WRITTEN QUESTION E-1351/01 by Richard Corbett (PSE) to the Commission. Seveso II Directive.
Date: 2001-05-07
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU law, accident prevention, chemical accident, civil defence

11.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 350 E/131

(2001/C 350 E/141)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1351/01

by Richard Corbett (PSE) to the Commission

(7 May 2001)

Subject: Seveso II Directive

On how many occasions in the last 50 years has an accident on a chemical site resulted in deaths outside
the site?

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

(10 July 2001)

Since the entry into force of the previous and existing Community legislation on chemical accident
prevention, preparedness and response (so-called Seveso I and II Directives, Council Directive 82/501/EEC
of 24 June 1982 on the major-accident hazards of certain industrial activities (1) and Council Directive 96/
82/EC of 9 December 1996 on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances (2)),
the number of deaths that occurred outside sites covered by the legislation and reported to the
Commission by the Member States is five.

(1) OJ L 230, 5.8.1982.
(2) OJ L 10, 14.1.1997.

(2001/C 350 E/142)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1355/01

by Mar(cid:237)a Sornosa Mart(cid:237)nez (PSE) to the Commission

(7 May 2001)

Subject: Electromagnetic pollution

In 1999 the Commission, aware of growing public concern at electromagnetic pollution and the lack of
legal provisions on the subject, decided to propose Council Recommendation 1999/519/EC (1) on the
limitation of exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields (0 Hz to 300 GHz).

Since then, both the rapid spread of mobile telephone masts and the publication of numerous studies on
their harmful effects on the environment and health are adding to public concern throughout the EU.

Spain, a country which already has more than 22 000 mobile phone base stations, provides a vivid
example of the current lack of legal provisions and the inadequacy of the Council Recommendation on
electromagnetic pollution. In the absence of an adequate legislative reference framework, many local
councils are opting to adopt municipal orders restricting and regulating the installation of such
infrastructure and also taking account of aspects relating to the non-thermal effects of this type of
pollution. Moreover, the central government is restricting itself to drawing up a royal decree (future
Regulation-Law 11/98) which is to include some of the criteria set out in Recommendation 1999/519/EC.

In Spain, this has produced the paradoxical situation whereby some residents have mobile phone masts
located slightly more than six metres away from their homes, which ensures that they are protected from
possible thermal effects of electromagnetic pollution but not against its non-thermal effects, a situation
which has already been the subject of complaints by people affected in the courts of Valencia, Murcia and
Gij(cid:243)n.

The example provided by the experience of Spanish local councils demonstrates the need to standardise
legislation and to go further in curbing electromagnetic pollution, which must not be seen solely in terms
of its thermal effects.