Commission proposes to extend European Forestry Information and Communication System (EFICS)

The European Commission has published a report on the implementation of the European Forestry Information and Communication System (EFICS) in the years from 1989 to 1997, together with a proposal to extend it until December 2002. The aim of EFICS is to collect, coordinate, st...

The European Commission has published a report on the implementation of the European Forestry Information and Communication System (EFICS) in the years from 1989 to 1997, together with a proposal to extend it until December 2002.

The aim of EFICS is to collect, coordinate, standardize and process data concerning the forestry sector and its development. It will enable the collection of comparable and objective information on the structure and operation of the forestry sector in the EU, therefore facilitating implementation and monitoring of the Community forestry provisions in force.

In its initial phase, from 1989 to 1992, only a limited number of actions were supported by EFICS, in particular, evaluations of the existing forestry information sources in the Member States. From 1993-1997, in the second phase of EFICS, a number of actions have been carried out in five main fields:

- Forestry resources (including the parameters of sustainable development, biodiversity, etc.);
- Forest products (the timber industry);
- Forest ownership structure;
- Forestry activities at Community level;
- The organization and objectives of and means for implementing forestry policies in the Member States.

On the basis of the experience gained since 1989 with EFICS, the Commission has put forward a work programme for the development of the System until the end of 2002. The proposal would also see the budget for EFICS increased substantially, with some ECU 3.3 million proposed for the five-year period. This compares to total spending so far on EFICS of ECU 600,000, since 1989.