WRITTEN QUESTION E-1864/03 by Avril Doyle (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Hazardous waste.
Date: 2003-06-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Germany, Ireland, export of waste, maritime transport, motor car, toxic substance, transport of dangerous goods, waste management

C 51 E/148

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

26.2.2004

(2004/C 51 E/164)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1963/03

by Konstantinos Hatzidakis (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(13 June 2003)

Subject: Environmental pollution caused by the Greek Electricity Board’s autonomous electricity generating

plant in Mytilene

According to an inspection report by the Directorate of Urban Planning and the Environment of the
Lesbos Prefectural Administration dated 8 April 2003, there have been 22 violations of environmental
standards by the Greek Electricity Board’s autonomous electrical power generating plant in the city of
Mytiline.

Will the Commission say what measures it intends to take to ensure that the Greek Electricity Board
complies with Community law?

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-1856/03 and E-1963/03
given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(30 July 2003)

On the basis of the information available, it appears that Directive 85/337/EEC (1) does not apply, because
the plant in question was already in operation before the deadline for transposing the Directive into
national
law. As regards the violation of the environmental conditions which apply to the plant, the
incorrect application of the Ministerial Decision approving the operation of the plant is a matter of
national law and is not necessarily covered by Community environmental legislation. In the absence of
information indicating that Community environmental legislation has been breached, this is a matter for
the Greek authorities.

However, the Commission invites the Honourable Members to send it all relevant information in their
possession, to enable its departments to examine whether there has in this case been a breach of
Community legislation, in particular as regards the combating of air pollution from industrial plants.

(1) Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private

projects on the environment, OJ L 175, 5.7.1985.

(2004/C 51 E/165)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1864/03

by Avril Doyle (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(6 June 2003)

Subject: Hazardous waste

In April the Mulheim of Duisberg, a German registered ship, went aground at the tip of Cornwall. It was
carrying a cargo of 2 200 tonnes of shredded car waste from Cork in Ireland to Lubeck in Germany.

What evidence has the Commission that this cargo was sampled before it left Ireland?

Did it contain any hazardous PCBs?

Why is Ireland exporting this shredded car waste to Germany and not dealing with it under the proximity
principle?

26.2.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 51 E/149

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(8 July 2003)

In general, the Commission is not informed in advance about shipments of waste within the Community
and it has not been contacted regarding this specific shipment, neither by the Irish authorities nor by the
German authorities.

The Commission does not, therefore, possess any information about this shipment and its contents.

Regarding the application of the proximity principle by the Irish authorities, it should be noted that it is a
principle that Member States may apply (cid:1) it is not compulsory. On top of this, the principle only applies
to shipments of waste destined for disposal and not to waste destined for recovery.

The proximity principle in this context is laid down in Article 4(3)(a) of the Waste Shipment Regulation
(Council Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 of 1 February 1993 on the supervision and control of shipments of
waste within, into and out of the Community (1)).

(1) OJ L 30, 6.2.1993.

(2004/C 51 E/166)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1872/03

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(6 June 2003)

Subject: Transparency requirements

Will the Commission state how many quoted companies in each Member State currently provide quarterly
accounts? Will it further estimate how many of those companies in each Member State publish such
quarterly updates without the assistance of their auditor (even if such auditor approval is now required by
regulation)? Will it further estimate the additional cost (cid:1) for companies of different sizes and complexity
(cid:1) of preparing quarterly updates with the assistance of an auditor?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(3 July 2003)

The Commission recently presented a proposal for a Directive on the harmonisation of transparency
requirements with regard to information about issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on a
regulated market (1). This proposal is part of the Financial Services Action Plan. The European Council
called for its adoption by April 2004 in the conclusions of the last European Council in Brussels on
21 March 2003.

One of the objectives of the proposal is to upgrade the existing interim financial reporting requirements
for companies whose shares are admitted to trading on regulated markets in Member States. For this
purpose, the proposal envisages to make mandatory a more detailed half-yearly financial report for the
first six months of a financial year and less detailed quarterly financial information for the first and third
quarter.

The Honourable Member sought for statistical
quarterly financial information.

information on various issues related to the proposed

The Commission has the honour to reply as follows:

Number of companies currently providing quarterly financial information

(cid:1) The Commission assumes that the question refers to issuers whose shares are admitted to trading on a
regulated market in Member States and who publish quarterly financial reports or more limited
quarterly financial information, and not also to those companies who produce quarterly accounts for
internal purposes without publishing them.