WRITTEN QUESTION P-1583/00

by Jonathan Evans (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(12 May 2000)

Subject: HRP Refrigerants Ltd imminent adoption of new regulation to replace Regulation 3093/94 on substances that deplete the ozone layer HCFC import quota

The Council and the European Parliament are soon to adopt a new regulation to replace Regulation 3093/94(1) on substances that deplete the ozone layer. The new regulation will bring about a change in the way in which HCFC import quotas will be allocated. From 1 January 2001, the total available import quota will be shared out between individual importers in the same proportions as their market shares in 1996 (Article 4(3)(i)(h)). As a result, with effect from the end of this year, those companies which started importing HCFCs after 1996 will be arbitrarily deprived of their quota. This could entail job losses across the EU. It will result in unnecessary interference in the HCFC market and may be a breach of EC law. Reliance on 1996 as the reference year will put jobs needlessly at risk and could result in claims against the European Community for damages. The reference year should be the most recent year for which market figures are available. Using 1999 as the reference year instead of 1996 would not result in any diminution in the level of environmental protection afforded by the regulation.

I have been informed that, in 1999, 32 companies from almost every Member State of the European Union were allocated import quotas by the European Commission. Only five of those companies imported HCFCs in 1996. HRP Refrigerants Ltd (HRPR), a SMU based in South Wales, distributed EU-produced HCFCs in 1996 but did not import any HCFCs that year. HRPR was allocated an import quota by the European Commission in 1998, 1999 and 2000. As the new regulation is currently worded, HRPR is one of some 27 companies which will be deprived of its HCFC import quota from the end of 2000.

What is the Commission doing to resolve this problem as a matter of urgency and to ensure that European Community legislation enables the Commission to allocate HCFC import quotas in the future without infringing the rights of EU-based businesses?

(1) OJ L 333, 22.12.1994, p. 1.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(9 June 2000)

The new proposed regulation on substances that deplete the ozone layer(1) that will replace the existing Council Regulation (EC) No 3093/94 of 15 December 1994(2) is aimed at strengthening existing measures and putting in place additional measures for protecting the ozone layer. The Commission has always taken the position that in meeting its environmental objectives with respect to the ozone layer, legislation for the phase out of the production and use of controlled substances should aim at ensuring that negative economic impacts on industry, in particular impacts on small and medium-size enterprises, are wherever possible minimised.

On the specific question of the way in which hydrofluorocarbons (HCFC) quotas are allocated under the new regulation, the Commission's intention in its proposal for the new regulation was to agree a mechanism for quota allocation that least disturbed the market. In this proposal the date proposed for determining the HCFC quota was 1996 since this was the latest date for which there was data on production and imports.

The implications of using 1996 as the base date for the allocation of the HCFC quota, particularly for some small economic operators in the Community, was drawn to the attention of the Council, Parliament and Commission. The Commission was ready to agree to a later base date than 1996 for the allocation of the HCFC quota if Council and Parliament had agreed on this in the joint text of the regulation approved by the conciliation committee.

The Commission has reserved its position on proposing an amendment to the new regulation in the event of the base date for HCFC allocation remaining at 1996 in the final text of the regulation on substances that deplete the ozone layer. Overall there appear to be reasons for proposing a new base date for HCFC allocation through a proposal for an amendment to the new regulation on substances that deplete the ozone layer.

(1) OJ C 83, 25.3.1999.

(2) OJ L 333, 22.12.1994.