7 International control of persistent
organic pollutants
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12095/04
COM(04) 537
| Draft Council Decision concerning proposals, on behalf of the European Community and the Member States, for amendments to Annexes I-III of the 1998 Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution on Persistent Organic Pollutants and to Annexes A to C of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
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| Legal base | Articles 175(1) and 300(2) EC; consultation; QMV
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| Document originated | 4 August 2004
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| Deposited in Parliament | 9 September 2004
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| Department | Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 2 October 2004
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Legally important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared; further information requested
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Background
7.1 Two main measures apply internationally to persistent organic
pollutants —
the 1998 Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long Range Transboundary
Air Pollution (which aims to control, reduce or eliminate discharges,
emissions and losses of those persistent organic pollutants which
cause significant adverse effects to human health or the environment
as a result of their long-range transfer through the atmosphere),
and the Stockholm Convention (which provides a framework, based
on the precautionary principle, for eliminating the production,
use, import and export of an initial twelve such priority pollutants,
for their safe handling and disposal, and for the elimination
or reduction of releases of certain unintentional persistent organic
pollutants). Although the Community has ratified the 1998 Protocol,
a proposal that it should become a party to the Stockholm Convention
has not yet been adopted, but the Commission says that the Council
has reached agreement on the proposal, and that it is assuming
that the Community will become a party to the Convention by the
end of 2004.
The current document
7.2 Any party may put forward amendments to the relevant
annexes of either the Protocol or Convention by submitting written
proposals, and in this document the Commission has invited the
Council to approve a Decision which would propose the addition
of a number of persistent organic pollutants to one or other of
these instruments. More particularly, it has suggested that:
- the 1998 Protocol should in
future be extended to include hexachlorobutadiene, octabromodiphenyl
ether, pentachlorobenzene, polychlorinated napthalenes, and short-chained
chlorinated paraffins; and
- the Stockholm Convention should, in addition
to these products, be extended to include as well pentabromodiphenyl
ether, chlordecone, hexabromobuiphenyl and hexachlorocyclo hexane.
The Commission also says that, in order to ensure
the proposals for listing additional substances are justified
and have significant support within the Community, only joint
proposals should be submitted to the Community and Member States.
The Government's view
7.3 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 2 October 2004,
the Minister of State (Rural Affairs and Local Environmental Quality)
at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr
Alun Michael) says that previous risk assessments have shown that
these chemicals exhibit characteristics of persistent organic
pollutants and that their production, marketing and use has already
ceased or been severely restricted within the Community. The
UK therefore supports this initiative to discuss the addition
of new substances, and the proposition that the chemicals listed
should as a matter of priority be added to the relevant annexes.
7.4 However, the Minister says that the UK is not
convinced that it is appropriate for the Commission to seek to
achieve this through a proposal made under Article 300(2), and
that, together with other Member States, it is currently investigating
alternative ways in which the Community could work towards the
substantive objective. He also says that, because of the Government's
reservations about the proposed procedure, it has not completed
a Regulatory Impact Assessment at this stage, but that such an
Assessment would be carried out if proposals to add the new chemicals
to the annexes of the Protocol and Convention were to be made
by the UK or any other party.
Conclusion
7.5 We note that the Government's main reservations
on this proposal relate to the legal basis, and we therefore think
it sensible to await further information on the discussions between
the UK and other Member States referred to by the Minister. In
the meantime, we infer from the Government's support for the substance
of the proposal that, notwithstanding the absence of a Regulatory
Impact Assessment, the benefits of including these further chemicals
within the relevant annexes would outweigh the costs. However,
it would be helpful to have confirmation of this. In the meantime,
we propose to hold the document under scrutiny.
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