CONSULTATION OF INTERESTED PARTIES

(05 February - 07 April 2003)

on a Working Document issued by Environment DG

"Civil Protection : improvement of public awareness and safety
in the face of natural and man-made hazards"

The Commission is planning to adopt by May 2003 a Communication on the above-mentioned subject. The principal aim of the working document was to provide a basis for the stakeholder meeting held on 28 February 2003. See draft agenda, registered participants list, and slide presentation.

The aim of the "consultation" is to open the consultation process to parties other than our usual correspondents in the Member States and Accession Countries on concrete measures that we intend to propose. Apart from our correspondents in the Member States and Accession Countries, the "public" concerned is therefore, primarily NGO, industry, local authorities...

It is therefore not a standard "green paper" consultation process. Moreover, such general consultations took place previously (Green Week, Civil Protection Forum 28 & 29 November 2002 etc.) and provided elements which were blended into this document.

The draft proposal has also been sent out to the Member States, EEA States, Accession Countries, Environmental NGOs, European and National Industrial Federations and Associations and some international organisations (see list of contacted parties). These interested parties should further distribute the draft proposal to other interested parties not on the list, as appropriate.

The consultation period is now over. With a view to shaping the "post communication" process, stakeholders can however still send their comments. All comments should be sent to :

Christian FAURE
European Commission
ENVIRONMENT Directorate-General
Unit ENV-D.3 (Civil Protection)
B-1049 Brussels
tel. +32 2 295 42 90
fax +32 2 299 03 14
e-mail: env-disaster-strategy@ec.europa.eu

In order to make the consultation process as transparent as possible, you can consult the contributions received during the consultation process.