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DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(77)687
Vol.1977/0218

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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COM(77 )687final
Brussels ,9December 1977
Communication from the Commission tothe Council
Problem ofadaptation totechnical and .scientific progress of
directives oftheCouncil ,intheenvironmental field
»
I
COM(77 )687final

Communication from the Commission tothe Council
Problem ofadaptation totechnical andscientific progress of
directives oftheCouncil ,intheenvironmental field
A. Back /rround
1. TheCouncil Resolution of15July 19717"' ontheadaptation
totechnical progress ofdirectives orother Community rules
ontheprotection and improvement oftheenvironment recog­
nizes that itmay "benecessary toadapt certain measures
contained inthese Directives orCommunity rules toscientific
andtechnical progress ,particularly intheenvironmental
field ,inaccordance with anadhocprocedure .
2. On8 .December 1975 >"theCouncil adopted adirective relating
tothequality ofbathing water .This directive includes
provisions for anAdaptation Committee whose mandate relates
totheparameters given intheAnnexes ,aswell astothe
methods ofanalysis .This directive istheonly oneadopted
under theEnvironment Programme tocontain theAdaptation
Committee ,though there are ,asalready noted ,several such
Committees inother fields ,i.e. intheframework ofthe
elimination oftechnical barriers totrade and intheagri­
cultural sector .
3. Committees onadaptation toscientific andtechnical progress
areproposed inthe context offour draft directives which
will beconsidered bytheEnvironment Council atitsmeeting
on12December .These draft directives are *
–Proposal foraCouncil Directive ontoxic anddangerous
waste ;
-Proposal foraCouncil Directive relating tothequality
ofwater forhuman consumption ;3.
1/J.O. Volume 18NoC168of25July 1975

-ProposalforaCouncilDirectiveconcerninghealth
protectionstandardsforsulphurdioxideandsuspended
particlesintheurbanatmosphere ;
-ProposalforaCouncilDirectiveconcerningthepres­
ervationofbirds.
4.Objectionshavebeenraisedbycertaindelegationstothe
specificapplication inthecontextofthesefourdirectives
oftheprocedureprovidedforintheCouncilResolutionof
.15July1975*ThedetailedpositionsofthedifferentMember
StatesaregiveninthedocumentsbeforetheCouncilwhich
dealwiththeindividualdirectivesandneednot,therefore,
besummarized here.
TheCommission .*sView
5.TheCommissionrecognizestheimportanceofthearguments
raisedonallsides.ForthepurposesoftheEnvironment
Councilof12December ,itshouldbepossibletoadopta
solutiontotheproblem.Theessentialfeaturesofsucha
solutionwould'beasfollows;
1
(a)asprovidedforinPointCofthaResolutionof15July
1975?in"tk®caseofeachofthefourdirectivesunder
consideration itwillbeclearlyspecifiedforwhich
provisionstheAdaptationCommitteeproceduresshallbe
invoked; '
(b)themandateoftheCommitteeswouldrelatetothose
aspectsofthedirectivewhichareessentially ofa
i
scientific andtechnicalcharacter.
–inthecaseofthetoxicwastedirective ,themandate
oftheCommitteewouldbelimitedto(i)clarifying
thedescription andcompositionofthetoxicor
dangeroussubstancesaridmaterialslistedintheAnnex
tothedirectiveand(ii)addingtotheAnnexdangerous

substances andmaterials unknown atthe time of
notification ofthedirective (newArticle 18r
1stand2ndlines );
–inthe case ofthe drinking water directive ,the
mandate ofthe Committee would "belimited tothe
models andfrequency ofthestandard analyses set
outinAnnex II,andthemethods ofanalysis set
outinAnnex !Ill ,tothedirective (Article 13,
2ndand3rdlines );
–inthe case ofthe sulphur dioxide standards dir-
.ective ,themandate oftheCommittee would be
limited toadapting themeasurement methods of
Annex III (Article 6,3rdline );
–inthe case ofthe "birds directive ,themandate
oftheCommittee would cover theadaptation of
Annexes I&V. ' •
(c)theproposed statement intheminutes bytheCommission ,
which figures inDocR/2639/77,would "bewithdrawn .
Conclusion
6.TheCouncil isasked toagree totheproposals made in
Paragraph 5(a-)(b)and (c)above asameans ofresolving
theproblems relating totheAdaptation Committee inthe
four draft directives which arecovered bythis note .