Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2004)634 - Establishment of a European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2004)634 - Establishment of a European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register. |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2004)634  |
| date | 07-10-2004 |
The overall objective is to enhance public access to environmental information through the establishment of a coherent, integrated, European-wide PRTR, thereby finally also contributing to the prevention and reduction of pollution, delivering data for policy makers and facilitating public participation in environmental decision making.
The European Community and its Member States negotiated and finally adopted and signed, with the exception of Malta and Slovakia, an UN-ECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs) on the fifth Ministerial Conference 'Environment for Europe' in Kiev, May 2003.
At present there is no coherent, integrated, publicly accessible European-wide pollutant release and transfer register existing yet that is fully in line with the criteria set forth in the UN-ECE PRTR Protocol.
In order to ratify the UN-ECE PRTR Protocol, the already existing more limited European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER), based on Commission Decision 2000/479/EC of 17 July 2000 i according to Article 15 i of Council Directive 96/61/EC of 24 September 1996 concerning Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) i has to be replaced by a comprehensive European PRTR. The European PRTR will fully succeed the existing EPER.
Contents
- 2. The UN-ECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers PRTRs)
- 3. Existing Community legislation
- 4. Elements of the proposal
- 4.1. Legal basis
- 4.2. Subsidiarity and Proportionality
- 4.3. Consistency with other Community Policies
- 4.4. Content of the Proposal
- 5. Impact Assessment
- In the case of the implementation of the European PRTR the results of the study, although interesting, can not be adequately applied, since
- 6. Consultation with Stakeholders
The UN-ECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers was signed at an extra-ordinary meeting of the Parties to the Convention on 21 May 2003. The meeting took place in the framework of the Fifth Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference, Kiev, 21-23 May 2003.
The Protocol is the first legally binding multilateral agreement, beyond the borders of the EU, on pollutant release and transfer registers. Its objective is 'to enhance public access to information through the establishment of coherent, nationwide pollutant release and transfer registers (PRTRs) ...' Although regulating information on pollution, rather than pollution directly, the Protocol is expected to exert a significant downward pressure on levels of pollution.
The establishment of coherent pollution inventories or registers on a structured, computerized and publicly accessible database compiled through standardised reporting is one of the obligations of the Århus Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters laid down in its Article 5 i.
All States as well as regional economic integration organisations can sign and ratify the Protocol, including those which have not ratified the Århus Convention and those which are not members of the Economic Commission for Europe, and is thus an open protocol.
On 17 July 2000 the Commission adopted a Decision on the implementation of a European pollutant emission register (EPER) according to Article 15 i of Council Directive 96/61/EC concerning integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC). The Register became operational by a launch event on 23 February 2004 i.
EPER already implements many key elements of the Protocol: harmonised reporting rules, public accessibility by electronic means, broad coverage of sources (industrial facilities) and polluting substances. Thanks to a remarkably well-developed co-ordination between Member States and the Commission during the negotiations, the main provisions of the Protocol are fully compatible with the approach set out by EPER. The upgrading of EPER into a European PRTR therefore does not entail any conceptual change. No efforts or resources invested so far in EPER will be lost.
The obligations of the Protocol extend beyond the scope of EPER mainly in terms of facilities included, substances to report, coverage of releases to land, coverage of off-site waste transfers, coverage of releases from diffuse sources, public participation and the periodicity of reporting.
In order to ensure ratification of the Protocol in due time, the Commission submits in parallel a Proposal for a Council Decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Community, of the UN-ECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers, COM (2004) xxx final. This legal Community act is also designed to ensure full compliance with Article 5 i of the Århus Convention.
It is worth noting that the Community signed the Århus Convention and the Commission recently adopted a proposal for its approval (COM (2003)625 final of 24.10.2003). A number of other legislative acts have already been adopted or at least proposed in order to ensure the Community's compliance with the provisions of the Convention i.
The European Community, in accordance with the Treaty and in particular Article 175 i in conjunction with Article 300, is competent for entering into international agreements and for implementing the obligations resulting there from, obligations which contribute to the pursuit of the objectives listed in Article 174 i of the EC Treaty.
Under this Article, the Treaty establishes the objectives of the Community policy on the environment as follows: preserving, protecting and improving the quality of the environment, protecting human health, prudent and rational utilisation of natural resources, promoting measures at the international level to deal with regional or worldwide environmental problems.
