Procedure completed
Role | Committee | Rapporteur | Shadows |
---|---|---|---|
Lead | ENVI | FRAHM Pernille (GUE/NGL) | |
Opinion | ITRE | NEWTON DUNN Bill (ELDR) | |
Opinion | JURI | ZIMERAY François (PSE) |
Legal Basis EC Treaty (after Amsterdam) EC 095-p1, EC Treaty (after Amsterdam) EC 175-p1
- 3.70.02 Atmospheric pollution, motor vehicle pollution
- 3.70.04 Water control and management, pollution of waterways, water pollution
- 3.70.06 Soil pollution, deterioration
- 3.70.09 Transfrontier pollution
- 3.70.12 Waste management, domestic waste, packaging, light industrial waste
- 3.70.13 Dangerous substances, toxic and radioactive wastes (storage, transport)
Activites
- 2004/04/30 Final act published in Official Journal
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2004/04/30
Final act signed
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2004/04/29
End of procedure in Parliament
- #2578
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2004/04/26
Council Meeting
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2004/04/26
Act adopted by Council after Parliament's 1st reading
- #X020
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2004/03/02
Council Meeting
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2004/02/26
Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
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T5-0109/2004
summary
The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Pernille FRAHM (EUL/NGL, DK) on persistent organic pollutants and reached a political compromise with the Council. By adopting the compromise at the first reading of co-decision Parliament ensures that the regulation enters into force quickly. Parliament was not content with the ban on production, marketing and use of POPs. Accordingly, it secured from the Council the addition of a provision introducing a total ban on HCHs like lindane by 2007 at the latest. Parliament also secured detailed provisions regarding waste containing or contaminated by any of these pollutants, specifying that disposal or recovery operations that may lead to recycling or re-use of the pollutants should be prohibited. A new Annex IVa on waste management is added to the Regulation. Existing stockpiles which consist of or contain banned persistent organic pollutants should be managed as waste as soon as possible. If other substances are banned in the future, their stocks should also be destroyed without delay and no new stockpiles should be built up. In view of the particular problems of certain new Member States, adequate financial and technical assistance should be provided through existing financial Community instruments, such as the Cohesion and Structural Funds. It is possible to obtain derogations from this prohibition, and Parliament has imposed conditions on derogations. Furthermore, the Commission must, before 31 December 2009, review the derogations in the light of international and technical developments, in particular with regard to their environmental preferability. The Commission must submit a report on the workings of the Regulation every three years, and the report must contain information on the use of derogations given. An amendment to Part A of Annex 1 giving the list of substances prohibited in the Convention and Protocol contains an amendment of DDT. Member States may allow the existing production and use of DDT as a closed-system site-limited intermediate for the production of dicofol until 1 January 2014, in accordance with Article 4(3). The Commission must review this exemption by 31.12.2008 in the light of the outcome of the evaluation in the framework of Directive 91/414/EEC. Parliament did give the Member States more freedom on waste disposal in exceptional cases. One amendment obliges the Member States, when preparing their national implementation plans, to give the public early and effective opportunities to participate in the process. A new recital also stated that public awareness of the hazards that persistent organic pollutants pose to the health of present and future generations as well as to the environment, particularly in developing countries, is often lacking, and wide-scale information is therefore needed to increase the level of caution and gain support for restrictions and bans. In accordance with the Convention, public awareness programmes on these substances, especially for the most vulnerable groups, as well as training of workers, scientists, educators and technical personnel should be promoted and facilitated, as appropriate. Parliament went on to specify that when Member States study proposals concerning the construction of new installations or new industrial sites liable to discharge such chemicals, they should give priority to alternative processes, techniques and practices to avoid the creation and discharge of POPs. In addition, Parliament specified that information on infringements of the provisions of the Regulation should be made public, where appropriate, thereby introducing a "name-and-shame" system. Parliament added definitions of 'preparation' and 'disposal'. Finally, Parliament stated that common concentration limits for the substances in waste should be established before 31 December 2005.�
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T5-0109/2004
summary
- 2004/02/25 Debate in Parliament
- 2004/01/21 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
