Distr.

GENERAL

FCCC/SBSTA/1996/17

12 November 1996

Original: ENGLISH

SUBSIDIARY BODY FOR SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL ADVICE

Fourth session

Geneva, 16-18 December 1996

Item 4 of the provisional agenda

1. At its third session, the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), noting that reports on activities implemented jointly (AIJ) may be submitted at any time, invited the secretariat to prepare in concise form a first update reflecting reports and submissions by Parties for the fourth session of the SBSTA in December 1996 (FCCC/SBSTA/1996/13, para. 38 (d)).

2. A prerequisite for the smooth functioning of information exchange during the pilot phase for activities implemented jointly is the designation, by all Parties involved in AIJ, of the relevant governmental authority or ministry authorized to accept, approve or endorse activities implemented jointly and to report on them to the Conference of the Parties through the secretariat (FCCC/SBSTA/1996/8, para. 74). In addition these designated national authorities also facilitate communication among Parties as well as between Parties and potential private sector investors. It is suggested that Parties verify whether the information contained in annex I to this document is still up to date.

GE.96-

3. It is recalled that, with regard to reporting, an activity implemented jointly may only be considered by the relevant Convention bodies if it has been approved, accepted or endorsed by all the respective designated national authorities, as follows (FCCC/SBSTA/1996/8, annex IV, paras. 3 and 4):

(a) In the case of joint reporting: the report is submitted by the designated authority of one participating Party with the concurrence of all other participating Parties as evidenced by attached letters issued by the relevant designated national authorities;

(b) In the case of separate reporting: the reports are submitted separately by the designated national authority of each and every participating Party. Information will only be compiled once reports have been submitted by all participating Parties.

4. The secretariat received a report by one Party updating previous information, but to date none of the other Parties mentioned therein have designated their national authority or ministry for AIJ.

5. Parties are invited to refer to the annex to this note for information available

on contact points for designated national authorities. Regular updating occurs on the UNFCCC Website under CC:INFO products, CC:INFO/AIJ (direct: http://www.unfccc.de/fccc/ccinfo/aijcont.htm). Any changes may be communicated to the secretariat.

6. In its progress report on activities implemented jointly (FCCC/CP/1996/14 and Add.1), the secretariat exceptionally presented information even though it had not received the endorsement by all participating Parties, in order to receive feedback on the structure of the synthesis report rather than for analysis. For the preparation of this note, the secretariat contacted those Parties mentioned in the report in order to confirm the national authority, their contact information and the endorsement of reports submitted by other Parties as applicable.

7. The secretariat would like to rectify information on activities contained in the progress report. The reported activity involving Belize and the Netherlands has not been implemented. The reported project of the FACE foundation (Netherlands) in Malaysia exists but no agreement between the Netherlands and Malaysia has been reached which would allow it to be reported as an activity implemented jointly under the pilot phase. Finally, the reported activity between the Netherlands and the Russian Federation is to be deleted for the time being.

8. The following table shows the list of activities contained in the progress report for which the secretariat has received the required information in time to be contained in this document. This list replaces that contained in table 1 of the addendum to the progress report (FCCC/CP/1996/14/Add.1).

9. This update does not contain more detailed information on those activities. Once the initial uniform reporting format is adopted, the secretariat will prepare another update on activities implemented jointly following that format and containing detailed information.

10. As a consequence of the decision taken by the SBSTA at its second session that information on AIJ should be reported by designated national authorities for AIJ (FCCC/SBSTA/1996/8, para. 74) either jointly or separately (FCCC/SBSTA/1996/8,

annex IV, paras. 3 and 5), a considerable amount of information available to the secretariat may not be compiled because either an endorsement or a report by one designated national authority, or sometimes the actual identification of the designated national authority itself, has not been received.

11. At its third session, the SBSTA requested the secretariat "to integrate information on AIJ in the CC:INFO database and reporting system and to implement an information exchange on AIJ in the context of CC:INFO information exchange activities" (FCCC/SBSTA/1996/13, para. 38 (c)). The secretariat is awaiting the adoption of the uniform reporting format in order to integrate information on activities implemented jointly under the pilot phase into the CC:INFO products, notably CC:INFO/WEB and CC:INFO database and report.

12. The secretariat maintains information pages on AIJ at the UNFCCC Website (http://www.unfccc.de) which are reproduced on the UNFCCC CD-Rom. These pages contain background information on the decision-making process on activities implemented jointly, a list of relevant official documents, information available on contact points for designated national authorities, and a list of links to pages produced by national programmes on AIJ.

13. Parties are invited to communicate any changes to the contact information for designated national authorities contained in the annex to this document. The changes will be incorporated in regular updates.

