BRIEFING: Tropical Forest Funding Committees

European Community funding for projects related to tropical forests is decided under Council Regulation 3062/95 on operations to promote tropical forests, the European Development Fund (EDF), Stabex and Sysmin.  These funding decisions are carried out by committee procedures, whereby the Commission presents proposals to committees comprising Member State representatives, a Commission chairperson, and - in the case of the EDF committee - a European Investment Bank representative.

Asia and Latin America

For Asian and Latin American forests, the Commission is assisted by a committee set up pursuant to Art 15 of Regulation 443/92 on financial and technical assistance to, and economic cooperation with, the developing countries of Asia and Latin America (ALA).

This funding committee is a regulatory committee.[i] Under regulatory committee procedure, if the committee fails to accept a Commission proposal, that proposal is then forwarded to the Council. The Council must in turn either adopt the proposal by qualified majority or reject it by unanimity. The latter requirement makes rejection almost impossible.

According to the provisions of Regulation 443/92, the regulatory committee is meant to take into account human rights, culture, environment and natural resource implications of any project it considers (Art 5). In practice, it is impossible to know whether the committee is complying with these provisions, since no information on the decision-making process is made public. A number of requests by NGOs to obtain information relating to funding decisions have been denied.[ii]

African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)

For ACP countries, the Commission is assisted by the so-called EDF committee, set up pursuant to Art 21 of the Internal Agreement on financing and administration of Community aid under Lomé IV.

The EDF committee, which brings together representatives of the Commission, Member States, and the European Investment Bank, is even less transparent or accountable than the ALA committee, as its terms of reference refer only to financing and administration.

The committee is under no obligation to even consider the societal impacts of projects being considered. In its 10 pages, the Agreement sets out no criteria of a social, political, or environmental nature meant to guide deliberations on funding. Nor is any provision made for consultation with local groups, interested NGOs, or others.

Brussels

5 June 1998