WRITTEN QUESTION E-0898/03

by Wilhelm Piecyk (PSE) to the Commission

(21 March 2003)

Subject: Procurement of paper by the Commission

The Commission first ordered recycled paper with a higher than 90 % degree of whiteness in 2000.

The cost (based on the general market price) of purchasing recycled paper with a whiteness of almost 100 % is around 20-30 % higher than that for recycled paper of a lower degree of whiteness. The use of recycled paper with a high degree of whiteness (e.g. from cutting waste) is also contrary to the notion of a cycle and therefore sends out the wrong signal from the point of view of environmental policy.

Can the Commission answer the following:

1. What kind of recycled paper and of what degree of whiteness has the Commission been buying since 2000?

2. To what extent can the use of almost 100 % white recycled paper be reconciled with the premises outlined in the Green Paper on integrated product policy relating to procurement, which call for public procurement rules of an essentially economic nature and changes of consumption towards greener products?

3. How does the Commission justify or offset the additional costs arising from the use of 100 % white recycled paper?

4. What form of call for tenders will the Commission use in future, so as not to exclude suppliers of ecological recycled paper from selection procedures from the outset?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(21 May 2003)

1. Until 2000, the Commission used Trend White recycled reprographic paper supplied by the firm Steinbeis Temming. The whiteness level of this paper was 80 %. From January 2001 to date, as a result of the call for tenders 99/32/Admin.D.2, the Commission has been using reprographic paper which is 100 % recycled from used paper (post consumer) and is characterised by an ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) whiteness level of 106 %.

2. The Commission attaches great importance to the procurement of greener products and on value for money. The current supplier for this type of paper has been awarded several environmental certificates, notably, ISO 14001, National Association of Paper Merchants (NAPM) Recycled Mark, Blue Engel and Nordic Swan.

Furthermore, the above mentioned call for tender required the contractor to include in his price not only the supply of paper but also the provision of complementary services such as an online ordering system via the Internet and the administration of stocks and delivery to more than 700 delivery points within 24 hours.

3. The additional costs are justified by the inclusion of the above-mentioned services. These services are cheaper to acquire via the tender than they are to organise internally.

4. Within the context of a global contractor for office supplies, future calls for tender of this type will seek to acquire ecological paper which satisfies the administrative requirement of the Commission for effective communication whilst meeting the strictest possible ecological criteria.

This approach will allow the Commission to open up the market as widely as possible to producers of ecological paper thus ensuring low costs and strict respect for the environment to be achieved simultaneously.

Finally, this issue will be addressed within the framework of the implementation of the eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS)(1) in the Commission. Following the Commission Decision of 7 September 2001(2), three Commission services (Secretariat General, Directorate General for Personnel and Administration, and Directorate General for Environment), with the addition of the recently created office for infrastructures and logistics Bruxelles (OIB), will set up a management system which will enable the Commission to continuously improve the environmental performance of its daily activities.

(1) Regulation No 761/2001 of the Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2001 allowing voluntary participation by organisations in a Community eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS) OJ L 114, 24.4.2001.

(2) Commission Decision 2001/681/EC of 7 September 2001 on guidance for the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 761/2001 of the Parliament and of the Council allowing voluntary participation by organisations in a Community eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS) (notified under document number C(2001) 2504) OJ L 247, 17.9.2001.