of the Wilderness still have not been completed, and that the Central Forestry Board still has not made a final recommendation to the Ministry for the Environment. In fact, a delay until 1996 for the finalization of the maintenance plan is expected. 7.9 As to the alleged compatibility of intensive logging and practising intensive reindeer husbandry, the authors note that this statement only applies to the modern forms of reindeer herding using artificial feeding. The methods used by the authors, however, are traditional, and for that the old forests in the area designated by the communication are essential. The winter of 1991-1992 demonstrated how relatively warm winters may threaten traditional herding methods. As a result of alternating periods with temperatures above and below zero degrees centigrade, the snow was, in many parts of Finnish Lapland, covered by a hard layer of ice that prevented the reindeer from getting their nutrition from the ground. In some areas without old forests carrying lichen on their branches, reindeer have been dying from hunger. In this situation, the herding area designated in the communication has been very valuable to the authors. 7.13 The authors refer to another logging controversy in another Sami reindeer herding area, where reindeer herdsmen had instituted proceedings against the Government because of planned logging and road construction activities in the Angeli district, and where the Government had argued that claims based on article 27 of the Covenant should be declared inadmissible under domestic law. On 20 August 1993, the Court of First Instance at Inari held that the case was admissible but without merits, ordering the complainants to compensate the Government for its legal expenses. On 15 February 1994, the Court of Appeal of Rovaniemi invited the appellants in this case to attend an oral hearing to take place on 22 March 1994. According to counsel, the Court of Appeal's decision to grant an oral hearing "cannot be taken as proof for the practical applicability of article 27 of the Covenant as basis for court proceedings in Finland, but at least it leaves [this] possibility open". 7.10 In several submissions made between September 1992 and February 1994, the authors provide further clarifications. By submission of 30 September 1992, they indicate that the logging plans of the Central Forestry Board for the Hammastunturi Wilderness are still in preparation. In a subsequent letter dated 15 February 1993, they indicate that a recent decision of the Supreme Court invalidates the State party's contention that the authors would have locus standi before the courts on the basis of claims brought under article 27 of the Covenant. This decision, which quashed a decision of the Court of Appeal granting a Finnish citizen who had been successful before the Human Rights Committee compensation, d/ holds that the administrative, rather than the ordinary, courts are competent to decide on the issue of the complainant's compensation. 7.14 In the light of the above, the authors conclude that their situation remains in abeyance at the domestic level. Post-admissibility considerations 8.1 The Committee has taken note of the State party's information, provided after the decision on admissibility, that the authors may avail themselves of local remedies in respect of road construction activities in the residual area, based on the fact that the Covenant may be invoked as part of domestic law and that claims based on article 27 of the Covenant may be advanced before the Finnish courts. It takes the opportunity to expand on its admissibility findings. 7.11 The authors further indicate that the draft plan for use and maintenance of the Hammastunturi Wilderness was made available to them on 10 February 1993, and a number of them were going to be consulted by the authorities before final confirmation of the plan by the Ministry for the Environment. According to the draft plan, no logging would be carried out in those parts of the Wilderness belonging to the area specified in the communication and to the herding areas of the Sallivaara Herdsmen's Committee. The same is not, however, true for the respective areas of the Lappi Herdsmen's Committee; under the draft plan, logging would be carried out in an area of 10 square kilometres (called Peuravaarat) situated in the southernmost part of the Hammastunturi Wilderness and within the area specified in the original communication. 8.2 In their submission of 25 March 1992, the authors concede that some Finnish courts have entertained claims based on article 27 of the Covenant. From the submissions before the Committee it appears that article 27 has seldom been invoked before the local courts or its content guided the ratio decidendi of court decisions. However, it is noteworthy, as counsel to the authors acknowledges, that the Finnish judicial authorities have become increasingly aware of the domestic relevance of international human rights standards, including the rights enshrined in the Covenant. This is true, in particular, for the Supreme Administrative Tribunal and increasingly for the Supreme Court and the lower courts. 7.12 In submissions of 19 October 1993 and 19 February 1994, the authors note that negotiations on and preparation of a plan for use and maintenance 8.3 In the circumstances, the Committee does not consider that a recent judgement of the Supreme 10