Memorandum submitted by the Chemical Industries
Association (CIA)
INTRODUCTION
The Chemical Industries Association welcomes
the chance to comment on this important issue. Background information
on the Association is appended to this submission.
THE EU WATER
FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE:
THE CHEMICAL
INDUSTRY'S
KEY MESSAGES
AND AIMS
— We have already welcomed the introduction
of the Directive and we fully support its basic principles.
— We are very concerned about the procedure
by which late changes were made to fundamental aspects of the
Directive and the implications that these have for our industry.
— We do not believe that the cost implications
for the implementation of the Directive by the UK environment
agencies have been fully appreciated by government.
— We would wish to see the Directive
implemented in the most equitable way, with costs apportioned
to ALL users of the water environment. Industry has a part to
play, but others such as the general public, through Government
Grant In Aid to its' environment agencies, also have a role.
Support for the Directive
1. The UK Chemical Industry has welcomed
the Water Framework Directive.
2. We consider that the initial development
of this directive was a good model for subsequent European legislation.
The Commission consulted widely before drawing up its original
proposal. Subsequently all parties including the Commission, the
Member States and a broad group of stakeholders worked collaboratively
to develop an agreed position. The process was conducted at a
realistic speed in an open and transparent manner, expertly facilitated
by the UK Presidency. Finally the Directive was established as
a framework, laying out the broad objectives to be applied across
the Community, whilst leaving the implementation mechanism to
the individual Member States.
3. There are many elements of the Directive
that should lead to a cost effective real environmental improvement
and a better, integrated approach to environmental management.
4. We fully support the move towards river
basin management programmes that aim to protect water resources
from both point & diffuse pollution and to reduce pollution
at source.
5. We also support the use of the Polluter
Pays Principle: the provisions on cost recovery enshrined in the
Directive will ensure that all users of the water cycle contribute
proportionately to pollution control costs.
Concern about procedure
6. We are very concerned that a number of
elements of the Directive were introduced at the last minute,
and without proper consideration, during the conciliation process
between the Council and the Parliament. We are alarmed at the
non-transparent way that the process was handled and concerned
about the precedent set for future proposals.
7. Crucial amendments affecting our sector
were put forward during the conciliation process with no regard
to either cost, benefit or practicality. The Chair of the EP Environment
Committee[1]
has said herself that the conciliation process was chaotic, with
late night meetings, deadlines and disputes. Neither Parliament,
nor Council can possibly have known what the whole text looked
like, nor its social or cost implications, as they adopted it.
8. The conciliation compromise text introduced
to the Directive a new concept of "zero discharges"
to be applied to a new and undefined category of hazardous substances,
called Priority Hazardous Substances. The final wording of the
text is unclear but contains explicit targets that are probably
impossible to achieve.
9. In addition, a compromise was included
in Article 17 with respect to the treatment of groundwater whereby
the basic objective for groundwater remains in Article 4, but
the definitions as to what Article 4 means are to be left to a
subsequent as yet unwritten, directive.
10. As a result of this chaotic process
the Commission is left with a number of enormous obstacles to
tackle before the Directive can be fully implemented. In addition,
even two years after the Directive was agreed, no one has any
idea of the consequences or the cost implications of the decision
that the Council took when it adopted it.
11. It is presently impossible to estimate
the total potential costs to process industries of implementation
of the Water Framework Directive. A subsequent EU Decision, "Decision
of the European Parliament and the Council establishing the list
of priority substances in the field of Water Policy and amending
Directive 200/60/EC2" simply provides an initial list of
the substances that will be subject to EU wide controls but contains
no further information on what action may be required for those
substances. The Commission must come forward with proposals for
emission controls and quality standards for these substances by
the end of 2002.
12. It will only be possible to make cost
estimates once this programme of measures related to the current
list of priority and priority hazardous substances has been agreed.
These estimates will still only be relevant to the initial list.
13. We still have no agreement on what the
Directive means by "zero emissions"; does this mean
the total elimination of all discharges of the priority hazardous
substances or will the Commission allow a de-minimus for naturally
occurring substances such as mercury?
14. Any cost estimates made by Government
and stakeholders to date can only be based on assumptions and
not on firm proposals.
Cost-effective implementation
15. The implementation of the Water Framework
Directive requires an enormous increase in the amount of biological
monitoring information to be collected and evaluated. There is
also a need to ensure comparability between Member States, which
adds substantially to the overall cost.
16. The monitoring provisions of the Directive
are onerous and we would expect the Government and environmental
regulators to employ the most cost-effective monitoring solutions.
17. In the spirit of the "Polluter
Pays Principle", we would expect the costs of producing necessary
environmental improvement will be funded by those contributing
to environmental emissions; industry in the case of identifiable
point sources and the general public for diffuse sources of pollution
such as from car exhausts and household emissions. However, the
additional generalised surveillance monitoring of the environment
must be an overall societal cost and, as such should come from
the environmental regulators' Grant In Aid from their sponsoring
Department.
18. We suspect that the additional monitoring
costs, which we expect to be substantial, have not yet been quantified
by the environmental agencies and the consequent increase in Grant
In Aid required has not been appreciated by Government.
THE UK CHEMICAL
INDUSTRY
19. Water Use in the Chemicals Industry:
The Chemical Industry is a major user of water and a customer
of the Water Industry and the Environment Agency/SEPA. CIA member
companies' total water intake was 972,000 mega litres of water.
The bulk of our water usage comes from the sea and rivers; 9%
was from public (potable) water supplies. A considerable amount
of water is used to cool processes and then returned to its source.
The chemical industry also discharges effluents to the public
sewerage system with agreement by the appropriate Water Service
Company and to the environment, under licenses issued by the environment
agencies.
20. Chemicals' Contribution to Society:
Products of the chemical industry form the basis for every manufacturing
activity. They are vital to transport, healthcare, food and drink,
construction, textiles, IT—and indeed to all other sectors
of the economy. It is impossible to divorce a successful and responsible
chemical industry from the colourful, diverse, clean and safe
environment and high standard of living that we have come to take
for granted. In particular, the industry can proudly claim a major
role in increasing human longevity and quality of life. Life expectancy
at birth doubled in the twentieth century. Not only can this be
attributed to such recognisably chemically derived products as
drugs and antibiotics, but also improved water treatment, detergents
and pesticides have all played their part.
21. Contribution to the British Economy.
The chemical industry in the UK employs 239,000 highly skilled
people nationwide, and accounts for 2% of Gross Domestic Product
and 11% of manufacturing industry's gross value added. It invests
£3 billion annually (plus £3.2 billion on R&D) and
is our top manufacturing export earner, with an annual trade surplus
of over £4 billion on a gross output of £48 billion.
It also provides a tax and national insurance contribution of
nearly £5 billion a year to the UK national government and
local authorities.
22. The Chemical Industries Association:
the CIA comprises 190 operating companies, based at over 300 manufacturing
sites nationwide. It is the predominant trade association and
employers' federation for the industry, and embraces all trade
sectors, product types and business activities. Based in Westminster,
the Association employs around 50 staff headed by the Director
General. The CIA's mission statement is: "To help members
secure sustainable profitability and improve recognition of their
contribution to society, by working with them to influence relevant
people and policies and by stimulating and helping them towards
appropriate internal action, singly or cooperatively".
Chemical Industries Association
September 2002
1 Inaugural UK Environment News lecture, given by
Dr Caroline Jackson MEP, Chairman of the European Parliament's
Environment Committee, The Reform Club, London SW1, 19 October
2000. Back
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