Letter from James Clappison MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State, Department of the Environment, to Lord Tordoff, Chairman
of the Committee
I enclose an unnumbered Explanatory Memorandum[10]
on a draft Council Resolution (ENV37) on the drafting, implementation
and enforcement of Community environmental law. This document
is the latest text of the Council's proposed response to the
Communication from the Commission on implementating Community
environmental law on which I submitted Explanatory Memorandum
11418/96 to the Parliamentary Scrutiny Committees on 9 December
1996.
The Lords' Select Committee on European Legislation examined
this document on 16 December 1996 and decided that it should
be considered further by Sub-Committee "C" (Environment,
Public Health and Consumer Protection) as it was relevant to
the Enquiry on Environment Policy: Monitoring, Enforcement and
Transparency. My Department gave oral evidence to the Sub-Committee
on 27 November 1996.
I thought it would be helpful if I were to bring Parliament
up to date on the negotiations. The draft Resolution has been
produced by the Presidency in the light of discussions in the
Environment Working Group during January and February. All of
the United Kingdom's main points on systems of inspection and
access to the courts which were set out in the Explanatory Memorandum
11418/96 have been satisfactorily taken account of during the
negotiations. The Government welcomes the draft Council Resolution
and is broadly content with the text. The draft is to be considered
by COREPER and submitted to Council for consideration at its meeting
of 3-4 March 1997.
It is unlikely that the Presidency will seek to reach a Common
Position on the Resolution before the June Environment Council,
since it will wish first to take the view of the European Parliament.
However, the draft Resolution is on the Agenda for political
agreement at the March Environment Council. As the UK is committed
to the full and effective implementation and enforcement of EC
environmental law throughout the Community, it is essential that
the UK can demonstrate its support of such measures at the Council.
It would be detrimental to the UK's future negotiating position
to put a reserve on this document.
It is therefore necessary to lift the scrutiny reserve on
EC document 11418/96.
I am writing to Jimmy Hood in similar terms.
24 February 1997
Letter from Lord Tordoff, Chairman of the Committee,
to James Clappison, MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State,
Department of the Environment
Thank you for your letter of 24 February, enclosing an unnumbered
Explanatory Memorandum and draft Council Resolution on this subject.
I am grateful to you for your information on the state of
play in the negotiations. I understand that you feel it is necessary
to over-ride our scrutiny reserve in respect of Document 11418/96
(the Commission's Communication on Implementing Community Environmental
Law) in the Council next Monday and Tuesday, when it is likely
that a political agreement will be reached.
However, as you are aware, Sub-Committee C has been conducting
a major enquiry on Environmental Policy: Monitoring, Enforcement
and Transparency for some months now: the Commission's Communication
has become the principal focus of the enquiry. The Sub-Committee's
report is likely to be approved by the Select Committee before
the end of March. As this further document is central to their
enquiry, I propose to sift it to the Sub-Committee C for further
scrutiny. Your letter and enclosures will be tabled and drawn
to Sub Committee C's attention orally at their meeting tomorrow,
but they have a crowded agenda and it would not be reasonable
to expect them to give an instant opinion. I also understand
that the House of Commons European Legislation Committee is not
meeting this week and therefore will not be able to consider the
EM until after the Council meeting on 3-4 March.
I note that the Presidency will not seek to reach a common
position on the Resolution before the June European Council as
it wishes first to take the view of the European Parliament. I
welcome the Presidency's approach, and I regret that the line
you propose to take will effectively mean that one national parliament
in the Union will not have an equal chance to make its views
known.
25 February 1997
Letter from James Clappison, MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State, Department of the Environment, to Lord Tordoff, Chairman
of the Committee
Thank you for your letter of 25 February concerning the
handling of the draft Council Resolution on the drafting, implementation
and enforcement of Community environmental law, and in particular
on your scrutiny reserve in respect of Document 11418/96 (the
Commission's Communication).
Anticipating scrutiny is not something we do lightly, and,
taking into account the view you had expressed, the Government
was prepared to place a scrutiny reserve on the draft Resolution
at the Environment Council meeting on 3-4 March. I am glad to
say that in the event this did not prove necessary, as the Presidency
deferred consideration of the document until the June Council
in order to allow for comments by the European Parliament.
I understand fully that a parliamentary scrutiny reserve
on this document remains. I hope that it might be possible for
this reserve to be lifted before the Council in June.
17 March 1997
10 Printed in Correspondence with Ministers, 5th Report, Session 1996-97, pp. 26-27. Back