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2003/06/19
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
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2003/06/12
Legislative proposal published
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COM(2003)0333
summary
PURPOSE : proposal for a Regulation on persistent organic pollutants and to amend Directives 79/117/EEC and 96/59/EC CONTENT : persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are chemical substances that persist in the environment, bioaccumulate through the food web, and pose a risk of causing adverse effects to human health and the environment. These pollutants are transported across international boundaries far from their sources, even to regions where they have never been used or produced. The ecosystems and indigenous people of the Arctic are particularly at risk because of the long-range environmental transportation and biomagnification of these substances. Consequently, persistent organic pollutants pose a threat to the environment and to human health all over the globe. The European Community and its Member States signed the Protocol to the regional UNECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) on POPs in June 1998 and the global Stockholm Convention on POPs in May 2001. The purpose of the proposed Regulation is to give effect to the main provisions of the Convention and the Protocol which are not yet sufficiently covered by Community legislation. Separate proposals for Council Decisions concerning the Community's conclusions on these two international agreements are being submitted in parallel to this proposal. (See CNS/2003/0118). Current Community legislation includes restrictions on marketing and use of most of the intentionally produced substances listed in the Convention and in the Protocol. The main deficiency in the present Community legislation is that there is no legislation on prohibition of the production of any of the currently listed chemicals nor is there any framework to prohibit the production of new POPs added in the agreements in future. Another significant deficiency is that most of the existing Community prohibitions on the marketing and use of specific POP chemicals are not complete, as Directive 79/117/EEC only covers use of substances as plant protection products, not e.g. biocidal or industrial uses. Furthermore, placing on the market and use of chemicals occurring as constituents of articles are not in all cases banned, either, and exemptions given in the two limitations Directives are wider than those set in the Convention. The proposed Regulation would implement the main provisions of the Stockholm Convention and the UNECE Protocol on intentionally produced POPs by prohibiting the production, use and placing on the market of the listed substances. To ensure a high level of protection of health and the environment, the proposed new Regulation would not make use of the possibility offered by the international agreements of continuing the production, placing on the market and use of some of the listed substances for limited uses. The proposed Regulation would also contain certain provisions on stockpiles and waste, which to some extent would go beyond those set in the Convention. As the necessary legislation on the listed by-products is to a great extent in place, it is proposed to include only provisions on release inventories and on the development and implementation of the national action plans in the Regulation. In addition to provisions on control measures, the proposal contains certain general obligations based on the provisions ofthe Convention and the Protocol. Adding new POP substances is a crucial element of the proposed Regulation, and new chemicals will most likely be added relatively soon both in the Convention and in the UNECE Protocol. After a decision on listing of a substance is made under either of the two international legally binding instruments on POPs, the Regulation would be amended, as appropriate, by using a regulatory committee procedure. This is sufficient because all Member States and the Council would have already dealt with the listing of a new POP during international negotiations. This procedure provides a possibility also for the European Parliament to react on the Commission proposals and decisions taken. The regulatory committee procedure would enable the Community to decide on the inclusion of a substance in the given one year timeframe. For the sake of legal clarity, it is proposed to repeal the obsolete marketing and use restrictions on eight POP pesticides set out in Council Directive 79/117/EEC. In addition, it is proposed to make a slight amendment in the PCB Disposal Directive (96/59/EC). However, the present restrictions on PCBs would remain intact.�
- DG [{'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/environment/', 'title': 'Environment'}],
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COM(2003)0333
summary
Documents
- Legislative proposal published: COM(2003)0333
- Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A5-0017/2004
- Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
- Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0109/2004
- : Regulation 2004/850
- : OJ L 229 29.06.2004, p. 0005-0022
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