prop · GE0390 · 1990-12-31 00:00:00 — The programme should provide data for regu-lar surveys of thestate of the environment. This will mean that different sectors of society willbe responsible for monitoring environmental developments. The Government isalso proposing that the County Administrative Boards be made responsible forthe regional monitoring programmes which are successively being developed ineach county. These programmes are to provide the necessary data conceraingregional conditions and constitute the basis for municipal and regional planningand environmental impact assessments. The regional programmes should becoordinated with the national programme insofar as is possible. The currentinspection of receiving waters in the vicinity of individual sources ofeffluent should, where possible, be coordinated with regional monitoring.Special programmes, along the general lines of the present stmcture, shouldexist for monitoring air quality in urban areas where required. Specialmarine centres for research on the environment have been set up inconjunction with the universities of , and . Thesecentres should also be used for monitoring environmental change in the seas.The Government is proposing that County Administrative Boards in counties withmarine centres be allocated extra resources in order to enable them to produceinformation effectively and to carry out other measures in conjunction withacute threats to the environment, such as algae biooms, chemicalspills, etc. A duty centre is to be set up at the Swedish Meteorological andHydrological Institute in order to facilitate environmental monitoring. TheGovernment is proposing that the new programme for monitoring the state of theenvironment be financed with state funds. 4 1990/91. proposing that resourcesfor environmental monitoring be augmented by SEK75 million över a three-yearperiod. Swedenis at the international forefront when it comes to the application of economicinstmments in environmental policies. Certainnew environmental taxes were introduced in conjunction with the Swedish taxreform. These include the carbon dioxide tax, the sulphur tax and adifferentiation ofthe oil tax. At the same time, VAT was imposed on energy. On1 January 1992, environmental charges will be introduced on nitrogen oxideemissions from major combustion plants. TheGoverament considers that economic instraments should be used to an increasingextent in the future. Such instruments should be introduced for nickel-cadmiumbatteries. An environmental dassification system is to be introduced for newvehides. Increased tax diff"erentiation is also proposed for leaded andunleaded petrol. Cleanair and clean water are collective resources. There is no price on them, andthere is therefore no economic incentive for individual actors in a märketeconomy to consider the environmental damage which their activities can cause. Onetask of environmental policy is to ensure that the cost in the form ofenvironmental damage is taken into account when companies and householdschoose different courses of action. This can, in principle, be achieved throughenvironmental charges, taxes or subsidies. These can be used to avoid the poorproduction stracture and deficient handling of resources which arise if thecost of pollution is not charged to the operations or households which causeit. Accordingto the intemationally accepted principle that the polluter pays, environmentaltaxes or charges should be used rather then environmental subsidies. In certain cases,however, environmental motives may justify instmments which include differenttypes of subsidy, such as subsidies for the installation of catalyticconverters in older cars or for investments in public transport. TheEnvironment Protection Act, which was introduced in the late 60s, was designedto regulate emissions from large and relatively few point sources, which atthat time were the major sources of pollution. considerationof permit applications and supervision according to the Prop. 1990/91:90Environment Protection Act have also been coraerstones of environmentalcontrol. During the 70s, the consideration of permit applications was combinedwith subsidies for environmental investments in industry and at municipaltreatment plants. Environmentalproblems have, however, changed in nature. Diffuse emissions from a largenumber of small sources have increased in importance. This means that there isan increased need to approach the problem from a more general angle. TheAct on makes it possible to take action against chemicalsubstances and products, as well as against goods that contain such products,if they are considered to be a danger to health and the environment. PCB,cadmium, asbestos, and lead in petrol are examples of substances which havebeen regulated under the Act on . Otherexamples of general regulation aimed at reducing environmental effects are theAutomobile Exhaust Act, which requires purification of car exhaust emissions,the Sulphur Act and the Ordinance on Fuels Containing Sulphur, which state thehighest permissible levels of sulphur in fuel oil and diesel oil. Theseforms of regulation have increasingly been combined with economic instmments,in the field of energy, for example. The objective of energy taxes has, amongother things, been to provide incentives to transfer to more environmentallysound sources of energy. Anotherexample is the differentiated point tax on petrol. The tax on unleaded petrolis lower than on other types of petrol, and thus gives the customer anincentive to start using unleaded petrol on cars that can be run on both typesof petrol, or to exchange his car sooner to one that can mn on unleaded petrol. Inorder to encourage earlier transfer to cars with exhaust purification, theexcise tax on cars was reduced for 1987 and 1988 models if they met thestricter emission requircments which were to come into force from the 1989model year. This is an example of how regulation can be supplemented witheconomic instraments