The aim of ECE is to further harmonize policies, norms and practices among the countries of the region and to strengthen their integration and cooperation.
Under the direction of Mr. Yves Berthelot, the Commission achieves this aim through policy analysis and dialogue on macroeconomic and sectoral issues; the elaboration of conventions, norms and standards; and a newly developed programme of assistance to the transition process.
ECE has continued to accord priority to the protection of the environment and the promotion of sustainable development, in particular in a transboundary context. Since 1979, ECE member countries have worked energetically to take up the environmental challenges of the region. In particular, the Commission has elaborated nine international, legally binding instruments on air pollution, environmental impact assessment, industrial accidents and transboundary waters.
Preparations are under way for two new protocols on persistent organic pollutants and on heavy metals to the 1979 Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution. These legal instruments constitute a unique legal framework for meeting environmental challenges. In order to make the conventions and protocols fully operational region wide, the Commission, in its decision G(50), called upon all its member States which had not already done so, to consider the earliest possible ratification of, or accession to, these instruments.
The Committee on Environmental Policy, with the assistance of its Working Group of Senior Governmental Officials on Environment for Europe, the central coordinating body for the Environment for Europe process, advanced in the preparations for the Sofia Ministerial Conference on Environment for Europe, to be held in October 1995. Among the main issues to be considered by the Conference are the follow-up to the 1993 Environmental Action Plan for Central and Eastern Europe, the assessment of the state of the environment for Europe and financing environmental improvements.
The Committee on Environmental Policy, in cooperation with OECD, has made progress in extending the OECD country environmental performance reviews to central and eastern Europe. The first two joint pilot reviews of Poland and Bulgaria have already taken place. The third review in cooperation with OECD will take place in Belarus next year. As part of its own environmental performance review programme the Commission has undertaken a review of the situation in Estonia, to be concluded by the end of 1995 and published in early 1996.
During the past year, the Committee on Human Settlements continued its preparatory work for the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II). The Regional Preparatory Meeting for the Conference was held and a task force was established to assist the Committee in carrying out the preparatory work. An analytical report was prepared containing an overview of human settlements development in the ECE region and was submitted to the Preparatory Committee for Habitat II.
During the past year, the ECE Inland Transport Committee has continued to serve as a forum for cooperation in the field of transport. The Committee finalized and adopted two new legal instruments, bringing their total number to 50, and adopted amendments to a number of existing ones. Significant progress was made in the preparation of the European Agreement on Main Inland Waterways of International Importance.
Moreover, the Inland Transport Committee progressed in the establishment of international norms and standards for the construction of road vehicles, covering active and passive safety, environmental protection and energy consumption. The Committee has also paid special attention to activities in relation to road safety under the recently revised Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals and other related legal instruments. The second Road Safety Week was organized under the auspices of ECE from 27 March to 2 April 1995 and aimed at waging simultaneous campaigns addressed to young road users in each ECE member State. Substantive progress was also made in the elaboration of international norms and standards for the transport of dangerous goods by road and inland waterways and in their harmonization with those concerning the transport of such goods by rail, sea and air. The Committee acted on the basis of the recommendations developed by the Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, a subsidiary committee of the Economic and Social Council.
The Inland Transport Committee finalized the customs container pool convention and prepared a draft convention on international customs transit procedures for the carriage of goods by rail. It was decided to undertake the revision of the Customs Convention on the International Transport of Goods under Cover of TIR Carnets (TIR Convention) in view of the current problems in its implementation. A report on the facilitation of border crossing in international rail transport was prepared. A programme of action in the area of inland transport, aimed at assisting the countries of central and eastern Europe in their transitions to market economies, is being implemented.
Work has progressed as a follow-up to the decision taken by the Commission at its forty-ninth session, in April 1994, to convene a Regional Conference on Transport and the Environment in 1996. The Preparatory Committee for the Conference has thus far held five meetings and achieved agreement on a text of draft guidelines for a common strategy on transport and the environment.
The integrated presentation of international statistical work in the ECE region has been expanded beyond the statistical work of ECE, the European Communities and OECD to include statistical activities in the region undertaken by the Statistical Division and the Population Division of the United Nations Secretariat, the specialized agencies, the Council of Europe, CIS and other international organizations.