The improvement of the public's access to information by means of a PRTR is an essential tool to ensure public awareness on environmental issues and to promote better implementation of environmental legislation. A PRTR is also a powerful information tool for the policy makers themselves. Thus, it contributes to strengthen the effectiveness of environmental policy established in the view of the above mentioned objectives.
Moreover, Community competence has already been exerted in this field by the establishment of a Community-wide European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER).
The chosen policy option for implementation of the UN-ECE PRTR Protocol is a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.
In a 'Study on the outline of impacts of UN-ECE PRTR Protocol on EU legislation' made by Milieu Ltd i different policy options were investigated.
One policy option would be to upgrade the existing EPER Decision. However, this would also imply revisions of the IPPC Directive now and possibly in future, whenever major revisions of the UN-ECE PRTR Protocol or its Annexes take place.
Another policy option for implementation would be a Directive. The major disadvantage of this option is its incompatibility with the need for comparable and therefore harmonised data to be delivered to the European PRTR central database. Comparability of data is a priority because the UN-ECE PRTR Protocol sets forth a number of technical options and approaches, which could - if not stringently harmonised - lead to totally different national systems and the impossibility to collect and disseminate meaningful data on European level. The level of discretion, left open for Member States in a Directive would risk discrepancies and incomparability of data. Moreover, risk of delays in transposition by the MS could frustrate the objective of a speedy conclusion and implementation of the PRTR Protocol.
The third option of adopting an independent instrument in the form of a Regulation, based on Article 175 i of the EC Treaty, therefore seems to be the best option.
The eight each one week lasting negotiations on the UN-ECE PRTR Protocol were accompanied by intensive EU co-ordination meetings with participation of nearly all Member states and accession countries. The finally adopted and signed UN-ECE Protocol could be roughly regarded as 'widely discussed and agreed position' of the Member States and accession countries at the time of the negotiations.
This Proposal for a Regulation on the establishment of the European PRTR follows largely the provisions of the UN-ECE Protocol. The few divergences are justified by the need to ensure consistency with other legislative acts at Community level.
As the European Community signed the Protocol and aims at its ratification, there is no alternative to the creation of an appropriate legal act at Community level to ensure compliance with the obligations of the Protocol.
Member States are obliged, when becoming Parties to the Protocol, to implement national PRTRs. Respecting the principle of subsidiarity, the Commission proposal leaves the design of such national PRTRs entirely to Member States. Considerations of compliance with the Protocol and of practicability are expected to be strong incentives for Member States to ensure full compatibility of their national PRTRs with the European PRTR.
This Proposal concerning the establishment of a European PRTR is in line with the agenda for EU environmental policymaking until 2012 outlined in the Communication from the Commission on the 6th Environment Action Programme (6th EAP) i. In the chapter entitled 'Empowering Citizens and Changing Behaviour', the 6th EAP stresses that 'well-informed citizens, who are actively involved in environmental decision-making, are a powerful new force in achieving environmental results'. To be effective, however, the 6th EAP emphasises that 'they need quality information that they can use and understand' and that 'they need the appropriate access to decision-makers to be able to express their views'.
The Communication further states that environmental reporting by companies and authorities needs to make information available at a local level so that people can easily obtain data on emissions from factories or other installations in their area.
The European PRTR serves further one priority action of the 6th EAP of reviewing and regularly monitoring information systems with a view to a more coherent and effective system to ensure streamlined reporting of high quality, comparable and relevant environmental data and information.
This Proposal is also consistent with existing EU legislation on Public Access to Environmental Information, Public Participation in Decision making and Access to Justice. Articles 11 and 13 on confidentiality and access to justice are referring directly to the relevant EU legislation.
Further this Proposal is consistent with EU legislation in the field of air, water and waste. Wherever possible and in line with an intended fully implementation of the UN-ECE Protocol, definitions and provisions from existing EU legislation have been used. There are a few exceptions, notably the definition of the capacity thresholds for the activities cement and ceramics industry in Annex I which differ from those set out in Annex I of the Council Directive 96/61/EC concerning integrated pollution prevention and control ("IPPC Directive") and are necessary for compliance with the provisions of the Protocol. This proposal should be seen as a separate legal instrument and will not pre-empt a future amendment to the IPPC Directive, including any revised definitions for the Annex I activities. The Commission will inform the Parties regarding possible changes to the E-PRTR Regulation which could result from an amendment to the IPPC Directive.
