General

FCCC/SBI/1997/INF.6

14 October 1997

ENGLISH ONLY

SUBSIDIARY BODY FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Seventh session

Bonn, 20 - 29 October 1997

Item 3 (a) of the provisional agenda

1. The present note describes the progress made with regard to in-depth reviews of first national communications from Parties included in Annex I to the Convention, and contains information on submissions and distribution of second national communications.

2. All Annex I Parties, except Lithuania (submission due date 22 December 1995), have submitted their first national communication. At the time of preparation of this note,

32 country visits had taken place in connection with the in-depth reviews of national communications and 28 in-depth review reports had been issued.

3. In accordance with decision 2/CP.1 of the Conference of the Parties (COP), summaries of the reports of the in-depth reviews are made available to all Parties and accredited observers. These summaries are one to two pages in length and are available in the six official languages of the United Nations. The full texts of the reports are available in their original language. These reports including their summaries are also accessible on-line via the World Wide Web (http://www.unfccc.de) and APC network (Econet, un.fccc conference).

4. The table in this document provides an update on the dates of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession of Parties included in Annex I to the Convention, the dates on which the first national communications were due following the entry into force of the Convention,

GE.97-

the dates on which the first national communications were received, and the dates of in-depth review country visits.

5. The COP 2, by its decision 9/CP.2, requested Annex I Parties to submit their second national communication by 15 April 1997. For those Parties which were due to submit the first communication in 1996, an update of this communication was to be submitted by the same date; second national communications by Parties with economies in transition should in principle be submitted not later than 15 April 1998. National inventory data on emissions by sources and removals by sinks are to be submitted on an annual basis by 15 April of each year.

6. Of the second communications that were due by 15 April 1997, six were received on time (Canada, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom) and ten after the deadline (Austria, Belgium, France, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States of America and Monaco which, though not an Annex I Party, notified the Depositary that it intends to be bound by subparagraphs (a) and (b) of Article 4.2). The Czech Republic and Slovakia have submitted second national communications before their due dates. Second communications have not been received from Australia, Denmark, the European Community, Greece, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain. Hungary, Japan, Latvia and the Russian Federation made available to the secretariat updated greenhouse gas inventories (in some cases advance or preliminary ones).

7. According to decisions of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Framework Convention on Climate Change and of the Conferences of the Parties,

500 copies of second national communication are to be submitted to the secretariat for subsequent distribution, as well as an electronic version of an executive summary of the national communication. At the time of writing the requested number of copies have been received by the secretariat from eleven Parties (Canada, Finland, Germany, Ireland,

the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America). The secretariat has dispatched the second communications of Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America to all Parties and observer States to the Convention, as well as to a number of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. Further mailings will be made as soon as more communications are received.

Annex I Party	Date of ratification*	Communication due date	Communication received date	Review visit dates
New Zealand***	16.09.93	21.09.94	21.09.94	03-07.07.95
Norway***	09.07.93	21.09.94	21.09.94	23-27.10.95
Poland	28.07.94	26.04.95	02.02.95	25-29.03.96
Portugal***	21.12.93	21.09.94	25.01.95	09-13.09.96
Romania***	08.06.94	06.03.95	14.03.95	07-11.10.96
Russian Federation***	28.12.94	28.09.95	05.12.95	22-26.04.96
Slovakia***	25.08.94	24.05.95	11.10.95	02-06.06.96
Spain***	21.12.93	21.09.94	28.09.94	25-29.09.95
Sweden***	23.06.93	21.09.94	20.09.94	13-17.03.95
Switzerland***	10.12.93	21.09.94	21.09.94	11-14.09.95
Turkey**	-	-	-	-
Ukraine	13.05.97	13.02.98	-	-
United Kingdom***	08.12.93	21.09.94	07.02.94	09-13.10.95
United States of America***	15.10.92	21.09.94	21.09.94	22-26.05.95
Liechtenstein	22.06.94	22.03.95	24.02.95	-
Monaco	24.11.92	21.09.94	25.10.94	-

* For the purpose of this document, all references to ratification include information on accession, acceptance and approval of the Convention.

** Country that has not yet ratified or acceded to the Convention.

*** In-depth review report published (as at 14 October 1997).

As stipulated in Article 4.2(g) of the Convention, any Party not included in Annex I may, in its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, or at any time thereafter, notify the Depositary that it intends to be bound by subparagraphs (a) and (b) of Article 4.2. Monaco notified the Depositary of its intention to be bound by these subparagraphs on 24 November 1992. Liechtenstein has not notified the Depositary of its intention to be bound by these subparagraphs.