Meeting Summary
This week the Committee considered the following
documents:
Commission Work Programme
The Committee reports this week on the Commission
Work Programme 2014. With European elections scheduled for May
2014, this Programme is clearly of a different nature than previous
years. That said, it provides an interesting indication both
of which proposals will be prioritised in the early part of 2014
and also areas of work which might be taken forward once a new
European Parliament has been elected, and a new Commission appointed,
towards the end of next year. The Committee Report summarises
the Work Programme and the Government's views on it, and concludes
that — like last year — it should be debated on the
floor of the House, ideally before the Christmas recess. We hope
that many other Members, particularly Members of Departmental
Select Committees, will take part in that debate.
Europe for Citizens Programme 2014-20
This draft Regulation would establish a Programme
with a budget of €229 million for the period 2014-20, focussing
on two main strands, 'Remembrance and European Citizenship' and
'Democratic engagement and civic participation'. The Committee
has held this document under scrutiny pending confirmation of
the final budget and certain legal queries. The Minister has
now written to inform us that the Government has secured a reduction
in the budget for the Programme to €185 million. Notwithstanding
the reduction, we have concerns about the absolute level of expenditure
involved, and recommend a debate in European Committee.
Fisheries: total allowance catches for 2014
This Draft Regulation sets out the EU Total Allowable
Catches (TACs) for particular fish stocks in 2014. This is an
annual process and has habitually presented scrutiny difficulties,
as agreement is needed before the start of the calendar year in
question, and the requirement to take into account scientific
evidence means that official texts have often been available too
late to be considered properly beforehand. Some information is
now available: the Government observes that the Commission has
generally been more precautionary than the International Council
for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) in its treatment of stocks
for which the data are limited, and states that one of the UK's
priorities will be to seek an approach which takes account of
all relevant available data. The Government also notes that the
Commission proposes a 20% reduction in effort (days-at-sea) for
most of the cod fisheries covered by the Cod Recovery Plan, and
says the UK will resist this. No information is, however, yet
available on a number of stocks which are of great importance
to the UK which are managed jointly with Norway. In these circumstances
the Committee agrees the granting of a scrutiny waiver on the
condition that the Government arranges a general debate on fisheries
which will enable Members to have a chance to raise points with
the Government before any decision is taken. The proposals remain
under scrutiny.
EU Passenger Name Record (PNR) Agreement with
Canada
These Council Decisions authorise the signature and
conclusion by the EU of an Agreement for the transfer of Passenger
Name Record (PNR) data to Canada. They have been held under scrutiny
since September. The UK has already opted into PNR Agreements
with Australia and the USA, and the latter Agreement was the subject
of a debate. We note that the Agreement with Canada includes
a shorter data retention period (five years) and that the limitations
imposed on the processing of sensitive data are in line with UK
data protection standards. We therefore agree to clear this proposal
from scrutiny.
Vehicle type approval: sound levels of motor
vehicles
The aim of this Draft Regulation is to lower permissible
noise levels for motor vehicles. The Committee first considered
it in January 2012 and has kept it under scrutiny ever since,
commenting that the proposal had important implications for vehicle
manufacturers, consumers and those affected by vehicle noise.
In May this year the Committee heard that the position the UK
Government was taking was that it broadly supported the Commission's
limit values for all vehicles and supported its timescale for
light duty vehicles, but was seeking a longer timescale for heavy
duty vehicles. The Minister now reports that a proposed compromise
text represents a satisfactory outcome, and that significant dispensations
to minimise burdens on small UK manufacturers have been achieved.
Accordingly, we have decided to clear the document.
| 
