WRITTEN QUESTION E-0985/01 by Paul Lannoye (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Dioxin and furane emissions from ore sintering plants.
Date: 2001-03-30
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU environmental policy, air quality, iron and steel industry, iron ore, pollution control measures, toxic substance

C 318 E/170

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

13.11.2001

The Commission would like to stress that this promotion campaign is under indirect management, which
means that the designated competent body (in this case the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture) in normally
responsible for checking the promotion programme. However, the Commission retains a monitoring role,
which enabled it to take the action referred to above.

(2001/C 318 E/183)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0985/01

by Paul Lannoye (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

Subject: Dioxin and furane emissions from ore sintering plants

(30 March 2001)

from Xavier Desgain, Member of

the Walloon Region to two
The answers given by Michel ForŒt, Minister for the Environment of
parliamentary questions
the Walloon Regional Parliament, on
24 November 1999 and 20 June 2000, reveal that the ISSeP (Public Service Scientific Institute) signed an
agreement on 27 March 1998 with the Land Environment Office (LUA) of North-Rhine-Westphalia for
updating EU dioxin emissions inventories. The work carried out under this agreement is, via the LUA,
50 % funded by DG XI, which apparently proposed in particular that measurements be taken of dioxin
emissions from two ore sintering plants, at LiŁge and Charleroi. Information from unofficial sources
indicates that the results of the measurements are alarming: 4-7 ng TEQ dioxin/Nm3 for Charleroi and 0,6-
0,8 ng TEQ dioxin/Nm3 for LiŁge.

1.

Can the Commission confirm these results?

Have measurements of this type also been taken at ore sintering plants and other iron and steel
2.
installations in other Member States? If so, can the Commission provide the results of those measurements?

3. What steps does the Commission plan to take to reduce dioxin emissions from such installations,
which, given the concentrations and volumes of gas recorded, are apparently far higher than those from
household waste incineration plants?

Answer given by Mrs Wallstr(cid:246)m on behalf of the Commission

(7 June 2001)

1.
(cid:145)The European Dioxin Emission Inventory (cid:129) Stage II(cid:146) was prepared by the North Rhine
Westphalia State Environment Agency on behalf of the Commission and was finalised in December
2000. The report includes, among other results, the results of Dioxin measurements conducted in iron ore
sintering plants in the Walloon part of Belgium (LiŁge and Charleroi): stack emissions were measured to be
0,7 (range 0,6-0,8) for the LiŁge plant and 6,8 (range 5,2-9,8) nanogramme (ng) I (cid:129) toxic equivalents per
cubic metre (TEQ/m3) for the Charleroi plant.

No dioxin emission measurements have been conducted at iron ore sintering plants in other Member
2.
States. However, concerning the Iron and Steel Industry, measurement programs were carried out in iron/
steel foundries (cold wind cupola furnaces) in Germany and in Electric Arc Furnaces steel plants in Greece
and in Portugal. The final report of this project will be soon available on the Community Dioxin web page:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/dioxin/index.htm

The Commission is

3.
in the process of developing a (cid:145)Community Strategy for Dioxins and
polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)(cid:146). Several actions that are foreseen in this future strategy to reduce the
Dioxin contamination of the environment are focused on sectors with a Dioxin emission potential such as
the Iron and Steel Industry.

13.11.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 318 E/171

Given the fact that there is considerable variance of emissions between the iron ore sintering installations
and since a lot of data from several Member States are still missing, the Commission considers to:

(cid:129) carry out Dioxin emission measurements at iron ore sintering plants still not tested in order to be able

to decide whether immediate actions for reduction of emissions would be necessary;

(cid:129) promote the use of Best Available Dioxin reduction Techniques in the iron and steel

industry;
polychlorinated dibenzo-p-Dioxins/polychlorinated dibenzofurons (PCDD/F) emissions from sintering
plants may be reduced considerably by primary measures (optimisation regarding strand speed,
chloride input, bed height, millscale oil content, (cid:133)). The Commission will help to spread this
knowledge to the respective contacts in the Iron and Steel industry.

(2001/C 318 E/184)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0988/01

by Emmanouil Bakopoulos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(30 March 2001)

Subject: EASA

At the end of last year the Commission issued a proposal for a Regulation setting up the EASA (European
Aviation Safety Authority). However, the fifteen Member States of the Union are also members of the
ICAO which means that the text of the EASA Convention must not be contrary to their obligations under
the Chicago Convention.

Will the Commission say whether in drawing up the proposal for a Regulation in question:

1.

It checked whether the provisions of this Regulation clashed with the provisions of the Chicago
Convention?

2.

It has reached a preliminary understanding with the ICAO?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(10 May 2001)

The purpose of the proposal for a regulation (1) to which the Honourable Member is referring is to confer
on the Community the task of exercising its Member States(cid:146) responsibilities in respect of air safety and the
environmental compatibility of aviation, so as to ensure a uniform level of protection in the single market.
In so doing, the Community will of course have to make sure it meets the Member States(cid:146) international
commitments, particularly those under the Convention on International Civil Aviation, known as the
Chicago Convention.

The Commission(cid:146)s proposal contains two key elements.

Firstly, Articles 5 and 6 introduce into Community legislation the standards adopted by the International
Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in the areas in which the Community will initially exercise executive
powers (certification of aeronautical products); as the Community, pursuant
to Article 7, gradually
broadens the scope of those powers, it will have to see that it continues this practice. Third countries
which are Parties to the Chicago Convention will thus be assured that aeronautical products certified in the
Community offer a level of safety and environmental compatibility at least as high as that required by the
ICAO.

Secondly, Article 4(2) stipulates that application of the Regulation and of the acts implementing it must be
without prejudice to the rights of third countries under current international conventions, including the
Chicago Convention. Certificates and approvals issued by third countries in accordance with ICAO
standards are therefore certain to be accepted for the purpose of overflying or stopping over in Member
State territory covered by the EC Treaty.