Cooperation with Norway

The largest river basins that Finland shares with Norway are the catchment areas of the Tana (Tenojoki), Neiden (Näätämöjoki) and Pasvik (Paatsjoki) Rivers, all locat-ed in Lapland, in the north. The total length of the River Tana is 334 km, of which 255 km is on the frontier.⁸⁷ The River is one of the most famous salmon habitat riv-ers in Europe, which gives it a high profile in transboundary regulation.

82 Agreement between Finland and Sweden Concerning Transboundary Rivers, Stockholm, 11. November 2009, in force 1 October 2010, <http://www.fsgk.se/2013/KORJATTU-VERSIO–24.6.2013_Finnish–

Swedish-Transboundary-Rivers-Agreement-2009.doc-Finnish-Swedish-Transboundary-Rivers-Agreement-2009.pdf> (visited 11 August 2015).

83 This is based, in particular, on principles of international water law and the UNECE Water Convention.

84 This is based, in particular, on the UNECE Water Convention and the EU Floods Directive.

85 Art. 4.

86 Art. 5.

87 Timo Kotkasaari, ‘Transboundary Cooperation Between Finland and Its Neighbouring Countries’ in Olli

The Role of EU Water Directives in Promoting Transboundary Water Cooperation and Water Security through Water Agreements – with a Special Focus on Finland

Finland and Norway concluded an Agreement on the Frontier Water Commission in 1980.⁸⁸ The Agreement complements other agreements (of smaller scope) con-cerning the shared waters, which were concluded in the 1950s.⁸⁹ The purpose of the Agreement is to preserve the border waters and their unique natural environment, as well as to safeguard the environmental interests of both states and of the residents of the border region, with a view to using the boundary waters.⁹⁰

The Finnish-Norwegian Transboundary Water Commission functions as a body of cooperation between the governments of the countries in questions concerning boundary waters.

Even though Norway is not a member of the European Union (but a European Eco-nomic Area (EEA) country), it is obliged to implement the EU Water Framework Directive – though with a delayed schedule.⁹¹ In order for both Finland and Nor-way to implement the WFD’s requirements concerning transboundary waters, the countries concluded an Agreement on the Finnish-Norwegian River Basin District in 2014.⁹² The specific objective of the Agreement is to create a framework for bi-lateral cooperation and administration for river basins that lie in both Finland and Norway, for the purpose of fulfilling the requirements laid down in the WFD.⁹³ It is to be noted, however, that bilateral administrative cooperation already existed be-fore the 2014 Agreement; the Frontier Water Commission has implemented a mon water quality monitoring and reporting program for the River Tenojoki, com-mon multiple use plans for the main rivers and many comcom-mon research and planning programs.⁹⁴ These have improved cooperation with the border municipalities as well as improved water quality in the border rivers.

Varis, Asit K. Biswas and Cecilia Tortajada (eds), Management of Transboudary Rivers (Springer, 2008) 123–141 at 123.

88 Agreement between Finland and Norway on a Finnish–Norwegian Transboundary Water Commission, Helsinki, 5 November 1980.

89 Agreement on the transfer from the courses of the Näätämö River to the course of the Gandvik River of water from the Garsjöen, Kjerringvatn and Förstevannene Lakes, Oslo, 25 April 1951; Agreement between Finland, Norway and the Soviet Union Concerning the Regulation of Lake Inarijärvi, Moscow, 29 April 1959 and its additional Protocol concerning compensation for loss and damage and for the works to be carried out by Finland in connexion with the implementation of the agreement of 29 April 1959 between the USSR, Finland and Norway, Moscow, 29 April 1959.

90 Preamble.

91 Norway is formally committed to implementing the Water Framework Directive through the framework of its EEA–agreement, into which the WFD was incorporated in 2007 (Joint Commission Decision No 125/2007 of 28 September 2007). The Directive entered into force in Norway on 1 May 2009. The deadlines stated in the Directive were extended to give Norway the same amount of time to implement the WFD obligations as the EU Member States.