in the form of subsidies in order to bring forward andthus increase the impact. Since1989 there has been an environmental tax on domestic air amountingtoSEK12/kg of nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons. The tax has, among other things,prompted (the domestic Swedish airline) to change the combustionchambers of its F28 engines. This has reduced hydrocarbon emissions byabout . Thecharges on fertilizers and pesticides are, like the packaging tax, otherexamples of economic instmments that mean the user must pay at least a partofthe environmental cost the use entails. Inpace with the changing character of environmental problems, there is a growingneed to design and test new instmments to supplement or replace existing ones. 3.3.3International developments Prop. Manyother countries have also introduced environmental charges. In general theyhave not been introduced as instmments, but in order to finance certain typesof activity. In certain cases, the charges have still had the effect of aninstrument. This applies, for instance, to the environmental charges on waterpollution in and the . Inrecent times, certain countries have also introduced charges and taxes with theexpress purpose of exercising environmental control. The , Germanyand have, with good results, introduced differentiated sales taxes inorder to encourage the purchase of cars with lower levels of exhaust emissions.Tax differentiation between leaded and unleaded petrol is applied by a largenumber of countries and has contributed to greater availability and highersales of unleaded petrol. Other examples are environmental charges on CFCs inDenmark and on non-biodegradable plastic bags in . Inthe , systems of transferable emission quotas are used, making it possibleto apply regulations to particular regions or substances. The viability of sucha system must be studied before it could be introduced in . The increasedefficiency at corporate level would have to be considered in the light ofadministrative problems and the need for cquitabie application of the system. Thepossibility of using economic instmments as a part of environmental policy hasattracted great international interest during recent years. Importantinternational organizations such as the UN and the have expressed supportfor the increased use of economic instruments in environmental policy. , on the theme of Action for a Common Future, passed aresolution that taxes and charges should be used to a greater extent onenvironmentally damaging activities and products, including emissions. At thesame time, it was said that subsidies to resource-intensive and environmentallydamaging activities should be reduced or discontinued. TheEnvironmental Ministers of the member countries of the decided in January1991 that economic instmments should be used to a greater extent as acomplement to or replacement for other instmments, such as regulations. TheMinisters also adopted certain guidelines for the application of economicinstmments. TheEnvironmental Ministers ofthe EC nations issued a statement at a Councilmeeting in the autumn of 1990 to the effect that economic instmments must beconsidered if sustainable development is to be achieved; companies andconsumers must be given reason to avoid wasteful and environmentally harmfulprocesses and products, so that resource-con-serving technologies andproduction processes can be favoured. The Commission was given the task ofproposing guidelines and concrete applications of economic instruments inenvironmental policy. The climate, water pollution, waste and agriculture werecited as priority areas. Thisproposal also means, in terms of other products that the member nationshave the right to retain existing taxes or introduce new ones, Prop.1990/91:90 particularly for environmental reasons, on the conditions that suchtaxes neither be levied at the time of import nor lifted at the time of export,and that they do not give rise to horder controls. Swedenis negotiating, together with other EFTA countries, on cooperation with the ECthrough an EEA agreement. It has already been stated that an agreement of thissort will not include indirect taxes. Following the decision of the Riksdag atthe end of 1990, it is likely that will apply for membership of the EC.In the light of this, it is important to monitor developments in the EC withregard to taxes and economic instmments. New taxes and instraments must bedesigned so not to impede integration with the EC. 3.3.4New economic instruments in Inconjunction with the 1988 on Environmental Policy, the Goveramentannounced a Commission on economic instmments in environmental policy, andsubsequently appointed the Goverament Commission on Environmental Taxes. TheCommission has submitted proposals for environmental charges, which haveprovided the basis for the Goverament's earlier decisions and currentproposals. Theseincreased environmental taxes and charges must, consequently, serve asfinancing for other tax reductions, which means that they provide no new leewayfor public expenditures. Byvirtue ofthe recent reform ofthe tax system, a total of SEKl 8,000 million isbeing transferred from income tax to different types of energy andenvironmental tax. This transfer of tax revenue is important from the point ofview of energy and environmental policies, since it contributes to lower energyuse and a better environment. The most important aspects of this are that acarbon dioxide tax and a sulphur tax are introduced at the same time as pointtaxes are reduced somewhat. Atthe same time, a decision was taken on differentiation ofthe oil tax in orderto stimulate the use of environmentally superior grades of diesel oil. The mainenvironmental taxes were introduced on 1 January 1991. The Riksdag has also, atthe proposal of the Goverament, passed an environmental charge on emissions ofnitrogen oxides from large combustion plants as of 1 January 1992. All theseenvironmental taxes and charges have a regulatory effect