15 April 1998

ENGLISH ONLY

UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

SUBSIDIARY BODY FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Eighth session

Bonn, 2-12 June 1998

Item 3 (b) of the provisional agenda

 
1. At its seventh session, the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) took note of the

views expressed by Parties and the text of the co-Chairmen's draft compilation on the process for consideration of communications from Parties not included in Annex I to the Convention. It invited Parties to submit comments on the co-Chairmen's draft compilation by

21 March 1998, and requested the secretariat to make these available to the SBI in order to facilitate its work in recommending a decision to the Conference of the Parties at its fourth session (FCCC/SBI/1997/21, para. 13 (b) (iii)).

1. Three such submissions have been received.⁽¹⁾ In accordance with the procedure for

miscellaneous documents, these submissions are attached and reproduced in the language in which they were received and without formal editing.

FCCC/SBI/1998/MISC.2

GE.98-

PAPER NO. Page

1. Republic of Uzbekistan 3

(Submission received 13 March 1998)

THE COMMENTS OF REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN ON

THE CO-CHAIRMEN'S DRAFT COMPILATION ON THE

PROCESS FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF INITIAL

NATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM

NON-ANNEX I PARTIES

2. European Community and its member States 6

(Submission received 23 March 1998)

DRAFT VIEWS OF THE EU ON THE PROCESS OF

CONSIDERING THE NATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS

OF NON-ANNEX I PARTIES

3. Switzerland 7

(Submission received 27 March 1998)

CONSIDERATION OF NATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS OF NON-ANNEX I PARTIES - SUBSIDIARY BODY FOR IMPLEMENTATION

EIGHTH SESSION, BONN, 2-12 JUNE 1998

Recalling Articles 4.1, 7.2, 9.2, 10.2, 12.1, 12.5, 12.7 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,

Recalling also its decision 4/CP.1, 7/CP.1, 3/CP.2, 8/CP.1 and 10/CP.2,

Noting that each developing country Party shall make its initial communication within three years of entry into force of the Convention for that Party, or of the availability of financial resources in accordance with Article 4.3 and that Parties that are least developed may make their submission at their discretion,

Noting the differentiated timetable for the submission of the initial national communications from Parties not included in Annex I because of the different timing of the provision of funding from the interim financial mechanism and, consequently, the need for flexibility in its consideration of these communications,

1. Decides that the information contained in the initial communications of Parties not included in Annex I will be considered in a facilitative, non confrontational, open and transparent manner to ensure that the COP has accurate, consistent and relevant information at its disposal to assist it in carrying out its responsibilities;

2. Decides that the process of consideration shall:

a) Assist the secretariat's determination of the informational, technical and financial needs of non-Annex I Parties (for the preparation of their national communications in accordance with Article 8.2 (c);

b) Seek to enhance the comparability of and focus on non-Annex I Party national communications;

c) Provide a technical assessment of progress in implementation of the Convention; and

d) Assess quantitative and qualitative information for consistency with applicable guidelines adopted by Parties ;

3. Decides that each national communication submitted by a non-Annex I Party should be subject to an in-depth review within one year of receipt by the secretariat; such assessment should be carried out by expert teams, under the authority of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation;

a) That the expert teams should conduct their work through regional workshops to provide for expert discussion of informational contained in national communications, and through voluntary, in-country visits where helpful;

b) That each expert team should produce a report on each review, written in non-confrontational manner, and submitted to the SBI;

Decides that the initial communications from non-Annex I Parties shall be considered on an annual or biennial basis;

4. Requests the secretariat:

a) To facilitate the provision of assistance to non-Annex I Parties in the preparation of national communications, in accordance with Article 8.2 (c);

b) To compile and synthesize the information contained in national communications from non-Annex I Parties annually for consideration by the SBI, in accordance with Article 10.2 (a);

c) To co-ordinate and facilitate the review/consideration of national communications from Parties not included in Annex I, including the organization of in-depth reviews and regional workshops;

d) To select, under the guidance of the Chairs of the subsidiary bodies, members of the expert teams from names nominated by Parties and intergovernmental organizations to assist in the review/consideration;

e) To arrange and host regional workshops to provide for expert review of information contained in national communications;

f) To note instances wherein-country expert visits would be beneficial to promote greater understanding of a Party's specific national circumstances, inventory data or efforts to respond to climate change;

g) To arrange, upon request by a Party, for voluntary, in-country expert visits for individual consideration of national communications;

h) To make available, with the permission of the relevant Party, the national communication and the report of the expert's review to the Council of the Global Environmental Facility, with the request that they take particular note of this information in their consideration of project proposals from the relevant Party;

i) To compile and make available to Parties, a compendium of projects and related information submitted by Parties not included in Annex I in accordance with Article 12.4;

j) To prepare a report on the application of guidelines for the preparation of initial communications from Parties not included in Annex I with a view to further enhancing the accuracy, completeness, comparability and focus on national communications;

