REPLY BY THE COMMISSION TO THE QUESTION NO. 16/00 BY MRS. HEIDI HAUTALA AND JONAS SJÖSTEDT The services of the Commission are well informed about the Vuotos artificial lake and power plan project. This information indicates that the project may significantly deteriorate the habitats and disturb the bird species under Council Directive 79/409/EEC occuring in the mires of Kemihaara. Therefore, the Commission is concerned about the construction permit granted to the project on 29 February 2000. At present, the services of the Commission are examining whether Finland has in this context breached Article 4(4) of Council Directive 79/409/EEC and Article 6(2) to (4) of Council Directive 92/43/EEC. Regarding the Decision made on 1 July 1999 to sue Finland for failure to designate bird areas in accordance with Article 4(1) and (2) of Council Directive 79/409/EEC, the services of the Commission carried out certain factual and legal specifications before being able to send the application to the Court. These specifications have now been completed and the application has left the Legal Service of the Commission last week. The representative of the Commission at the EU-committee of the Environment 19/6/2000