WRITTEN QUESTION E-3458/98

by Hiltrud Breyer (V) to the Commission

(24 November 1998)

Subject: Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

1. Does the Commission know to what extent EU citizens and the environment are exposed to POPs?

2. What measures has the Commission taken to ensure that the level of POPs in the environment and to which citizens in the EU are exposed continues to be reduced?

3. Is the Commission aware of any national legislation concerning POPs and of how such legislation is implemented in the 15 Member States?

4. Who will lead the negotiations in the INC and in the Group of Experts, the Council or the Commission?

5. Does the Commission intend to consult the European Parliament, NGOs, industry representatives and environmental organizations to define its approach?

6. In the Commission's opinion, what should the criteria for POPs be? Should the criteria be based on the Sintra Declaration with regard to the OSPAR convention?

7. How does the Commission intend to contribute to the financing of forthcoming INCs and working group meetings? In other words, in what manner does the Commission support the POP process?

8. In what way can the Commission help developing countries to tackle their problems with POPs?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission

(21 January 1999)

1. Neither the production nor the use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) is widespread throughout the Community. Most of the products falling within this category have not been marketed for years - apart from POPs produced and emitted inadvertently, such as dioxins. Thus, exposure of the population may be considered to be limited. Conversely the situation is not the same outside the Community.

2. The Commission is acting first of all by proposing legal action at Community level and secondly by taking part in negotiating regional or world-wide instruments. The most recent examples to date are the proposal for a Council Directive on waste incineration(1) which contains limit values for the emission of dioxins and furans, and also the protocol to the Convention on Long-range Atmospheric Pollution of 1979 concerning persistent organic pollutants signed in Aarhus on 24 June 1998.

3. The Commission receives information on all national legislation as part of the transposition of a Community directive or of the procedure for the provision of information on technical standards and regulations provided for by Council Directive 83/189/EEC of 28 March 1983(2). Member States are not required to provide information on their laws or national measures beyond those obligations.

4. The future global instrument on POPs partly falls within the Community's powers and partly within those of the Member States. The Commission has sent the Council a recommendation concerning a decision authorising the Community to take part in the negotiations conducted under the United Nations' Environment Programme (UNEP)(3).

5. As regards the international negotiations Article 228(1) of the EC Treaty only provides for consultation with the special committees designated by the Council.

6. In connection with the criteria for defining POPs, the Commission will base itself as far as it can on the criteria negotiated under the regional POP protocol mentioned above. The strategy of the Oslo-Paris (OSPAR) Committee on Dangerous Substances targets an enormous body of substances of which POPs constitute a subgroup.

7. The Commission has noted the recent suggestion by the UNEP's "chemical products" director concerning the setting up of a "POP Club" that is intended jointly to finance the negotiating process. A possible contribution by the Commission is under examination.

8. The initial consultation of the Council has enabled a preference for the use of existing financial instruments to be established. In addition all financial machinery should be strictly in proportion to the obligations imposed on the states in question. The Commission will define a more detailed position during a subsequent stage of the negotiations concerning the global instrument.

(1) COM(98) 558 final.

(2) OJ L 109, 26.4.1983.

(3) SEC(98) 1366 final.