WRITTEN QUESTION E-3060/97 by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Commission (2 October 1997)

Subject: Emissions of organic compounds

The Commission has submitted a proposal for a Council directive on limitations of emissions of volatile organic compounds due to the use of organic solvents in certain industrial activities (COM(96) 538 final -96/0276 SYN) ((OJ C 99, 26.3.1997, p. 32. )).

Concern over tropospheric ozone pollution has given rise to a number of initiatives designed to reduce emissions of precursors which cause the formation of ozone. The proposed directive, the legal base for which is Article 130s of the Treaty, forms part of the fifth action programme and is one of a series of measures designed to achieve an overall reduction in emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the Union, with the aim of achieving a 30% reduction in emissions for the period 1990 - 1999 in line with the commitment given by the Commission under the UNECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution.

Will the Commission undertake an assessment of the combined effects of all actions concerning environmental air quality in the various regions of the European Union, with reference to precursors which cause the formation of tropospheric ozone, so as to avoid drawing up proposals which are unwarranted in terms of cost-effectiveness and the need to propose measures additional to those currently planned?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (31 October 1997)

The modelling carried out under the Auto-Oil ((COM(96) 248. )) programme concluded that there was a need to reduce emissions of both nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) by at least 70% as compared with 1990 levels in order to meet the air quality standards set by Directive 92/72/EEC on air pollution by ozone ((OJ L 297, 13.10.1992. )). It also identified a need to at the same time reduce emissions due to mobile and static sources. Finally, this modelling enabled the environmental impact in the various regions of Europe to be illustrated on the basis of various reduction scenarios.

The proposal for a Directive referred to by the Honourable Member concerning the reduction of emissions of volatile organic compounds caused by the use of organic solvents in certain industrial activities is intended to reduce the VOC emissions that can be attributed to the industrial use of organic solvents by 57%. The cost of the proposal is roughly ECU 10 per person per year in Europe, or in other words an average reduction cost of roughly ECU 2 000 per tonne of VOC. The wide diversity of the industrial sectors concerned, and in particular the large number of small and medium-sized businesses targeted justifies this average cost, which is lower than that of the action being taken under the Auto-Oil programme (roughly ECU 3 000 per tonne).

Any additional action which should be taken in order to meet the air quality targets will be identified when a global strategy on tropospheric ozone is defined, a strategy which will soon be described in a communication from the Commission.

The Commission would also like to draw the Honourable Member's attention to the fact that at this stage the Community has not ratified the VOC Protocol to the United Nations' Economic Commission for Europe's Convention on Long-Range Air Pollution.