WRITTEN QUESTION P-0375/99

by Karla Peijs (PPE) to the Commission

(17 February 1999)

Subject: Implementation of directive 94/62/EC

1. Can the Commission say which Member States have transposed directive 94/62/EC(1) in national legislation, and to what extent they have done so?

2. Can the Commission say to what extent the Member States have set up (collection) systems in order to achieve the target, no later than 30 June 2001, of recovering and reusing as a raw material at least 15 % of wooden packaging placed on the market? Can the Commission confirm that a number of countries (Denmark, the United Kingdom. France, Spain. Portugal and Italy) have not yet set up systems for reusing wooden packaging (such as wooden pallets)?

3. Does the Commission agree that failure to transpose directive 94/62/EC can distort competition to the detriment of those firms which do comply with the directive? If not, why not?

4. Will the Commission, as the guardian of European laws, act against Member State which have not yet taken adequate measures to achieve the objective of the directive? If so, what form will this action take?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission

(22 March 1999)

1. The Commission follows very closely the implementation in the Member States of Directive 94/62/EC of 20 December 1994 on packaging and packaging waste(2). Currently, ten Member States have completed the full implementation of the Directive and there are five Member States against which infringement procedures have been opened and are pending for failure to notify national implementing measures (Belgium, Germany, Greece, France and the United Kingdom).

2. Pursuant to Article 7 of the Directive, Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that systems are set up for the return, collection and recovery of packaging and packaging waste in order to meet the objectives of the Directive, in particular the recycling and recovery targets. These systems cover all packaging and packaging waste, including wooden packaging. In general, the obligations fall on each individual operator unless responsibility is transferred to an agreed organisation. This means that it is up to the industrial operators to organise themselves in case the existing systems do not cover wooden packaging, which may be the case in the Member States the Honourable Member mentions. Otherwise each operator has to organise individually the system for collection.

Commission Decision 97/138/EC of 3 February 1997(3) establishes that Member States shall present to the Commission the completed formats relating to the database system on packaging and packaging waste. The provision of data is obligatory for glass, plastics, paper and fibreboard and metals. Data on wood are to be completed on a voluntary basis. The formats shall be completed starting with the data for the year 1997, and shall be provided within 18 months of the end of the relevant year. At this moment no data has been received and the information is thus not available yet.

3. The Directive covers all packaging and packaging waste and the systems shall be designed in order to avoid barriers to trade and distortions of competition.

4. If Member States do not take adequate measures to comply with the Directive, infringement proceedings may be opened in accordance with Article 169 of the EC Treaty.

(1) OJ L 365, 31.12.1994, p. 10.

(2) OJ L 365, 31.12.1994.

(3) OJ L 52, 22.2.1997.