BALTIC SEAENVIRONMENT PROCEEDINGS No. 59 - Helcom

appendix 1). Members of the Board are nominated by the
Council of State for a three year period at a time. The
task of the Board is to give advise' to the Authorities in
matters related to Finland's participation in international
co-operation on the protection of the marine environment.
Members of the Board represent the Ministries for Foreign
Affairs, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, Traffic and
Communications, as well as the Provincial Government of
Aland, Finnish Frontier Guard Head Quarters, the National
Board of Waters and the Environment, National Board of
Navigation, and the Finnish Institute of Marine Research.
Representatives of the Central Associations for local
authorities, industry, agriculture and forestry, shipowners,
ports, and nature conservation are permanent advisors to the
Board. The Board is summoned to a meeting when need arises
to discuss Finland's position on questions of principle and
matters at issue in the Helsinki Commission (mainly the
Commission level questions) and in other international
marine environment protection fora. On an average, the
Board meets six times a year.
The Board is presently chaired by the Head of the
Environment Protection Department of the Ministry. The
Counsellor for International Affairs at the Ministry is the
vice-chairman of the Board. The "HELCOM co-ordinators" at
the water management section of the Ministry serve as the
Board's general secretary and her deputy.
The Board has established four Sub-Committees in accordance
with the structure of the Helsinki Commission, i.e: Sub-
Committees for research, technology, navigation, and
combatting matters. These Sub-Committees consider detailed
questions and matters at issue in the Helsinki Commission's
Committees and Working Groups and in the committees and
working groups of other international marine environment
protection organizations. The Sub-Committees are chaired by
the representatives of the national Authorities concerned.
The members of the Sub-Committees represent all Authorities
and other parties involved with the mandate of the Sub-
Committee in question. (see appendix 2.)
Organization of national work in Finland related to the
Technological Committee, TC, of HELCOM
We have, on one hand, in the Ministry of the Environment a
section responsible for water management affairs. In this
section, we have two persons dealing with the overall coordination
of national HELCOM matters. The experts
responsible at the water management section for matters
related to industrial and municipal discharges ("POINT
experts") and for matters related to agriculture and
forestry ("DIFF expert"), respectively, are also responsible
for the preparation of these matters within the HELCOM
context.
On the other hand, we have the Sub-Committee for Technology
of the Advisory Board for the Marine Environment. The
chairman of this Sub-Committee is the director of the water
248