is sent back to persecution.

(3)

The Geneva Convention and Protocol provide the cornerstone of the international legal regime for the protection of refugees.

(4)

The Tampere conclusions provide that a Common European Asylum System should include, in the short term, the approximation of rules on the recognition of refugees and the content of refugee status.

(5)

The Tampere conclusions also provide that rules regarding refugee status should be complemented by measures on subsidiary forms of protection, offering an appropriate status to any person in need of such protection.

(6)

The main objective of this Directive is, on the one hand, to ensure that Member States apply common criteria for the identification of persons genuinely in need of international protection, and, on the other hand, to ensure that a minimum level of benefits is available for these persons in all Member States.

(7)

The approximation of rules on the recognition and content of refugee and subsidiary protection status should help to limit the secondary movements of applicants for asylum between Member States, where such movement is purely caused by differences in legal frameworks.

(8)

It is in the very nature of minimum standards that Member States should have the power to introduce or maintain more favourable provisions for third country nationals or stateless persons who request international protection from a Member State, where such a request is understood to be on the grounds that the person concerned is either a refugee within the meaning of Article 1(A) of the Geneva Convention, or a person who otherwise needs international protection.

(9)

Those third country nationals or stateless persons, who are allowed to remain in the territories of the Member States for reasons not due to a need for international protection but on a discretionary basis on compassionate or humanitarian grounds, fall outside the scope of this Directive.

(10)

This Directive respects the fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised in particular by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. In particular this Directive seeks to ensure full respect for human dignity and the right to asylum of applicants for asylum and their accompanying family members.

(11)

With respect to the treatment of persons falling within the scope of this Directive, Member States are bound by obligations under instruments of international law to which they are party and which prohibit discrimination.

(12)

The ‘best interests of the child’ should be a primary consideration of Member States when implementing this Directive.

(13)

This Directive is without prejudice to the Protocol on asylum for nationals of Member States of the European Union as annexed to the Treaty Establishing the European Community.

(14)

The recognition of refugee status is a declaratory act.

(15)

Consultations with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees may provide valuable guidance for Member States when determining refugee status according to Article 1 of the Geneva Convention.

(16)

Minimum standards for the definition and content of refugee status should be laid down to guide the competent national bodies of Member States in the application of the Geneva Convention.

(17)

It is necessary to introduce common criteria for recognising applicants for asylum as refugees within the meaning of Article 1 of the Geneva Convention.

(18)

In particular, it is necessary to introduce common concepts of protection needs arising sur place; sources of harm and protection; internal protection; and persecution, including the reasons for persecution.

(19)

Protection can be provided not only by the State but also by parties or organisations, including international organisations, meeting the conditions of this Directive, which control a region or a larger area within the territory of the State.

(20)

It is necessary, when assessing applications from minors for international protection, that Member States should have regard to child-specific forms of persecution.

(21)

It is equally necessary to introduce a common concept of the persecution ground ‘membership of a particular social group’.

(22)

Acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations are set out in the Preamble and Articles 1 and 2 of the Charter of the United Nations and are, amongst others, embodied in the United Nations Resolutions relating to measures combating terrorism, which declare that ‘acts, methods and practices of terrorism are contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations’ and that ‘knowingly financing, planning and inciting terrorist acts are also contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations’.

(23)

As referred to in Article 14, ‘status’ can also include refugee status.

(24)

Minimum standards for the definition and content of subsidiary protection status should also be laid down. Subsidiary protection should be complementary and additional to the refugee protection enshrined in the Geneva Convention.

(25)

It is necessary to introduce criteria on the basis of which applicants for international protection are to be recognised as eligible for subsidiary protection. Those criteria should be drawn from international obligations under human rights instruments and practices existing in Member States.

(26)

Risks to which a population of a country or a section of the population is generally exposed do normally not create in themselves an individual threat which would qualify as serious harm.

(27)

Family members, merely due to their relation to the refugee, will normally be vulnerable to acts of persecution in such a manner that could be the basis for refugee status.

(28)

The notion of national security and public order also covers cases in which a third country national belongs to an association which supports international terrorism or supports such an association.

(29)

While the benefits provided to family members of beneficiaries of subsidiary protection status do not necessarily have to be the same as those provided to the qualifying beneficiary, they need to be fair in comparison to those enjoyed by beneficiaries of subsidiary protection status.

(30)

Within the limits set out by international obligations, Member States may lay down that the granting of benefits with regard to access to employment, social welfare, health care and access to integration facilities requires the prior issue of a residence permit.

(31)

This Directive does not apply to financial benefits from the Member States which are granted to promote education and training.

(32)

The practical difficulties encountered by beneficiaries of refugee or subsidiary protection status concerning the authentication of their foreign diplomas, certificates or other evidence of formal qualification should be taken into account.

(33)

Especially to avoid social hardship, it is appropriate, for beneficiaries of refugee or subsidiary protection status, to provide without discrimination in the context of social assistance the adequate social welfare and means of subsistence.

