NoC73/6 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanCommunities 15.3.93
OpinionontheproposalforaCouncilDirectiveonthecontrolofvolatileorganiccompound
(VOC)emissionsresultingfromthestorageofpetrolanditsdistributionfromterminalsto
servicestations(theso-called'StageFDirective)i1)
(93/C73/03
On18August1992theCouncildecidedtoconsulttheEconomicandSocialCommittee,
underArticle100aoftheTreatyestablishingtheEuropeanEconomicCommunity,onthe
abovementioned proposal.
TheSectionforProtectionoftheEnvironment ,PublicHealthandConsumerAffairs,which
wasresponsibleforpreparingtheCommittee'sworkonthesubject,adopteditsOpinionon
5January1993.TheRapporteurwasMrGafoFernandez.
Atits302ndPlenarySession(meetingof27January1993),theEconomicandSocial
CommitteeunanimouslyadoptedthefollowingOpinion.
1.Introduction
1.1.ThepurposeoftheDirectiveistoreducethe
harmfuleffectsontheenvironmentandhumanhealth
ofhydrocarbonvolatileorganiccompound (VOC)
emissions .2.2.TheCommitteealsowelcomesthecarefulcost­
benefitbalanceofmostoftheproposedmeasures,
reflectingtheCommission'sgrowingawarenessofthe
needtooptimizescarceeconomicresourcessoasto
giveprioritytoenvironmental protectionactioninthe
mosturgentareas.
2.3.TheCommitteewould,nevertheless,pointtoa
numberofaspectswhichinitsviewcouldbeimproved
orrequirecloserexamination .1.2.Itsetsoutinparticulartobringaboutasubstan­
tialreductioninsuchemissionsatthepetrolstorage
anddistributionstage—'Stage1'.TheCommission
intendstointroduceasupplementary'Stage2'Directive
coveringemissionsduringtherefuellingofvehiclesin
servicestations.
2.4.ThefirstoftheseisthelegalbasisoftheDraft
Directive.TheCommitteeconsidersthechoiceof
Article100aoftheTreatytobeapositiveone,andto
reflecttheCommission'sincreasingcautionfollowing
theapprovaloftheprincipleofsubsidiarityenshrined
intheMaastrichtTreaty.Byoptingforthislegalbasis,
theCommission isindicatingthatitsintentionisto
provideaminimumlevelofharmonizedenvironmental
protection,withimplicationsforthesinglemarket,
applicabletoalltheMemberStates.1.3.AccordingtoCommissiondata,only5%and
2%ofVOCemissionsintheCommunityoccurduring
Stages1and2respectively .
1.4.Thisisnot,however,todenythedesirabilityof
takingactiononsuchemissions.Firstly,becausethe
Commissionhasalreadylaiddownrulesonothersourc­
esofemission,suchasthosefrommotorvehicles,
accountingfor35%ofthetotal,andwilldosointhe
futureonsolvents,representing40%.Secondly,on
accountoftheconcentrationofsuchemissionsinpar­
ticularurbanareasandoftheneedtoprotectworkers
intheindustriesconcerned .
2.5.However,Article4statesthatMemberStates
mayrequiremorestringentmeasuresforloadingand
unloadingatterminalsinspecificgeographicalareas;
thiscouldcompromiseharmonization andthusact
againstthefreeprovisionofservices,particularlyby
roadorrailhauliers,butpossiblyalsobyriverandsea,
andleadtomarketfragmentation .2.Generalcomments
2.1.TheCommitteeendorsesthegeneralprinciples
andapproachofthepresentDirective,whichsetsout
toregulateStage1VOCemissions.Atthesametime,
iturgestheCommissiontopresentproposalson
Stage2assoonaspossible.
2.6.TheCommitteethereforefeelsthatinaddition
toreceivingnotificationfromMemberStates,together
withthegroundsforintroducingsuchmeasures,the
Commissionshouldjudgewhethertheymatchtheends
andassessthepotentiallycontraryeffectsonthe
internalmarket,assetoutinArticle100a(4)ofthe (x)OJNoC227,3.9.1992,p.3.

15.3.93 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanCommunities NoC73/7
Treaty.Ontheotherhand,safeguardingoftheenviron­
mentandofworkers'healthrequiresahighlevelof
protectioninaccordancewithavailabletechnology .onlybeproperlytackledoncesuchrulesareissued—
amatterofurgencyintheCommittee'sview.
2.7.Similarly,theCommitteehasreasontodoubt
thatthetaxprovisionscontainedinArticle10are
appropriateinaDirectiveunderArticle100a.Although
theCommitteewhollyendorsesthemeasureproposed,
intendedtopreventdoubletaxation,itmustdrawatten­
tiontothispoint.2.13.Anotheraspectwhichmustnotbeunderesti­
matedissafety,bothofworkersintheindustryandof
thegeneralpublic.AlthoughtheDirectiveestablishes
theappropriatesafeguards,theCommitteebelievesthat
explicitreferenceshouldbemadetothecloselinks
betweenthisDirectiveandtheinternational rulesfor
thestorageofflammableproductsandthosegoverning
roadandrailcarriageofdangerousgoods.
