WRITTEN QUESTION E-0082/02 by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission. Disposal of fridges — EC Regulation 2037/2000.
Date: 2002-01-25
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: United Kingdom, application of EU law, environmental protection, household electrical appliance, interpretation of the law, stratospheric pollutant, waste management

29.8.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 205 E/67

The Council would remind the Honourable Member that, through its humanitarian aid office, ECHO, the
European Union is the largest provider of humanitarian aid to refugees: humanitarian aid worth EUR 56,4
million was supplied to refugees in the Tindouf camps between 1996 and 2001.

(2002/C 205 E/073)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0069/02

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(25 January 2002)

Subject: The Barcelona process and the fisheries agreements with Morocco

The Spanish presidency’s priorities include the Euro-Mediterranean association, based on the Barcelona
process started in 1995. At the meeting in Barcelona the fisheries agreement between Morocco and the
European Union, which had just been signed, was seen as an example of the path to be followed in
seeking better collaboration between the two shores of the Mediterranean. In this context, is the Spanish
presidency willing to re-establish this climate of cooperation in order to facilitate the signing of a new
fisheries agreement between the EU and Morocco?

Reply

(21 May 2002)

As the Honourable Member pointed out, the 1995 Barcelona Conference created a new framework for
relations between the countries of the European Union and the countries of the Mediterranean through
global cooperation based on political dialogue, the development of economic and financial cooperation
and the inclusion of the social, cultural and human dimension.

In this spirit, the Council, aware that fisheries have always been a particularly important aspect of relations
between the Kingdom of Morocco and the European Union will do all it can to ensure that this close
relationship is maintained in the context of fruitful cooperation between both Parties.

(2002/C 205 E/074)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0082/02

by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission

(25 January 2002)

Subject: Disposal of fridges : EC Regulation 2037/2000

In a House of Lords debate on 20 December 2001 the UK Government position was stated as being that,
following the Environment Council in February 1999, there were different views between member states in
respect of the need to recover CFCs and HCFCs from insulating foam in domestic refrigeration, and that
between 1999 and mid-2001 the UK Government sought a definitive legal
interpretation from the
Commission.

Further, it claimed that it was not until June 2001 that the Commission provided a final interpretation of
Regulation (EC) 2037/2000 (1) which made clear that it did require the recovery of controlled substances
from the insulating foam of domestic refrigerators.

What representations did the Commission receive from the UK Government during the period prior to
January 2002 regarding the difficulties which Britain would face in meeting the requirements of the
Regulation because no dedicated plant to enable the removal of CFCs from fridges exists in that Member
State?

(1) OJ L 244, 29.9.2000, p. 1.

C 205 E/68

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

29.8.2002

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(22 March 2002)

Regulation (EC) No 2037/2000 of the Parliament and of the Council of 29 June 2000, on substances that
deplete the ozone layer was agreed to in June 2000. One of its provisions, Article 16(2) states that
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) must be recovered from used domestic refrigerators and freezers.
It also
provided a grace period up to 31 December 2001 before this became applicable in order to allow Member
States time to put in place the appropriate facilities for CFC recovery from used refrigerators.

Information on the contacts between the Commission and the British Government on disposal of domestic
refrigerators under Regulation (EC) No 2037/2000 was already given to the Honourable Member in reply
to his written question E-0005/02 (1).

The United Kingdom advanced a number of arguments in these contacts on the issue of recovery of CFCs
from domestic refrigerators,
in particular in a letter of 11 September 2000 and in the Management
Committee meetings that are generally held every six months in order to progress activities associated with
the regulation. The United Kingdom stated in its letter that it was not currently practicable to remove
ozone depleting substances before disposal because of the status of the relevant technology and that there
were no dedicated commercial plants to remove CFCs from insulated foam in domestic refrigerators. The
United Kingdom indicated that this would create difficulties if CFCs had to be recovered from the
insulating foam in domestic refrigerators. It used this as a supporting argument to advance its case that,
based on its understanding, the Regulation might not require the recovery of CFCs from the insulating
foam.

At the first meeting of the Management committee under new Regulation, on the 4 October 2000, a
number of Member States explained that CFC recovery from foam in domestic refrigerators had been
practicable for many years in their countries. They reported that CFCs were being recovered from both the
insulating foam and from the cooling circuit of domestic refrigerators. 75 % of the CFCs is contained in the
foam and 25 % in the cooling circuit. Subsequent surveys carried out by the Commission in early 2001
and more recently, reported that at least eight Member States had commercial CFC recovery facilities for
domestic refrigerators, including CFC recovery from the insulating foam.

In a letter of the 8 January 2001 the United Kingdom reiterated its view that there were only one or two
Member States with working plants capable of recovering CFCs from the insulating foam during the
destruction of the fridge. The Commission met on 24 January 2001, at the request of the United Kingdom,
with representatives of the British government and five other Member State government representatives.
The United Kingdom stated that the major problem from their perspective was that, with the ban on
export of refrigerators containing CFCs, there was no lead-in time allowing export of refrigerators to be
terminated in a planned way. Furthermore, there were no facilities in the United Kingdom for CFC
recovery apart from a small demonstration facility that would not be able to cope with the potential
volume of refrigerators that would need to be treated. In a third letter of 30 January 2001 the United
Kingdom came back to the issue of controlled substances in domestic refrigerators and freezers and raised
the question of the interpretation of ‘if practicable’ in Article 16(3) in relation to recovery of CFCs from
foam in domestic refrigerators and freezers and whether this applied to Article 16(2). It had already been
agreed at the Management Committee meeting of October 2000 that Article 16(3) applied to foam and
that recovery from foam in domestic refrigerators was practicable.

In February 2001, the Commission together with British officials visited a British firm developing a
prototype CFC recovery system from foam in domestic refrigerators, which demonstrated an interest by
both organisations to see recovery technologies being developed in the United Kingdom.

(1) OJ C 172 E, 18.7.2002, p. 121.