At the world level there are still many governments (such as the USA and Russia) that hesitate to accept the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and receive them into their national legislation. In the European Union, by contrast, a decision of the European Parliament and Council that obliges member states to respect the protocol, ratified by the EU in 2002, has come into force in recent days. According to the European Commissioner for the environment, Margot Wallstroem, the decision makes it obligatory to adopt “all the necessary Community legislation to respect our commitments in the framework of the Kyoto Protocol”. The EU provision concerns more specifically the procedures for the surveillance, examination and communication of emissions, including the coordination between the Commission and the national Authorities during verification of assessment procedures within the UNO.
