Legal provisions of COM(2003)209 - Signature by the EC of the UN-ECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2003)209 - Signature by the EC of the UN-ECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2003)209  |
| date | April 28, 2003 |
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52003PC0209
Proposal for a Council Decision on the signature by the European Community of the UN-ECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers /* COM/2003/0209 final */
Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on the signature by the European Community of the UN-ECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers
(presented by the Commission)
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
1. Background
On 25 June 1998, the Community as well as its Member States and eleven acceding and candidate countries signed the UN-ECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (the Aarhus Convention). According to Article 5 paragraph 9 of the Convention, 'each Party shall take steps to progressively establish ... a coherent, nationwide system of pollution inventories or registers on a structured, computerised and publicly accessible database compiled through standardised reporting. Such a system may include inputs, releases and transfers of a specified range of substances and products, including water, energy and resource use, from a specified range of activities to environmental media and to on-site and off-site treatment and disposal sites.'
Germany signed on 21 December 1998
Hungary and Malta signed on 18 December 1998
The UN-ECE Committee on Environmental Policy decided at its seventh session 'to establish an open-ended intergovernmental working group charged with the preparation of a legally binding instrument on pollution release and transfer registers, with a view to having such an instrument ready for adoption at the fifth Ministerial Conference 'Environment for Europe" in Kiev" . This group met first in February 2000 in Prague.
UN-ECE document ECE/CEP/74
The Working Group for the Preparation of the First Meeting of the Parties prepared a draft Decision establishing an open-ended ad-hoc subsidiary body called the Working Group on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers, to replace the above-mentioned working group. The mandate of the Working Group was to prepare a legally binding instrument in the form of a protocol on pollutant release and transfer registers, thereby finishing the work of the previous working group. Member States, acceding and candidate countries participated in the Working Group.
UN-ECE document CEP/WG.5/2001/3 of 14 September 2001
The first Meeting of the Parties (Lucca (I), 21-23 October 2002) adopted this Decision and 'called upon the Working Group on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers to complete its work in time to ensure that the instrument may be adopted at an extraordinary meeting of the Parties to be convened on the occasion of the fifth Ministerial Conference 'Environment for Europe" at Kiev". This Conference will take place on 21-23 May 2003.
The final negotiation round on the Protocol took place in Geneva, 27-31 January 2003.
The Commission, on behalf of the European Community, took part in the negotiation. The Council adopted the formal Decision on the participation of the European Community in negotiations on a legally binding instrument on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs) on 21 January 2003 .
Council document 13990/1/02 ENV 647 INF 206 ONU 82 REV 1
According to its Article 24, the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers 'shall be open for signature in Kiev (Ukraine) from 21 to 23 May 2003 on the occasion of the Fifth Ministerial Conference 'Environment for Europe" ... by all States which are members of the United Nations and by regional economic integration organisations constituted by sovereign States members of the United Nations to which their member States have transferred competence over matters governed by this Protocol, including the competence to enter into treaties in respect of these matters."
2. Characteristics of the UN-ECE PRTR Protocol
A PRTR is generally defined as an integrated database or register of pollutants which includes facility-specific data on releases to the environment and transfers of waste. It may also include releases from other relevant sources (diffuse sources). The most important characteristics of a PRTR include: mandatory and periodical reporting by individual facilities, listing of pollutants, releases to air, water, land and transfers of waste, integrated database at the national level, involvement of stakeholders, public accessibility.
In line with this definition, the Protocol contains the following key obligations:
* Establishment and maintenance of (national) PRTR registers covering point sources and diffuse sources
* Coherent and structured, publicly accessible user-friendly computerized database
* Reporting requirements at facility level
* Multimedia pollutant-specific reporting of releases (to air, water and land)
* Reporting of off-site transfers of waste
* Mandatory reporting on a yearly basis
* Quality assessment of registered data
* Voluntary reporting of diffuse sources
The Protocol covers a total of sixty-four activities and eighty-six substances, subject to possible future amendments.
In the light of enlargement, these obligations will apply to the Member States as well as to acceding and candidate countries by their accession to the EU.
3. The Community and the UN-ECE PRTR Protocol
On 17 July 2000, the Commission adopted Decision 2000/479/EC on the implementation of a European pollutant emission register (EPER) according to Article 15 of Council Directive 96/61/EC on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) .
OJ L 192 of 28.7.2000, p.36
OJ L 257 of 10.10.1996, p.26
Being operational in 2003, the EPER will be an important step to improve public awareness and to meet the public need for the 'right-to-know' about industrial pollution. Information on emissions of 50 pollutants from about 20,000 individual industrial facilities, covered by the IPPC Directive, will be collected in the EPER. Every three years, for the first time in June 2003, Member States are obliged to report to the European Commission, providing data on emissions in 2001 (optionally 2000 or 2002). At the start, only emissions to air and water are considered; neither releases to land nor transfers of waste are part of the current EPER Decision. Due to these limitations, the EPER cannot be considered as a fully developed PRTR yet.
The European Commission, assisted by the European Environment Agency, will make the data in the EPER register or database publicly accessible by dissemination of the reported data on the Internet, including disclosure of site-specific information of relevant polluting sources. Both public and industry can use the EPER data to compare the environmental performance of individual facilities or industrial sectors in different countries. Governments can use the registered data to monitor achievements in meeting environmental targets in (inter-) national agreements and protocols. It is planned to review the scope and the usefulness of the EPER after each reporting cycle of three years.
This review process will have to consider the content of the UN-ECE Protocol on PRTRs. The parallel existence of two inconsistent databases and reporting systems would be highly undesirable, under aspects of consistent public information as well as for reasons of workload and costs at all levels. The main aspects introduced by the PRTR Protocol contain
* The scope (in terms of activities and substances)
* The inclusion of off-site transfers of waste
* The annual reporting cycle.
4. Conclusion
The UN-ECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Register is an important step towards the full implementation of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. The European Community is committed to the objectives of the Convention. The signature of the Protocol at the Kiev Ministerial Conference is a clear sign of this commitment.
Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on the signature by the European Community of the UN-ECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 175(1) and 300(2) 1st subpara., 1st sentence thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ,
OJ C ..., ..., p. ...
Whereas:
(1) The UN-ECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers is an important step towards the full implementation of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, and the European Community is committed to the objectives of this Convention.
(2) The Commission took part in the negotiation of the UN-ECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers, on behalf of the European Community.
(3) The Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers will be open for signature on occasion of the Ministerial Conference 'Environment for Europe' in Kiev, Ukraine, on (21) May 2003.
(4) It is appropriate that the Protocol be signed by the Community, subject to conclusion.
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
Sole Article
The President of the Council is hereby authorised to designate the person(s) empowered to sign, on behalf of the Community, subject to conclusion, the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers under the UN-ECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) and to confer upon them the powers necessary for that purpose.