COMMON POSITION (EC) No 30/96 adopted by the Council on 28 May 1996 with a view to adopting Council Regulation (EC) No . . ./96 of . . . amending Regulation EEC No 259/93 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community (96/C 219/03)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community and in particular Article 130s (1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (2),

Acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 189c (3),

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 of 1 February 1993 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community (4), and in particular Article 16 thereof,

Whereas the European Community is a party to the Basle Convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous waste and their disposal since 7 February 1994;

Whereas at the second conference of the parties to the Basle Convention a decision ('Decision II/12`) was adopted by consensus to prohibit immediately all exports of hazardous wastes which are destined for final disposal from OECD to non-OECD States and to prohibit as of 1 January 1998, all exports of hazardous wastes which are destined for recycling or recovery operations from OECD to non-OECD States;

Whereas the parties are requested to cooperate and work actively to ensure the effective implementation of Decision II/12 of the second conference of the parties to the Basle Convention;

Whereas with respect to waste destined for final disposal, Article 14 of Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 already prohibits all exports of such kind of waste to non-OECD States; and whereas Article 18 of the same Regulation prohibits all exports of waste to ACP States;

Whereas currently the said Regulation does not provide for a total prohibition of exports of hazardous waste destined for recycling or recovery operations to non-OECD States;

Whereas the said Regulation should therefore be amended,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 is hereby amended as follows:

1. Article 16 (1) shall be replaced by the following:

'Article 16

1. All exports of waste listed in Annex III and IV for recovery shall be prohibited except those to:

(a) countries to which the OECD Decision applies;

(b) other countries:

- which are parties to the Basle Convention and/or with which the Community, or the Community and its Member States, have concluded bilateral or multilateral or regional agreements or arrangements in accordance with Article 11 of the Basle Convention and paragraph 2 of this Article. Any such exports shall however be prohibited from 1 January 1998 onwards,

- with which individual Member States have concluded bilateral agreements and arrangements prior to the date of application of this Regulation, in so far as these are compatible with Community legislation and in accordance with Article 11 of the Basle Convention and paragraph 2 of this Article. These agreements and arrangements shall be notified to the Commission within three months of the date of application of this Regulation or of the date that such agreements are brought into effect, whichever is earlier, and shall expire when agreements or arrangements are concluded in accordance with the first indent. Any such exports shall however be prohibited as from 1 January 1998 onwards.`

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at . . .

For the Council

The President

(1) OJ No C 164, 30. 6. 1995, p. 8.

(2) OJ No C 18, 22. 1. 1996, p. 18.

(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 16 January 1996 (OJ No C 32, 5. 2. 1996, p. 32), Council common position of . . . (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Decision of the European Parliament of . . . (not yet published in the Official Journal).

(4) OJ No L 30, 6. 2. 1993, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Commission Decision 94/721/EC (OJ No L 288, 9. 11. 1994, p. 36).

STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL'S REASONS

I. INTRODUCTION

1. On 3 May 1995, the Commission submitted a proposal for a Regulation (1) based on Article 130s (1) of the EC Treaty, amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community.

2. The European Parliament delivered its opinion (2) on first reading on 16 November 1995 and 16 January 1996.

Following that opinion, the Commission submitted an amended proposal on 20 February 1996 (3).

The Economic and Social Committee delivered its opinion (4) on 25 October 1995.

3. On 28 May 1996, the Council unanimously adopted its common position in accordance with Article 189c of the Treaty.

II. OBJECTIVE

4. Theaim of the proposal for a Regulation is to transpose into Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 the relevant provisions of Decision II/12 of the second conference of the parties to the Basle Convention.

III. ANALYSIS OF THE COMMON POSITION

5. The Council appraised the Commission proposal in terms of the above objective and in terms of the need to prevent the existence of different categories of waste within and outside the Community and ensure that a coherent system of lists and categories of waste is set up within international forums.

The Council considered in particular that the essential factor was to incorporate as quickly as possible into Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 the substance of Decision II/12 (confirmed by Decision III/1), namely a ban (immediate or delayed depending on the type of operation in question) on exports of hazardous waste, irrespective of the technical points that would have to be clarified.

The Council agreed to adopt its common position unanimously.

(1) OJ No C 164, 30. 6. 1995, p. 8.

(2) OJ No C 32, 5. 2. 1996, p. 32.

(3) OJ No C 107, 13. 4. 1996, p. 6.

(4) OJ No C 18, 22. 1. 1996, p. 18.