ECE supports a trade facilitation programme through its Working Party on Facilitation of International Trade Procedures. Considerable progress was made in the development of the United Nations Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport (EDIFACT) messages. Members of the Working Party and the secretariat participated in the United Nations International Symposium on Trade Efficiency held at Columbus, Ohio, in October 1994. A Compendium of Trade Facilitation Recommendations was developed. A memorandum of understanding between ECE, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) was developed and approved in order to better define the division of responsibilities between these organizations.
The Guide on the Adaptation of Real Property Law of Countries in Transition, prepared under the auspices of the Working Party on International Contract Practices in Industry, was also well received. In the field of trade and investment promotion the secretariat continued to publish quarterly the East-West Investment News and to update its database on foreign direct investment projects and supporting legislation in countries in transition.
The economic analysis conducted by ECE and published in the Economic Bulletin for Europe and the Economic Survey of Europe in 1994-1995 provides in-depth analysis of current economic developments in Europe, the States of the former Soviet Union, and North America. Special emphasis is given in both publications to developments in the transition economies of eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union and to their progress in creating market economies. This year's Economic Bulletin pays special attention to the foreign trade and payments of the transition economies and to the level of external support they have been receiving. The latest Survey, in addition to a detailed review of macroeconomic developments, contains an assessment of the reform process over the last five years and a review of international migration in eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Under the second phase of the Energy Efficiency 2000 project, ECE has continued to assist countries in transition to develop their capacity to enhance energy efficiency and to implement energy efficiency standards and labelling.
In collaboration with national Governments, local institutions and UNDP, ECE has also formulated projects for enhancing energy efficiency in the context of programmes of conversion of military bases and manufacturing facilities to peaceful purposes in central and eastern Europe.
The Gas Centre was established in 1994, supported by financial contributions from major European and North American Governments and gas companies. A major regional initiative, the Gas Centre brings together almost all of the key natural gas market players in the Commission. It has already been successful in opening dialogue among the private and public gas companies and the Governments in the region.
The Working Party on Engineering Industries and Automation prepared and published two studies entitled "World engineering industries and automation -- performance and prospects, 1993-1995" and "World industrial robots: statistics 1983-1993 and forecasts to 1997". The engineering industries continued to influence the restructuring of industry and, in particular, the process of investment and privatization. In this respect, special emphasis was given to the creation of small and medium-sized enterprises in economies in transition. At its fiftieth session, the Commission recognized the publication Rehabilitation Engineering as an ECE contribution to the World Summit for Social Development.
The Working Party on the Chemical Industry discussed the policy-oriented issues currently facing the chemical industry and stressed the importance of the work related to sustainable development and, in particular, the Chemical Industry -- Sustainable Economic and Ecological Development (CHEMISEED) programme. Fifteen member countries identified 40 sites polluted by chemicals for the pilot project demonstrating environmental clean-up procedures.
The Working Party on Steel strengthened its regional programme on metallurgy and ecology through: the organization of a Seminar on the Steel Industry and Recycling; the addition to the work programme of a Seminar on Processing, Utilization and Disposal of Waste in the Steel Industry; a bibliography of environmental publications in the steel sector; and activities aimed at the harmonization of regulations on environmental protection. The Global Study on the Steel Industry in Europe was prepared in cooperation with the European Commission, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the World Bank and the International Iron and Steel Institute. The study also served as the basis for the examination of the restructuring of steel industries in the economies in transition.
The Working Party on Standardization Policies reviewed developments in the fields of coordination, harmonization, conformity assessment and metrology at the international, regional and national levels and paid particular attention to assistance to the countries in transition with a view to adapting existing structures to market conditions and to assisting newly independent States to build adequate institutions. At its forty-ninth session, the Commission adopted the recommendation on the meteorological assurance of testing proposed by the Working Party as separate decision H(49).
In the light of the decision taken by the FAO Council in June 1994 concerning the restructuring of FAO, and in particular the increased decentralization to the regional and subregional offices, the joint ECE/FAO Agriculture and Timber Division was dismantled in 1995. In accordance with the decision of the Commission at its fiftieth session, in April 1995, interim arrangements have been made to ensure the continuation of the ECE/FAO joint activities on agriculture and the environment and on the economic analysis of the agri-food sector. The Commission will consider a proposal of the Executive Secretary to merge the ECE Committee on Agriculture with the FAO European Commission on Agriculture.
The ECE regional advisory services programme has elaborated a national plan of assistance to the Republic of Georgia. The first phase is scheduled to be implemented before the end of July 1995. The experience of this plan will be evaluated and applied to other cases of high priority.
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