OPINION OF THE COMMISSION on the amendments proposed by the European Parliament to the Council' s common position on the proposal for a COUNCIL DIRECTIVE on the disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls and polychlorinated terphenyls (PCBs/PCTs)
Date: 1996-06-24
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: biodegradability, chlorine, research programme, used oil, waste disposal

COMMISSION  OF THE EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES 

Brussels,  24.06.1996 
COM(96) 301  final  - SYN  161 

OPINION OF THE COMMISSION 
on the amendments proposed by the European Parliament 
to the Council's common position on the 

proposal  for a 
COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 

on the disposal of poJychlorinated biphenyls 
and polychlorinated terphenyls (PCBs/PCTs) 

(presented by the Commission pursuant to Article  189 c (d) of the EC Treaty) 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

On the 12 December  1988 the Commission  presented to the Council a proposal 
for  a  Directive,  based  on  Article  100  a  of  the  EC  Treaty,  on  the  disposal  of 
PCBs  and  POTs1 

The  Economic  and  Social  Committee  delivered  its  opinion  on  28  February 
19892. 

The  European  parliament delivered  its opinion at first reading  on  17 May  19903 
and  12  December  19904. 

The  Commission  submitted  to  the  Council  an  amended  proposal  based  on 
Articles  100a  and  113  of  the  Treaty5  on  22  October  1991. 

The  Council  reached  agreement  in principle with a view to adopting  a  common 
position  based  on  the  Article  130  s  of  the  Treaty  on  16  December  1994.  It 
accordingly  consulted  the  European  Parliament  on  that  point.  The  European 
Parliament  agreed  to  that  change  in  the  legal  basis  in  its  resolution  of  20 
September  1995.  On  27  November  1995  the  Council  adopted  a  common 
position  in  accordance  with  Article  189  c  of  the  Treaty. 

At  its  sitting  of  22  May  1996 the  European  Parliament  adopted  its  decision  at 
second  reading  on  the  common  position  with  3  amendments. 

The  Commission  did  not  accept  any  of  the  amendments  suggested  by  the 
European  Parliament. The Commission' s position on each of the  amendments 
adopted  by  the  European  Parliament  at  its  second  reading  is  as  follows  : 

Amendment  5 

-This  amendment  to  the  third  recital  asks  for  funding  research  into  other 
methods  of disposal of PCBs-PCTs and in particular  in those involving  bacterial 
biodégradation  and  pretreatment  using  chlorine  extraction. 

research  goes  beyond  PCBs-PCTs. 

Such 
It  concerns  organochlorine 
compounds  in general. However, the Commission will endeavour to include this 
research  in the  fifth  research  programme. 

1 COM(88) 559 final-SYN 161 of 18 October 1988 OJ No C 319, 

12.12.1988 

2 OJ No C 139, 5.6.1989, p.l 

3 OJ No C 149, 18.6.1990, p.150 

4 OJ No C 19, 28.1.1991, p.83 

5 COM(91) 373 final-SYN  161, 22 October  1991, OJ No C 299, 

20.11.1991, p.9 

Amendment 2 

K n f c f 'i  lo  H it ? Hlh  lociliil  iincl  N?(|un?.lr.  lui  induction  of  lh<-  m a x i m um  hunt  lei 
PCBs-PCTs content  in mixtures to be  used as combustibles,  including  waste 
oils, from  50 to 20 ppm. 

In  the  Commissions  view  this  reduction  should  be  achieved  through  an 
amendment of Directive 75/439 on the disposal of waste oils. The Commission 
undertook,  by  way  of  a  declaration  to  the  Council  minutes,  to  propose  a 
modification to Directive 75/439 with a view to reduce the maximum limit of 50 
ppm  to  20  ppm  PCB/PCT  content  in  mixtures  to  be  used  as  combustibles 
including waste oils. 

Amendment 3 

-It refers to Article 3 and asks Member  States to monitor  compliance with the 
present  Directive and to  provide for effective  penal sanctions. 

The  monitoring of compliance  and providing of penal sanctions  is the task  of 
each Member  State. 

3 

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