92 Agreement on the Finnish–Norwegian River Basin District, Oslo, 30 October 2013.

93 Art. 1.

94 See, for instance, Kari Kinnunen, ‘Finnish Transboundary Cooperation’, a presentation at the first Steering Committee meeting under the EU Water Initiative National Policy Dialogue in Georgia 11 – 12 June 2012, available at http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/env/water/npd/Kari_Kinnunen_finnish_

transboundary_water_cooperation.pdf> (visited 9 October 2014), slide 22; and Vannportalen, ‘Norway as part of International River Basin Districts’, available at <http://www.vannportalen.no/english/norway-as-part-of-international-river-basin-districts/> (visited 11 August 2015).

Through the new Agreement on the Finnish-Norwegian River Basin District, Fin-land and Norway establish an international river basin district. Each country is to prepare and approve a river basin management plan that covers the parts of the Finn-ish-Norwegian river basin district that are located in the country’s area. The compe-tent authorities of both countries shall cooperate when drafting their national river basin management plans through which they implement the environmental objec-tives of the WFD. The national plans are then to be coordinated to produce a single international river basin management plan for the transboundary basin,⁹⁵ as required by the Directive. Consultations with the public and the Frontier Water Commission should be undertaken during the preparation of the river basin management plans.⁹⁶ In practice, the river basin authorities of the two countries started meetings in 2013, aiming at the production of a common ‘Roof Report’ for the whole international river basin district in 2015, in the form of a comprehensive ‘executive summary’ of the two national river basin management plans, in order to meet the requirements of the Water Framework Directive.⁹⁷ In addition, there will be a common monitor-ing program for the international water district, stemmmonitor-ing from national programs.

The countries are currently negotiating the role of the Finnish-Norwegian Frontier Water Commission in the implementation of this new transboundary river basin management instrument. The Commission will be heard in the preparation of the river basin management plans, but no decision has been made on its other rights or functions within this context.

In October 2013, Finland and Norway signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) pursuant to the Agreement on the Norwegian-Finnish River Basin District.

The purpose of the MoU is to create more detailed procedures for cooperation in preparing and coordinating river basin management plans, with the stated aim to achieve the environmental objectives of the EU Water Framework Directive.⁹⁸ Ac-cording to the MoU, the competent authorities will exchange information. It is pref-erable that the procedures for exchanging such information will facilitate efficient cooperation and enhance public information and consultation, ensuring also the in-volvement of the Norwegian-Finnish Transboundary Water Commission.⁹⁹

The competent authorities will endeavor to achieve coordinated characterization (common terminology) and risk assessment for the water bodies in the Norwegian-Finnish River Basin District, including both surface waters and groundwater bodies.

In addition, the competent authorities endeavor to harmonize the determination of the environmental status of the water bodies in the shared river basin district, with the aim of achieving uniform results.¹⁰⁰ Finally, the competent authorities will

en-95 Art. 4.

96 Art. 5.

97 Vannportalen, ‘Norway as part of International’, supra note 94.

98 Section 1.

99 Section 3.

100 Section 7.

The Role of EU Water Directives in Promoting Transboundary Water Cooperation and Water Security through Water Agreements – with a Special Focus on Finland

deavor to produce a common river basin management plan for the river basin dis-trict. The competent national authority may also produce and adopt more detailed river basin management plans for the parts of the common river basin district lying within its respective area of competence.¹⁰¹ The national programmes of measures should also be coordinated on the basis of the results of the coordination of char-acterization, monitoring, classification and exemptions, so that the measures mutu-ally support the achievement of the environmental objectives.¹⁰² In addition, there should be coordination of monitoring among the Parties so that the monitoring pro-grammes are mutually complementary and cost effective.¹⁰³

Overall, the transboundary water agreements and other cooperative arrangements between Finland and Norway have improved cooperation between Norwegian and Finnish (water management) authorities and border municipalities, and have led to improved water quality in border rivers.¹⁰⁴

It is notable that the River Tana, Neiden and Pasvik international river basin dis-trict reaches across the border to Russia. Finland and Norway have sought coopera-tion with Russia concerning water management in the joint river basins. This is also in accordance with the EU Water Framework Directive. In matters related to River Paatsjoki, Murmansk regional environment authorities from Russia work in coop-eration with the Frontier Water Commission. Russia has participated in the work of the Commission in the role of an observer and expert since 1991;¹⁰⁵ having part-nered, for instance, in the preparation of a multiple-use plan for the River Paatsjo-ki.¹⁰⁶ The three riparians have also created a common environmental monitoring pro-gramme for the River.¹⁰⁷