Below are listed the contact points for entities authorized to accept, approve or endorse activities implemented jointly and to report on them to the Conference of the Parties. A number of national focal points to the UNFCCC that are also the designated authority authorized to accept, approve or endorse activities implemented jointly and to report on them to the Conference of the Parties have been identified by Parties. Information on these focal points will be provided in "Who is Who in the UNFCCC Process" which is to be issued by the secretariat this year, and on the secretariat World Wide Web site (http://www.unfccc.de).

Australia:

Australia's National Program on AIJ

Australian AIJ

c/o Mr Paul Tighe

Assistant Secretary

International Competitiveness Branch

Department of Foreign Affairs and

Trade

Parkes ACT 2600, Australia

Canada:

Canadian Joint Implementation Initiative(CJII)

Mrs. Anne Boucher

Natural Resources Canada

CJII office, 19th floor

580 Booth St.

Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0E4, Canada

Tel: (613) 996-2921

Fax: (613) 947-6799

E-mail: CJII@es.nrcan.gc.ca (internet). Costa Rica:

Oficina Costarricense de Implementación

Conjunta (OCIC)

Costa Rican Office for Joint Implementation

Mr. Franz Tattenbach

(National Coordinator)

Mr. Adalberto Gorbitz

(General Manager)

CINDE Building

La Uruca

San José, Costa Rica

Tel: (506) 220-0036

Fax: (506) 220-1238

E-mail: crocic@sol.racsa.co.cr

Czech Republic:

Ministry of the Environment

Director of Foreign Relations

Mrs. Alexandra Orlíková

Vrsovická 65

Prague 10, 100 10, Czech Republic

Germany:

Joint Implementation Coordination Office

The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety

Joint Implementation Coordination

Office

Postfach 120629

53048 Bonn, Germany

Tel.: (49-228) 305-2358

Fax.: (49-228) 305-3336

E-mail: g16-2004@wp-gate.bmu.de

Greece:

Ministry for the Environment,

Physical Planning and Public Works

Department of International Relations

and E. U. Affairs

17, Amaliados Street

115-23 Athens, Greece

Tel.: (30-1) 6411717 or (30-1)6435740

Fax: (30-1) 6434470

Hungary:

Ministry for the Environment and Regional

Policy

Department of Environmental Strategy

Fö utca 2250

H-1011 Budapest, Hungary

Tel.: (36-1) 457-3300 Fax: (36-1) 201-4133

Honduras:

Ministry for the Environment,

Secretaría de Estado en el Despacho del Ambiente (SEDA)

Apdo. 4710

Tegucigalpa, M.D. C., Honduras

Tel.: (504) 37-5664 or 37-5667 or

38-5308 or 38-4662 or 38-4685

Fax: (504) 37-5726

Ireland:

Department of Environment,

Mr. Donal Enright

Custom House

Dublin 2, Ireland

Tel.: (35-31)-6793377, ext. 2550

Fax: (35-31)-8742423

Japan:

Inter-Ministerial/Agency Coordination

Committee for AIJ (IMACC)

Secretariat

Yuichi Kitamura

2-2-1 Kasumigaseki

Chiyoda-ku

Tokyo 100, Japan

Tel.: (81-3)3581-3882

Fax: (81-3)3592-0364

Mexico:

Instituto Nacional de Ecología

(INE-SEDESOL)

National Institute of Ecology

Rio Elba N 20, piso 14

06500 Mexico D.F., Mexico

Tel.: (52-5)553-9969/-9601

Fax: (52-5)553-9753

Netherlands:

The Netherlands' Pilot Phase Program on

Joint Implementation

Mr. Henk Merkus

Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning

and Environment

Directorate General for Environmental

Protection

Directorate Air and Energy IPC/640

Climate Change Department

P.O. Box 30945.

2500 GX The Hague, Netherlands

Tel.: (31-70) 339-4440

Fax: (31-70) 339-1310

E-mail:merkus@DLE.DGM.minvrom.nl Norway:

National Pilot Phase Programme

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs

Amb. Arne B. HØnningstad

P.O. Box 8114

7. Juni-Plassen

N-0032 Oslo Dep, Norway

Tel.: (47-2234) 3600

Fax: (47-2234) 2782

Poland:

Ministry of Environmental Protection, Natural Resources and Forestry

ul. Wawelska 52/54

PL-00-922 Warszawa, Poland

Tel.: (4822) 251133

Fax: (4822) 253972

United States of America:

United States Initiative on Joint

Implementation (USIJI)

PO-63

1000 Independence Avenue SW

Washington DC 20585, USA

Tel: (1-202) 426-1628

Fax: (1-202) 426-1540

Hotline: (1-202) 426-0072

World Wide Web: http://www.ji.org.