AARHUS CONVENTION

At the second meeting of the Signatories, it was decided to establish an open-ended intergovernmental working group to draw up a text for a draft decision establishing a compliance mechanism in accordance with Article 15 of the Convention, with the intention that this would be adopted at the first meeting of the Parties. A task force on compliance has carried out the preliminary work and the results are reflected in the reports of its two meetings.

The second meeting of the Signatories also discussed the draft rules of procedure which are to be considered and adopted at the first meeting of the Parties in accordance with Article 10, paragraph 2 (h). It was decided that the same open-ended intergovernmental working group should draw up a text to be considered at the first meeting of the Parties. The first meeting of the Working Group on Compliance and Rules of Procedure took place in Geneva on 12-16 February. The outcome of the meeting is reflected in the report of the meeting, which is now available in English only.

A second meeting of the Working Group took place in Geneva 26-27 November 2001. The Working Group made good progress on the draft decision on the compliance mechanism and the annex, including the mechanism, but did not have much time to deal with the draft rules of procedure for the meeting of the Parties. The copy of the report is now available in all three languages as well as an informal compiled version of the draft decision on a compliance mechanism in English only. The Working Group decided that it would not meet again and that the two draft decisions could be finalized by the Preparatory Working Group.

Other relevant documentation