European Parliament resolution on the satisfactory implementation of environment directives
Date: 2001-01-17
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: action for failure to fulfil an obligation, chemical product, chemical salt, consumer protection, directive (EU), ecosystem, environmental protection, national implementing measure, pollution control measures

18.9.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 262/151

Wednesday 17 January 2001

4.
Calls on the Commission, before the end of 2001, to organise an international conference for the
Member States and applicant countries concerning the position of frontier workers and the consequences
of the relevant present and future European legislation for them;

Calls for a study and an assessment with a view to inserting in Regulation 1408/71 the payment by a
5.
single State of pensions covered by agreements, with direct reimbursement of the appropriate percentages
between the States concerned;

Calls on the Commission to recommend to Member States that in their bilateral practices they have
6.
regard to the complications generated by the mismatches between taxation and social security systems in
the case of frontier workers, and ensure that tax arrangements comply with Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71
(country of employment principle);

7.
Calls on the Commission to recommend to Member States that in their bilateral practices they have
regard to the complications generated by the mismatches between taxation and social security systems in
the case of posted workers;

Calls on the Council and the Commission, pursuant to the Luxembourg process, to give thought to

8.
the extent and nature of frontier work;

9. Welcomes the new initiatives by social security agencies, which in the health sector, for example,
have established cross-frontier services for frontier workers; calls on the Commission to support such
initiatives and promote exchanges of experience and best practices;

Calls on the Council and the Commission to propose measures to remove obstacles to the mobility

10.
of stagiaires, students, volunteers and researchers;

11.
Calls on the Commission to set up a system to monitor the implementation of measures to protect
frontier workers, with special reference to areas where bilateral agreements with EFTA countries are in
force;

12.
Calls on the Commission to adopt a position as soon as possible on the consequences of the deci-
sions of the European Court of Justice in the Kohll and Decker cases (1) and related cases, now that it
appears that residents of the Member States, including frontier workers, can under certain circumstances
benefit from health provisions in other Member States;

13.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission.

(1) Cases C-158/96 and C-120/95 respectively.

9. Environmental directives

B5-0038/2001

European Parliament resolution on the satisfactory implementation of environment directives

The European Parliament,

: having regard to Oral Question B5-0556/2000 by its Committee on the Environment, Public Health

and Consumer Policy and having regard to the answer by the Commission,

: having regard to its resolutions of 17 January 2001 on the implementation of Directive 96/59/EC on
the disposal of PCBs and PCTs (2000/2112(INI)) (1), on the implementation of Directive 92/43/EEC on
habitats (2000/2111(INI)) (2) and on the implementation of Directive 91/676/EEC on nitrates (2000/
2110(INI)) (3),

(1)
(2)
(3)

‘Texts Adopted’, Item 4.
‘Texts Adopted’, Item 3.
‘Texts Adopted’, Item 2.

C 262/152

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.9.2001

Wednesday 17 January 2001

1.
Considers that Parliament’s reports on the implementation of the above directives have shown that
serious problems and excessive delays in the enforcement and implementation of these directives have
arisen in the majority of the Member States;

2.
Believes that this emphasises the importance of monitoring not only whether directives are correctly
transposed into national law but also whether Member States are putting them into practice and providing
the necessary resources to ensure that the directives adopted by the European Parliament and the Council
at European Union level do what they are supposed to do in terms of delivering real improvements in
environmental protection, consumer protection and public health;

3.
Encourages the Member States and the Commission to learn the lessons from the implementation of
the environmental directives with which many Member States have great difficulties; considers that setting
out at an early stage the possibilities for achieving environmental objectives with good comparable para-
meters can prevent problems at a later stage;

Calls on the Commission to carry out a detailed examination of the implementation and observance
4.
of Community environment legislation in all works and projects requiring public and/or private and/or
Community funding which fall within the scope of Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural
habitats and of wild fauna and flora;

5.
Notes that the Member States have an appalling record of failing to produce the necessary reports
and information on time, if at all; calls on all Member States to develop the necessary infrastructures and
procedures for this to be remedied in the future, so that commitments that are entered into are actually
met; further believes that this illustrates the need for a binding directive on environmental inspections;

6.
Calls on the Commission to regularly publish in a clear and accessible form, to the general public,
using the Internet for example, an updated scoreboard containing all current cases of infringement of EU
legislation by Member State and the steps taken by the Commission to ensure compliance;

7.
Calls on the Commission to produce on the same basis a positive scoreboard of measures taken by
Member States effectively implementing EU environmental directives in such a way as to share models of
good practice;

Considers that the Commission must take recourse to Article 228 of the Treaty in all cases where
8.
Member States have not complied with a judgment of the European Court of Justice under Article 227
within two years; requests the Commission to draw up a schedule for payments to be applied to all Mem-
ber States which have been found by the ECJ not to have complied with its earlier judgment;

9.
Insists on the need for an urgent modification of the Treaty in order to ensure that the Commission
fully plays its role as the guardian of the Treaties by enabling it to bring infringement cases much more
rapidly to the Court of Justice than is possible at present and to make more use of the provisions of Arti-
cle 228 allowing the imposition of financial penalties;

10.
Believes that the Commission must continue to play a central role in monitoring the implementa-
tion of these directives in its capacity as the guardian of the Treaties, but that the European Parliament
must play a vital and complementary ‘oversight’ role as the only democratically elected body with a Euro-
pean Union-wide perspective on general problems of implementation within the different Member States;
undertakes, therefore, to continue monitoring implementation of these directives on a systematic basis, and
calls for the assistance of the other institutions, of the European Environment Agency and of all relevant
NGOs and concerned parties in carrying out this task;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission and Council and to the govern-

11.
ments and parliaments of the Member States.