since theenvironmental costs are taken into consideration when companies and householdsmake economic choices. Thecarbon dioxide tax is imposed on oil, coal, natural gas, LPG and petrol, andcorresponds to /kg of carbon dioxide emitted. A corresponding charge oncarbon dioxide has been integrated in the environmental tax on domestic airtravel. Thesulphur tax corresponds to SEK30/kg of sulphur emitted and is imposed on coal,peat and oil. Thereorganization of taxes and increase in total energy taxation have encouraged different forms of energy-saving and are stimulating the in creased use of renewable fuels, which entails lower environmental cost. Thecarbon dioxide tax provides an incentive to transfer to types of energy Prop. withlower carbon dioxide emissions. The sulphur tax entails a transfer fromhigh-sulphur to lower-sulphur grades of oil and other types of energy, togetherwith the adoption of purification measures. Since the sulphur tax proposalwas presented, the availability of low-sulphur oils has increased sothat heavy oil is now available with extremely low sulphur content. Thecharge on nitrogen oxide emissions from energy generation plants, which is tobe introduced from 1992, will be the first charge in based onmeasurement of actual emissions. Since the installation of meas-urementequipment cannot be required of smaller energy plants, the charge is limited tothe two hundred or so plants that have an input of at least 10 MW and generatemore than hours per year. The charge amounts to SEK40 per kg ofnitrogen dioxide emitted. Toavoid unfair competition in relation to companies outside the system and topromote more efficient energy production, the income from the charge is to berefundcd collectively to those required to pay the tax, according to the amountof energy produced in each case. This avoids discrimination against largeplants, which are often preferable from the environmental point of view sincethey are more energy-efficient and meet higher purification standards. Theenvironmental taxes and charges that have been adopted will lead to a reductionin annuai emissions of sulphur by 10,000 - 25,000 by the end of the1990s. Carbon dioxide emissions wiU be 5 - 10 million lower per yearthan they otherwise would have been at the end of the 1990s. Annuai nitrogenoxide emissions will also decline by 3,000 -5,000 . TheGoverament intends to raise the environmental charge on encased nickel-cadmiumbatteries considerably as of 1992. Incentives are to be introduced in order topromote the retura of used nickel-cadmium . Fixed re-chargeablebatteries are also to be induded in the system. Environmentalclasses are to be introduced on new vehides in combination with economicinstraments as ofthe 1993 models. The tax difference between unleaded and othertypes of petrol is to be increased. Chargeson pesticides and fertilizers should be re-devised in conjunction with thediscontinuation of the price control charges. An environmental tax on cadmiumin fertilizers should also be considered in this context. An environmental taxon chromium and arsenic in wood impregnation agents is to be considered inorder to supplement the regulations recently issued by the Chemicals Inspectoratein cases where the regulations alone fail to achieve the desired effect. It isalso being proposed that the municipalities be given increased scope todifferentiate their waste collection charges in order to encourage sourceseparation and reduce waste. Byvirtue ofthe environmental charges and taxes passed by the Riksdag in 1990and now partially introduced, as well as the environmental charges and taxesproposed by the Goverament in this , important steps are being takentowards renewing the instmments applied under environmental policies and makingthem more effective. Economicinstmments must be adapted according to changes in the 54 New methods must be developed in order to take Prop. 1990/91:90the environment into account in the case of diffuse dissemination from manysmall pollutant sources. In this context, economic instmments are well suitedto realizing the goals of environmental policy as rationally andcost-effectively as possible. Economicinstmments should be tailored to different requircments and should yieldsatisfactory results in terms of environmental and economic policy, as well asin administrative and international terms. If these requircments can be met,economic instmments can frequently offer a suitable alternative or complementto other instmments of environmental policy. A further point to be taken intoaccount is that if the environmental damage in were to arise inconsequence of the consumption of environmentally hazardous goods in ,and if for administrative or other reasons it were only possible to taxproduction in , then environmental taxes or charges would be lesssuitable if their main effect were that production would be transferred fromSweden to other countries. Such charges and taxes on production in Swedenwould be more suitable if the environmental damage were to be determined byproduction in , even if such taxes and charges might lead to some areasof production being transferred to another country. In such cases, othercountries also have the corresponding ability to introduce environmental taxesand charges for environmentally hazardous production. Economicinstmments have many advantages in that they provide the incentive to reduceemissions and thus stimulate on-going technical development. This alsoprovides the polluter with the flexibility to choose how a pollutant is to belimited and to select the method by which the emissions can be reduced at thelowest possible cost. Economic instmments also tend to be increasinglyeffective as time goes on, since they affect the choice between differentproducts and the development of technology. Compared with quantitativeinstmments, for example, economic instmments are often preferable from the tradepolicy point of view. Inthe light of this, the Goverament considers that economic instmments should beused increasingly in environmental policy. They must, however, meet stringentrequircments in various respects in order to constitute a successful andlasting factor in Swedish environmental policy. Swedishexperience in this area can lead the way for future intemational cooperation. 