In accordance with Article 4, paragraph 1 and Article 12, paragraph 1, each Party shall communicate to the Conference of the Parties, through the secretariat, the following elements of information:

(a) A national inventory of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, to the extent its capacities permit, using comparable methodologies to be promoted and agreed upon by the Conference of the Parties.

(b) A general description of steps taken or envisaged by the Party to implement the Convention.

(c) Any other information the Party considers relevant to the achievement of the objective of the Convention and suitable for inclusion in its communication, including, if feasible, material relevant for calculations of global emission trends.

Guidelines for the preparation of initial national communications from non-Annex I Parties were adopted at COP 2 in Geneva in 1996. COP 5 (Bonn, 1999) initiated a process of reviewing the guidelines, with the aim of improving them and established a Consultative Group of Experts on National Communications from non-Annex I Parties (CGE) in order to improve the process of preparation of national communications by non-Annex I Parties. The CGE made major contributions to the review of the guidelines. At COP 8 (New Delhi, 2002) Parties adopted revised guidelines, which will be the basis for the preparation of second and, where appropriate, third and initial national communications. The secretariat organized a global workshop on the use of the guidelines held in Mauritius in 2003. One Party (Uruguay) has already submitted its second national communication using the new guidelines.

 In response to a request by SBI 18 (Bonn, 2003), the secretariat prepared a user manual to facilitate the use of the UNFCCC guidelines annexed to decision 17/CP.8.

The user manual, launched at COP 9 (Milan 2003), is designed for use by Parties and national experts responsible for the preparation of the various sections of national communications, and also by national climate change teams or committees that facilitate the coordination, organization and management of various tasks and activities. It might also be useful for multilateral and bilateral programmes that support the preparation of national communications from non-Annex I Parties.

The user manual is available electronically in PDF-format in three UN languages:  English (672 kB) , Français, Español. It is also made available to Parties in hardcopy upon request.