Last update: 30/06/2004
DG External Relations, DG Expansion, EuropAid – Office
for cooperation
As part of the
PHARE
and
TACIS programmes, through the so-called “Study
Contracts”, APAT supports the EU Commission in identifying
and defining the technical contents of assistance projects for the
countries of Central and Eastern Europe and of the former Soviet
Union in the field of nuclear safety.
This assistance is aimed at assisting the corresponding national
monitoring authorities in these countries, both in technical and
organisational development, by transferring to them methods and
approaches adopted in the Western countries, and in the current
licensing activities by providing specific technical support.
As part of the
PHARE-TWINNING
projects (support for the process of candidate countries in
entering the EU), APAT participated in the following
projects:
- Twinning project with the Ministry of the Environment of the
Slovak Republic, in collaboration with the Environment Department
of Turin Province. This project involved supporting the Slovak
Environment Ministry in implementing the Community EMAS scheme (EC
Reg. n. 761/01) in the Slovak Republic. The project enabled
Slovakia to define the conditions for approval of a specific law
for the implementation of the scheme and for the full
operationality of the competent agency and the accreditation body,
with the model implemented in Italy serving as primary
reference.
- PHARE-TWINNING project in the environmental field with
Slovakia: “Implementation and enforcement of Council
Directive on discharges of dangerous substances into the aquatic
environment,” in collaboration with the CICU – Italian
Committee of United Cities/Finpiemonte, and initiated the
collaborative activities in the PHARE-TWINNING project with the
Republic of Poland for “Monitoring of Drinking Water
Quality,” with the Veneto ARPA as leader.
- Administrative twinning project with Romania: “Compliance
of Romanian statistics with the European statistical system,”
signed in March 2002 with the Ministry of Economics and Finance and
the Ministry of the Environment and Territorial Protection.
As part of this project, APAT provides a team of experts and in
April 2003 held a study tour for Romanian experts in Rome.
APAT is currently carrying out contract with the European
Commission (EuropAid Office) for the
RMSU
(Regional Management and Support Unit) project of the Regional
Euro-Mediterranean Programme for the Environment, funded with
MEDA
funds.
This contract is coordinated by APAT in collaboration with the
Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE).
The RMSU supports the European Commission in the process of
developing communication and mutual cooperation among the regional
projects co-funded as part of the Programme, which is aimed at
promoting sustainable development and supporting priority
environmental activities in the Mediterranean, such as integrated
management of water resources, waste, critical sites (hot spots),
integrated management of coastal areas, and combating
desertification.
In particular, information and communication activities are one
of the project’s essential objectives; indeed, the approach
adopted aims at optimising environmental information by integrating
traditional and commonly utilised means of communication with other
mass and personalised means, through targeted initiatives in
synergy with the existing networks. For this purpose, the SMAP RMS
Web site was created, on line since June 16, 2004, at the following
address: www.smaprms.net . The RMS
unit’s portal/site was designed for the purpose of:
- improving access to and dissemination of existing information
on the environmental projects funded by the SMAP, by other MEDA and
EU programmes, and by other institutions
- spreading good practices, case studies and lessons learned on
environmental policies and projects
- facilitating contacts, meetings and the creation of
partnerships among environmental players in the region
- facilitating the exchange of existing information and data
regarding SMAP priority areas.
In June 2003, a
Workshop
was held in Rome to launch the project, which included the
participation of representatives of 15 partner countries, the
European Commission, the Italian and Finnish Environment
Ministries, and the Italian Foreign Ministry.
DG Tren - Energy and Transport
As an associated expert,
APAT participates in the European research project
ECOPORTS, co-funded by the
Directorate General for Energy and Transport.
The main purpose of the project (2002-2005) is to promote an
exchange of experiences and practical solutions that each port
participating in the project adopts or has adopted to resolve its
own environmental problems.
During the second plenary meeting of the project’s partners,
hosted in Rome by APAT in June 2003, a progress report was given on
the project’s main products, which consist of the development
of an information and environmental management system for ports, a
self-diagnosis method (SDM) for conducting analyses of a
port’s environmental performance, and a decision support
system (DSS) consisting of a software used by port managers to
support their choices in the planning phase. The initial results of
this work will be made known at the Barcelona Conference in October
2003.