2.8.TheCommitteeagreeswiththetargetreference
valuessetbytheDirectiveforbothmaximumfuel
evaporationlosspercentagesandinparticularthe
exhaustlevelssetoutinAnnexIIforvapourrecovery
units.AccordingtoviewsexpressedtotheCommittee,
thesetargetscanbemetwithone-steprecoveryunits,
usingwidelyprovenandwellknowntechnology.Such
unitswouldoptimizerationalenergyuse,withthe
consequentenvironmentalbenefitsinareassuchasC02
emissions .2.14.Similarlyforsafetyreasons,itistheCom­
mittee'sviewthatitmaybenecessarytograntlonger
adjustmenttimelimitsforshipandbargeloadinginstal­
lations.ThetimelimitsforapplyingtheDirectiveto
sea-goingvesselsmightthenbemadecompatiblewith
thesignatureofaninternationalagreementunderthe
auspicesoftheIMO(InternationalMaritimeOrganiza­
tion).
2.15.TheCommitteewelcomestheDirective's
arrangementsforamendingtheAnnexesinlinewith
technicalprogress,assetoutinArticles7and8.2.9.TheCommitteeisawareoftheexistenceinthe
FRGofemissionvaluesforvapourrecoveryunitsin
majorstorageterminalsstricterthanthoseproposed
bytheDraftDirective.Itwouldthereforeurgethe
Commissiontomakeadetailedcost/benefitanalysisof
thesevalues.ItwouldalsosuggestthattheCommission
putforwardmeasuresenablingtheexistinglegislation
intheFRGtobebroughtintolinewiththerequirements
oftheinternalmarket.2.16.However,sincetheAnnexeswillbeanalyzedby
anadvisorybodyunderthetermsofArticle8,theESC
feelsthatconsultationofthisbodyisnotasufficient
basisforadoptionofnewmeasures:aformalapproval
procedure,similartothatfortheDirectiveitself,should
beinstituted.
2.17.Lastly,withregardtotheAnnexes,giventhat
preciseandcomprehensive emissionlevelsareset,the
individualconditionsofeachtechnicalrequirement
couldbemademoreflexible,especiallyinAnnexI,
providedthatthefinaloveralltargetlevelisattained.2.10.TheCommitteehasexaminedthelongdead­
linesbywhichallfixedinstallationsormobilecon­
tainersmustcomplywiththerequirements .Sincethe
Commissionitselfandexpertshaveexplainedthatmore
than90%oftotalfuelmovementisaccountedforby
thosefixedinstallationsormobilecontainerswhichare
grantedathree-yeartimelimit,theCommitteedoesnot
considerthelongertimelimitsgrantedtoremaining
containerswithalowlevelofactivitytocontradict
theDirective'sultimateaims.However,theCommittee
emphasizesthatmorestringentmeasuresmaybe
applied,asproposedinArticles3and4,iflocalcon­
ditionsinparticularcasessorequire. 3.Specificcomments
2.11.Nevertheless ,theCommitteeisdoubtfulthat
therequirementsarisingfromtheimmediatemajor
overhaulofroadandrailtankers—affectingupto80­
90%ofthecurrentfleetinsomeMemberStates—can
bemetwithinthreeyears,fortechnicalandeconomic
reasons.3.1.Article3.1:redraft,amendingthelastpartof
theparagraphasfollows:
'shouldnotexceedthetargetvalueof0,01%w/w
ofthethroughput.'
Thisslightaddition,whichappearsintheCommission
Communication totheCouncilonthesematters,is
importantsincethereferencetargetlevelsaretobe
achievedbyapplyingthecriterialaiddowninAnnexI.2.12.Thisisfurtherdemonstrated bythelackof
anyEuropeanrulesontankerloadingequipment.The
questionofadjustingorreplacingexistingtankerscan

NoC73/8 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanCommunities 15.3.93
3.2.ThiscommentalsoappliestoArticles4.1and
6.1.
3.3.Article5.1d):
'Thevapourtightnesstestsshallbecarriedout
attheperiodicitylaiddownbytheinternational
agreementsonthecarriageofdangerousgoodsby
roadandrail.'
3.4.Article5.1:addanewparagraph5.1f)asfol­
lows:
'Theintroductionofdifferentormorestringent
measuresbytheMemberStates,asprovidedin
Articles3.1,4.1and6.1isacceptableinsofarasit
doesnotaffectthedesignofmobilecontainers.'
3.5.InArticle5.2itshouldbeclarifiedwhetherthe
timelimitsconcerningexistingroadandrailtankers
aretobeshorterthanthoserequiredfortheterminals
atwhichtheyareloaded,orthreeyearsinallcases.
SincetheCommitteeconsiderstherequirementto
adjusttheentirefleetofroadandrailtankerswithin
threeyearstobeexcessive,itsuggeststhatthereference
totankersinArticle5.2b)beremoved,andanew
paragraphinsertedinArticle5.2asfollows:'d)forroadandrailtankers,fromthedateonwhich
therequirementsofArticle4applytotheterminal
atwhichtheyareloaded.'
3.6.Shipsandbargesshouldbetreatedseparately
andinamoreprogressivemannerinArticle5.2,as
follows:
—deletethereferenceto'shipsandbarges'inpoints
b)andc);
—replaceexistingpointc)withthefollowing:
'c)sixyearsfromthedatereferredtoinArticle11
forallbarges'.
3.7.Article5toincludeaparagraph3,asfollows:
'TheCommissionshall,onitsowninitiativeorthat
oftheMemberStates,proposetheestablishmentof
standardsinthisareaundertheauspicesofthe
IMO,inaccordancewiththeDirective'sgeneral
aims.'
3.8.AnnexIII,paragraph2:replace'loading'with
'unloading'.
DoneatBrussels,27January1993.
TheChairman
oftheEconomicandSocialCommittee
SusanneTIEMANN