Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 2037/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards the base year for the allocation of quotas of hydrochlorofluorocarbons with respect to the Member States that acceded on  1 May 2004 (COM(2004) 550 final — 13632/05 Add. 1 + Corr. 1)
Date: 2006-03-15
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: accession to the European Union, chemical product, import restriction, production quota, stratospheric pollutant

9.5.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 110/33

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a Council Regu-
lation amending Regulation (EC) No 2037/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as
regards the base year for the allocation of quotas of hydrochlorofluorocarbons with respect to the
Member States that acceded on 1 May 2004

(COM(2004) 550 final — 13632/05 Add. 1 + Corr. 1)

(2006/C 110/06)

On 16 November 2005 the Council decided, under Article 175(1) of the Treaty establishing the European
Community, to consult the European Economic and Social Committee on the abovementioned proposal.

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, which was responsible for preparing the
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 27 February 2006. The rapporteur was
Ms Cassina.

At its 425th plenary session, held on 15 and 16 March 2006 (meeting of 15 March), the European
Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 139 votes to two with six abstentions.

1. Summary and conclusions

The EESC welcomes the amendment to Regulation (EC)
1.1
No 2037/2000 (Article 4(3) (new point (i)); the addition of the
European Parliament, as co-legislator, to the title of this regu-
lation; and the proposed change to its legal basis.

2. Content and evaluation of the proposed changes

2.1
The proposed amendment of Regulation (EC) No
2037/2000 entails adding new letter point (i) to Article 4(3),
stipulating that a new base date for allocating hydrochloro-
fluorocarbon quotas applies to the Member States which joined
the EU on 1 May 2004: these will no longer be allocated on
the basis of the 1999 quotas but on that of the average of the
market shares in 2002 and 2003.

This change to the base date is in response to a purely
2.1.1
trade-related imperative, preventing the exclusion of businesses

present on the market only after 1999 and having minimal
impact on the distribution of the total allocation of quotas, the
quantities of which remain unchanged: there are thus no envir-
onmental consequences. The change to the base date also
ensures that any future challenges on the basis of alleged
breaches of the principles of ‘non-discrimination and legitimate
expectations’ can be met.

2.2
The EESC notes and welcomes the addition of the Euro-
pean Parliament, as co-legislator with the Council, to the title
of the regulation in question.

2.3
Lastly, the EESC approves the change of the legal basis
of the Regulation itself from Article 57(2) of the Treaty of
Accession to Article 175(1) of the EC Treaty,
in line with
Addendum 1, Corrigendum 1 and the agreement reached by
the Working Party on the Environment on 21 October 2005.

Brussels, 15 March 2006.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Anne-Marie SIGMUND