(34)

With regard to social assistance and health care, the modalities and detail of the provision of core benefits to beneficiaries of subsidiary protection status should be determined by national law. The possibility of limiting the benefits for beneficiaries of subsidiary protection status to core benefits is to be understood in the sense that this notion covers at least minimum income support, assistance in case of illness, pregnancy and parental assistance, in so far as they are granted to nationals according to the legislation of the Member State concerned.

(35)

Access to health care, including both physical and mental health care, should be ensured to beneficiaries of refugee or subsidiary protection status.

(36)

The implementation of this Directive should be evaluated at regular intervals, taking into consideration in particular the evolution of the international obligations of Member States regarding non-refoulement, the evolution of the labour markets in the Member States as well as the development of common basic principles for integration.

(37)

Since the objectives of the proposed Directive, namely to establish minimum standards for the granting of international protection to third country nationals and stateless persons by Member States and the content of the protection granted, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale and effects of the Directive, be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.

(38)

In accordance with Article 3 of the Protocol on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland, annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty establishing the European Community, the United Kingdom has notified, by letter of 28 January 2002, its wish to take part in the adoption and application of this Directive.

(39)

In accordance with Article 3 of the Protocol on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland, annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Ireland has notified, by letter of 13 February 2002, its wish to take part in the adoption and application of this Directive.

(40)

In accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of the Protocol on the position of Denmark, annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Denmark is not taking part in the adoption of this Directive and is not bound by it or subject to its application,

(1)

On 27 and 28 January 2003 the Council authorised the Commission to negotiate, on behalf of the Community, the Agreement referred to in this Decision.

(2)

The Agreement should be approved,

(1)

The Agreement between the European Community and the United States of America on customs cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters (1) (CMAA) provides for the possibility of its expansion with a view to increasing the levels of customs cooperation and supplementing them by means of agreements on specific sectors or matters.

(2)

The Commission has negotiated on behalf of the Community an agreement with the United States of America intensifying and broadening the CMAA to include cooperation on container security and related matters (the Agreement).

(3)

The Agreement expands the customs cooperation between the Community and the United States of America to cover container security and related matters. It envisages the prompt and successful expansion of the Container Security Initiative to all ports in the Community that meet relevant requirements. The Agreement also sets out a work programme for further implementation measures, including the development of standards for risk management techniques, information required to identify high-risk shipments imported into the Parties, and industry partnership programmes.

(4)

The external coordination of customs control standards with the United States of America is necessary to ensure supply chain security while guaranteeing the continued flow of legitimate trade in containers. In particular, it is essential to ensure that all Community ports can participate in the Container Security Initiative on the basis of uniform principles and that comparable standards are promoted in United States (US) ports. Thus, the direct aim and content of the Agreement concerns the facilitation of legitimate trade between the Community and the United States of America while ensuring on a reciprocal basis a high level of security by allowing for cooperation in developing actions in specific control areas in respect of which the Community has competence.

(5)

Member States should have the possibility to expand the Container Security Initiative to all Community ports through arrangements with the United States of America identifying Community ports that participate in the Container Security Initiative and providing for the stationing of US customs officials therein or to maintain any such existing declarations of principles to that end, provided these arrangements are in conformity with the Treaty and compatible with the CMAA as expanded by the Agreement.

(6)

It is necessary to ensure close cooperation between the Member States and the Community institutions for the purpose of further intensification and broadening of the customs cooperation under the CMAA as expanded.

(7)

To that end a consultation procedure should be established whereby Member States envisaging to negotiate arrangements with the United States of America on matters covered by the CMAA as expanded would immediately notify such intention and provide the relevant information. If so requested by a Member State or the Commission within short time limits the information should be the subject of consultations between the Member States and the Commission.

(8)

The main purpose of the consultations should be to facilitate the exchange of information and to ensure that the arrangements are consistent with the Treaty and with common policies, in particular the common framework of cooperation with the United States of America set out in the CMAA as expanded.

(9)

Where the Commission considers that an arrangement that a Member State wishes to implement with the United States of America is incompatible with the CMAA as expanded or that the subject matter should be addressed in the framework of the CMAA as expanded, it should inform the Member State accordingly.

(10)

The consultation procedure should be without prejudice to the respective competencies of the Member States and the Community to conclude the arrangements envisaged.

(11)

The Agreement should be approved,

(1)

The Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an Association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Arab Republic of Egypt, of the other part, signed on behalf of the European Community, in Luxembourg on 25 June 2001, should be approved.

(2)

The provisions of this Agreement that fall within the scope of Part III, Title IV of the Treaty establishing the European Community bind the United Kingdom and Ireland as separate Contracting Parties, and not as part of the European Community, until the United Kingdom or Ireland (as the case may be) notifies the Arab Republic of Egypt that it has become bound as part of the European Community in accordance with the Protocol on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland annexed to the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community. The same applies to Denmark, in accordance with the Protocol annexed to those Treaties on the position of Denmark,