In the sense of harmonising and streamlining reporting requirements the European PRTR repeals Article 8 i of the Directive 91/689/EEC of 12 December 1991 on hazardous waste i and includes further provisions to harmonise the obligations from the UN-ECE Protocol with existing EU legislation.
In the following two items the Proposal differs from the UN-ECE PRTR Protocol:
* In order to streamline with existing EU legislation in the field of water, especially the Water Framework Directive i and its Annexes IX and X (Priority substances), the list of substances of the UN-ECE PRTR Protocol is extended by three substances; for five other substances on the UN-ECE list additional reporting of releases to water is asked for. In order to streamline with future reporting on persistent organic pollutants according to a proposal by the Commission for a Regulation on persistent organic pollutants i another additional substance is included.
* The reporting timeframe of the UN-ECE Protocol is shortened in this Proposal, bearing in mind that the public is asking for timely information and the first reporting year will be 2007; those data to be published as first European PRTR on the internet in October 2009 according to this Proposal.
It is also worth noting that many of the additional 36 substances to be reported in addition to EPER are pesticides no longer marketed and used in the EU.
The reporting of releases and transfers by Member States for the purpose of the European PRTR may also be considered as fulfilment of other reporting obligations stipulated in other environmental Community legislation, thereby avoiding double reporting. This might be specified in the questionnaires established in accordance with the Comitology procedure under Directive 91/692/EEC i.
For an extensive presentation of this chapter please visit ("Explanatory Memorandum of future European PRTR").
The economic impacts of the implementation of a PRTR were intensively investigated by the ECE Economic Analysis Division in a study titled 'Analysis of the Costs and Benefits of PRTRs' i in 2002. All Parties negotiating the UN-ECE Protocol had the opportunity to contribute data and comment on the study. The study was finally accepted by all Parties for publication.
In the case of the implementation of the European PRTR the results of the study, although interesting, can not be adequately applied, since
* Member States are already obliged to establish their own national PRTR according to the UN-ECE Protocol;
* Key elements of the European PRTR (data collection systems, electronic tools) are already in place under EPER.
The European PRTR is basically only a transfer of data, already collected by the Member States for their national PRTRs, to the Commission/EEA. The additional obligations in the European PRTR compared to the UN-ECE Protocol are moderate, since the data flow from the Member States to EEA/Commission is already being well organised under existing EPER procedures. The costs are considered to be low and mainly accrue to the Commission, since it must publish the data on the internet and deliver guidance and review documents. The EEA is in need of a small yearly budget for the maintenance of hard- and software for the European PRTR.
On the side of the Member States, additional but limited costs may arise for compiling a national report according to Article 16 of the Regulation.
As this Proposal repeals the reporting of Article 8 i of Directive 91/689/EEC of 12 December 1991 on hazardous waste, costs which had to be allocated for this reporting in the past could now be saved.
In terms of social consequences this Proposal is regarded as positive, since the European PRTR will allow the public better access to environmental information and will improve public participation in decision-making. The European PRTR will implement Article 5 i of the Århus Convention.
In terms of the environmental consequences, public access and public participation regarding the European PRTR will raise public awareness in industrial pollution. This will certainly result in public pressure on introducing measures for pollution reduction. The integrated and coherent database of the European PRTR will give policy-makers, scientists, industry and other organisations a solid database for their future decisions.
The harmonising and streamlining of reporting by facilities will enhance and facilitate future development of coherent and effective monitoring and reporting. Further potential for coordinating reporting and optimising business costs could be explored where there is a high degree of integration of similar facilities based on the same site e.g. sharing a common waste water treatment plant.
To ensure a broad consultation process on the potential scope and content of this Proposal, the Environment Directorate-General of the Commission launched a study, organised a number of meetings and developed a working draft document of the Proposal.
The 'Study on the outline of impacts of UN-ECE Protocol on EU legislation' carried out by Milieu Limited built up the basis for discussions with Member States and Accession Countries on the IPPC Article 19 Meeting on 25 November 2003 and in addition together with stakeholders on the 1st Meeting of the ad hoc working group on the development of the European PRTR on 26 November 2003.
The results of these discussions were considered in developing a Working Draft for the Proposal, which was basis for discussions on the IPPC Article 19 Meeting on 5 April 2004 with Member States and Accession Countries and in addition together with stakeholders on the 2nd Meeting of the ad hoc working group on the development of the European PRTR on 6 April 2004.
The positions of the consultees (Member States, Accession Countries, industry, NGOs and international organisations) are presented in detail on ("Explanatory Memorandum of future European PRTR").