WRITTEN QUESTION No. 102/98 by Caroline JACKSON to the Commission. EU-wide standards for environmental protection
Date: 1998-01-30
Institutions: European Parliament, JACKSON CAROLINE
Subjects: environmental law, environmental monitoring, environmental protection, environmental standard, pollution control, prevention of pollution, quality of the environment

C 223/112

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

17. 7. 98

3.
As  set  out  in  its  report,  the  Commission  considers  that  unilateral  action  by  the  Community  would  put
Community carriers at a competitive disadvantage. The Council, in response to the Commission(cid:146)s report has
adopted a Resolution requesting the Commission to provide further information on all aspects of the introduction
of taxation of aircraft fuel. To meet this request, the Commission has launched a study to examine the various
effects of the introduction of taxation within the Community. The consortium carrying out this study is due to
produce its final report during the summer of 1998.

4. With the exception of customs duties, indirect tax revenues have traditionally been retained by individual
Member States and any proposal to divert revenues from aviation fuel taxation into Community own resources
would require the unanimous agreement of all Member States. This is unlikely to be forthcoming.

(1)  OJ C 139, 6.4.1997.

(98/C 223/142)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0102/98

by Caroline Jackson (PPE) to the Commission

(30 January 1998)

Subject: EU-wide standards for environmental protection

Can the Commission state whether it has any plans to propose a directive establishing standards for the training
and  performance  of  environmental  inspectors  throughout  Europe,  since  varying  standards  are  currently
endangering the universal application of EU environmental legislation?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission

(23 February 1998)

The Commission attaches considerable importance to inspection and enforcement in the Member States in order
to achieve the proper application of Community environmental legislation in practice.

In its communication on implementing Community environmental law of 22 October 1996 (1), the Commission
recognised  that  variable  standards  of  enforcement  in  the  Member  States  could  be  a  problem.  It  therefore
proposed various measures to deal with this, some of which would specifically concern inspectors and other
environmental enforcement officials in the Member States.

Following the Parliament(cid:146)s and the Council(cid:146)s resolutions on the communication, the Commission, together with
IMPEL (the informal Community network of Member States(cid:146) environmental law enforcement officials) have
been working on preparing a set of minimum criteria for environmental inspections in the Member States. It is
the  Commission(cid:146)s  intention  to  make  appropriate  proposals  setting  down  standards  for  the  form,  content  and
publicity to be given to inspections of polluting installations within the framework of the environmental acquis
communautaire. It will cover the planning of inspections, the carrying out of site visits and anlysis of findings,
reports  and  publicity  for  the  results.  This  is  the  first,  and  most  critical,  element  in  the  Commission(cid:146)s  staged
approach  towards  dealing  with  improving  environmental  inspections  of  installations  on  the  ground  in  the
Member States.

As  for  standards  for  the  training  and  performance  of  environmental  inspectors  throughout  the  Community,
IMPEL is carrying out work on training and the promotion of (cid:145)best professional practice(cid:146) for inspectors, as well
as further work on the frequency of inspections and the functioning of environmental inspectorates. This work
includes  exchange  programmes,  workshop  meetings  on  specific  technical  questions  arising  from  certain
industries or processes and the development of a reference book and a training course for inspectors. This will
clearly assist the improvement and harmonisation of standards of training and performance across the Member
States. The results of these programmes will be given in the annual survey to be published by the Commission.

(1)  COM(96) 500 final.