3.4 A newEnvironmental Code was appointed in 1989 in order to reviewenvironmental legislation. The future work ofthe committee will be to aim atbringing the various environmental laws, i. a. the Act, theEnvironment Protection Act, the Act on and the NatureConservation Act, together into an Environmental Code. Thepoint of departure for environmental legislation is to be concern for humanhealth and the environment. Legislation is also to include provisionsconceraing conscientious management of our common resources. Theregulations concerning pcrmittcd limits are to be tightened up. Regulation ofenvironmental issues related with traffic is to be harmonized with otherenvironmental legislation. The relationship between 's interaationalundertakings and Swedish environmental legislation is to come under particularscmtiny. TheEnvironment Protection Act came into force in 1969 and was designed to meetthe requircments at that time. Its purpose was to regulate environmentaldismptions arising from fixed facilities. The Environment Protection Act hasenabled authorities to work on sharply reducing discharges from industries andother point sources. Several different Acts of major environmental importance,such as the Act on , have followed the Environment ProtectionAct. All these Acts were adapted to developments in their respective areas andto the specific problems they were intended to solve. The Goverament has foundthat the work has been successful to a great extent, but that there is now goodreason to perform an overall review, both of environmental legislation and ofthe activities ofthe various authorities in the environmental field. Itwas in the light of this that the Goverament appointed a parliamentarycommittee in 1989 to review environmental legislation. The purpose of thiscommittee is to draw up proposals for legislation intended to promoteenvironmental consideration throughout all sectors of society. One way in whichthis is to be achieved is through the coordination of legislation. has nowsubmitted a statement of principles. The Government considers that future workshould foUow the original directives, and that points of departure for thecommittee's future work should be as follows. 3.4.2 Coordination ofenvironmental legislation Thefunction of legislation is to ensure that the objectives of environmentalpolicy are attained. Futureenvironmental legislation must be drawn up on the basis ofthe Prop. 1990/91:90environmental problems known today, and must be realistic in its approach tothe concrete handling ofthe problems. All laws whose intention is to preserve,protect and improve the state of the environment, to guarantee citizens theright to a clean and healthy environment and to ensure that natural resourcesare utilized with awareness are therefore to be brought together in anEnvironmental Code. Provisionscorresponding to the Act, which is generally seen as theprincipal Act, should cover the activities deaft with in the Code. This willalso provide a natural connection between different con-tradictory interests interms of environmental awareness and exploitation. This conflict of interestshas always existed in the background for all legislation aimed at safeguardingthe environment. TheEnvironment Protection Act, the Health Protection Act, the Act on ChemicalProducts and the Refuse Collection Act are all laws of a protective nature.These Acts coincide in terms ofthe areas they protect and also, to a greatextent, in terms of the supervisory authorities. The , the Act on Fuels Containing Sulphur and the Use of Pesticides on ForestLand Act also have the same protective sphere. There is now considerablecoordinative advantage to be gained by bringing these Acts together with othermore limited Acts in an Environmental Code. Standards could be coordinated andpossible contradictions in the Acts could be eliminated. TheNature Conservation Act contains special regulations which are closelyassociated with the interests of environmental conservation. Here too, therewould be good reason to include the Act in a comprehensive Environmental Code.This is further highlighted by the strengthening of environmental interestsproposed in this in the form of changes to the Nature Conservation Act.The changes to the Nature Conservation Act now being proposed should not beseen as an obstade to future coordination. TheGovernment considers that the Act on should also be indudedin an Environmental Code. This is of fundamental importance when it comes tostressing how important it is that products should already be madeenvironmentally sound in manufacture. The Goverament considers that thesubstitution principle, i.e. the principle that a chemical product should bereplaced by another, less hazardous to health and the environment, when asubstitute is available on the märket, should be given greater force. Inprinciple, such a system should be based on the dassification ofthe danger tothe environment presented by a product, in the same way as is done today whenit comes to health hazards. Trafficlegislation is to be harmonized with other legislation. The possibility ofincreasing the influence of local bodies on the traffic environment is to belooked into by the committee. 3.4.3Stricter environmental requirements Prop. Regulationsstating pcrmittcd levels should be made more strict in new environmentallegislation in order to make it quite clear that all activities which riskaffecting their surroundings are to be assessed in the light of human healthand the environment. emphasis is to be placed on environmental awareness.The review is also to look into the way in which environmental qualitystandards can be taken into account in legislation.