WRITTEN QUESTION E-2760/01 by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Mandatory local authority waste plans and noise mapping.
Date: 2001-10-09
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Sweden, application of EU law, municipality, noise protection, packaging, prevention of pollution, waste management

6.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 134 E/93

former Schengen Executive Committee on 16 September 1998. One of the tasks of this Committee is to
ensure that the Schengen acquis is properly applied by all Member States implementing the Schengen
convention. The Committee will undertake an evaluation of the Schengen acquis in France early in 2002.

(2002/C 134 E/095)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2760/01

by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(9 October 2001)

Subject: Mandatory local authority waste plans and noise mapping

In November 1999 it was reported Örkelljunga and Perstorp local authorities might be hauled before the
Court of Justice of the European Communities. The two local authorities were the only ones in Sweden
which had not yet submitted a waste plan as detailed as required by the EU directive. The two local
councils were expected to adopt their waste plans in January 2000. The first waste plans they submitted to
the EU were described as too brief as long ago as 1998. In Sweden it is not enough simply to draw up a
plan. Before the Commission receives the plan, under the Swedish procedure it has had to be posted
locally and put through both the executive board and the Council. The Perstorp and Örkelljunga waste
plans were drawn up by a local authority sanitation company. According to the managing director of the
company the plans had been ready since summer of 1999 but had not actually been sent to the
communes for further processing. The head of the Örkelljunga environment department said that there
had been other matters which were regarded as more urgent than the waste plan. In other countries waste
management is reported on a national basis, but in Sweden the Environmental Protection Agency sends
local authority waste plans to Brussels. The local authorities can then be responsible for providing all the
information the EU wants within the deadlines.

In November 1999 it was not however clear how the Commission was going to react to the failure by the
two local authorities to meet their obligations. What action has the Commission taken in response to the
failure of Örkelljunga and Perstorp local authorities to produce their waste plans?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(30 November 2001)

The Swedish Government has notified to the Commission a national waste management plan and
municipal waste plans in order to fulfil the requirements under Article 7 of Council Directive 75/442/EEC
of 15 July 1975 on waste (1), as amended by Council Directive 91/156/EEC of 18 March 1991 (2), Article 6
of Council Directive 91/689/EEC of 12 December 1991 on hazardous waste (3) and Article 14 of
Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC of 20 December 1994 on packaging and packaging waste (4).

The municipal waste plans for Örkelljunga and Perstorp, to which the Honourable Member refers, were
notified by the Swedish Government after the Commission had dispatched a reasoned opinion. Following
the notification of those waste plans, Sweden has notified plans covering the entire Swedish territory. In
December 2000, the Commission therefore decided to close the case concerning failure to notify the waste
plans in question.

(1) OJ L 194, 25.7.1975.
(2) OJ L 78, 26.3.1991.
(3) OJ L 377, 31.12.1991.
(4) OJ L 365, 31.12.1994.