EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 33/1

(2004/C 33 E/001)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0415/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(20 February 2002)

Subject: Collection and recovery from the Third World and destruction of unused toxic agricultural chemicals produced in the EU

1. Is the Commission aware that in recent decades large quantities of toxic agricultural chemicals which are non-biodegradable or virtually so have been transported to the Third World, as part of development aid or with the aim of dumping old stocks which were no longer required in countries with stronger economies, as samples supplied by industry in order to promote sales or for the purpose of scientific experiments?

2. Is the Commission also aware that many of these old stocks have never been used, that by modern standards they are regarded as hazardous and unusable, and that because of the way in which they have been stored and packaged, these undesirable substances have escaped into the environment or will do so in due course unless prompt measures are taken to prevent this?

3. Does the Commission have any data which would make it possible to identify which businesses within the EU produced and transported these toxic chemicals and what know-how they possess which could be used to recover these substances and destroy them in a properly controlled manner?

4. What contacts does the Commission have on this subject with Greenpeace, which is carrying out a campaign, inter alia in Nepal, to recover and destroy such substances?

5. How and to what extent are former suppliers or any other parties already helping to defuse this chemical time bomb?

6. What additional measures does the Commission consider necessary in order to ensure that such substances are collected as comprehensively as possible, and what steps are being taken to this end?

Source: ‘2 Vandaag’, Dutch TV current affairs programme, 29 January 2002.

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(16 April 2002)

The Commission is conscious of the problem represented by the shipment of hazardous chemicals to developing countries and particularly by the threats of obsolete pesticides to human health and the environment.

All obsolete pesticides, being unfit for use must be considered as hazardous waste due to their dangerous properties. The shipment of hazardous waste to non-Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries is forbidden according 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 Community (1). This Regulation establishes a control regime and specific measures such as take back of the waste by the exporting country in cases of waste illegally shipped. In this context pesticides exported with the intention of discarding them, would be deemed to be waste even if labelled as products by the exporting party and thus constitute illegal shipments. For this provision to apply evidence of the intention to discard by the exporting party would be required.

Furthermore, the Commission is preparing for the ratification of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) signed in May 2001 which currently addresses nine pesticides out 12 pollutants.

The provisions of the Stockholm Convention with regard to stockpiles, wastes containing or contaminated by POPs stipulate the goal of their environmental sound management. To this end Parties shall, inter alia, manage stockpiles in a safe, efficient and environmentally sound manner until they are deemed to be wastes and take measures to handle, collect, transport and store wastes in an environmentally sound manner disposing of them in a way that destroys the POP content. Parties should not allow recovery, recycle, reclamation, direct reuse or alternative uses of POPs and not transport POPs across international boundaries without taking into account international rules (e.g. Basel Convention on transboundary movements of hazardous wastes).

Although these provisions concern for the time being only the nine pesticides included in the Stockholm Convention, an environmentally sound management must be applied to all types of obsolete pesticides to ensure the maximum protection of the environment against the effects of this type of hazardous waste.

In parallel the Commission has recently put forward proposals to ratify and give effect in the Community to the provisions of the Rotterdam Convention for the application of the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure. The objectives of the Convention are to better inform developing countries on chemicals (pesticides, industrial and consumer chemicals) and to help these countries to manage them properly, in a sustainable way. The Rotterdam Convention therefore represents another significant step in improving international regulation and management of hazardous chemicals.

The Commission is not in possession of data allowing the identification of companies having produced and transported the toxic chemicals referred to by the Honourable Member.

The Commission is however well informed of initiatives undertaken by Greenpeace in Nepal as well as in other Asian and African countries focussing on unsafe storing conditions of large amounts of expired pesticides.

Finally, the Commission is also aware of the fact that Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), OECD, aid agencies, countries with obsolete stocks, pesticide producers and non-governmental organisations have undertaken collaborative projects to inventory, collect and dispose of existing stocks of obsolete pesticides and to prevent the accumulation of new ones.

(1) OJ L 30, 6.2.1993.