5. Requests the Subsidiary Body on Implementation to consider the information contained in national communication;

a) To assist the COP in assessing the overall aggregated effect of the steps taken by the Parties, in accordance with Article 10.2; and

b) To provide appropriate guidance to the Global Environmental Facility;

6. Requests the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice:

a) To further refine the guidelines for the preparation of the national communications from Parties not included in Annex I to Convention; and

b) To prepare scientific assessments on the effects of measures taken in the implementation of the Convention, in accordance with Article 9.2 (b);

7. Invites Parties and intergovernmental organizations to nominate experts to assist in the consideration of national communications;

8. Urges Parties not included in Annex I to the Convention to submit their national communications at their earliest convenience;

9. Requests non-Annex I Parties to submit to secretariat national inventory data on a regular basis.

The EU would like to thank the Co-chairs for their efforts to produce a compilation text on the process of considering national communications from Parties not included in Annex I of the Convention.

We see the production and review of non-Annex I Party communications as one of the key elements in the process of assessing the needs and priorities of developing countries in relation to their commitments under the Convention. We believe that, as an initial step, regional workshops have contributed to a better understanding and preparation of

non-Annex I Party communications. Regional workshops could continue to have a role in considering these communications, but the EU believes that these workshops would not ultimately provide a satisfactory alternative to individual, national, reviews carried out by in-country visits as far as possible. We also note the need for experts to be selected for the purposes of carrying out the reviews and recommend that this task be delegated to the Secretariat.

We also note the need for bilateral donors and multilateral agencies, including the financial mechanism, to have access to the best possible information on an individual country's specific requirements. This information needs to be timely, regularly updated and verified by data on emissions, sinks and any other facts that the developing country Party feels is relevant to its individual circumstances. We believe that the provision of this information and the efforts of all Parties in carrying out their commitments under Article 4 will be advanced by a reveiw process which ensures the accuracy, completeness and comparability of the national communications of Non-Annex I Parties.

In view of the importance of this and in the light of the number of developing country national communications that are now available, the EU hopes that the Parties can reach agreement on this issue at the forthcoming session of the Subsidiary Bodies.

19 March 1998

In response to the call at the seventh session of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) for comments on the "Co-chairs draft compilation on the process for consideration of communications from Parties not included in Annex I to the Convention", Switzerland presents the following views.

1. Further deliberations in a co-operative and non-confrontational spirit are necessary in

the framework of the SBI on a process for considering national communications from non-Annex I Parties. The process of consideration of national communications should tend to facilitate the establishment of improved, applicable guidelines to be adopted by the Parties, taking into account the need of consistency, transparency and comparability of the information provided by Parties.

2. The Co-chairs draft compilation is a good basis for further discussions. The

following proposals are made to advance in the discussion:

• Preamble, second "Noting": remove

"Noting the differentiated timetable for the submission of the initial national communications from Parties not included in the Annex I [because of the different timing of the provision funding from the interim financial mechanism;] [and, consequently, the need for flexibility in its consideration of these communications;]"

• Paragraph 2 (a):

"Assist the secretariat's in the determination of the information contained in the national communications [informational, technical and financial] needs of non-Annex I Parties [for the preparation of their national communications in accordance with article 8.2 (c).] [related to implementation of commitments; and in particular those associated with proposed projects and response measures under Article 4.];

• Paragraph 3:

"Decides that each national communication submitted by a non-Annex I Party should be subject to an in-depth [technical] [assessment] review within one year of receipt by the secretariat; such assessment should be carried out by expert teams, under the authority of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation;"

• Paragraph 3 (b):

"That each expert team should produce a report on each [assessment] review, written in [an objective] [non confrontational] manner, and submitted submit it to the SBI;]"

• Paragraph 4 (d) bis:

"To use existing expertise in intergovernmental organisations and programmes, in particular CC: TRAIN/UNITAR, in the in-depth review of the national communications;"