Proposal for a Council Decision on establishing the position to be taken at the Eighteenth Ordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties of the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean, with regard to the proposal for amending Annexes II and III to the Protocol concerning Special Protected Areas and Biological Biodiversity in the Mediterranean and with regard to the proposal for adoption of a Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter

The EU is a Party to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (the "Barcelona Convention"), and its Protocols. Italy, Greece, Spain, France, Slovenia, Malta, Cyprus and Croatia are also Parties to the Convention and its Protocols, together with 13 non EU Mediterranean countries.

The Eighteenth Ordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties of the Barcelona Convention (MOP) will take place 3-6 December 2013 in Istanbul, Turkey. The Meeting of the Parties will be asked to decide, inter alia, on two acts having legal effects:
– A proposal to adopt a Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter, under the Protocol for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution for Land Based Sources ("the LBS Protocol")
– A proposal to amend the annexes II and III to the Protocol concerning Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean (the "SPA and Biodiversity protocol")

The proposal for amendment of the SPA and Biodiversity Protocol and the proposal for a Marine Litter Action Plan under Article 15 of the LBS Protocol will not require any change to Union Law.

In view of the above, the European Union should support the proposal to adopt the Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter and the proposal to amend the annexes II and III to the Protocol concerning Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)743: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:743:FIN

ESO: Background information: Environment: How can we reduce marine litter? http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-environment-how-can-we-reduce-marine-litter/

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