Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2006)250 - Conclusion of the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides in international trade - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2006)250 - Conclusion of the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for certain hazardous chemicals and ... |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2006)250  |
| date | 30-05-2006 |
In January 2002, the Commission put forward a proposal, based on Article 133 (relating to common commercial policy), in conjunction with the first sentence of the first subparagraph of Article 300 i and the first subparagraph of Article 300 i of the Treaty, for a Council Decision concerning the Community’s ratification of the Convention. Article 2 i of the proposal indicated that the ‘the Community is competent in respect of all matters governed by the Convention’.
After the European Parliament had been consulted pursuant to Article 300 i, the Council unanimously decided to replace Article 133 by Article 175 i and adopted Council Decision 2003/106/EC of 19 December 2002 on the approval, on behalf of the European Community, of the Convention i together with a declaration of competence, as required by Article 25 i of the Convention, which read as follows:
“The European Community declares that, in accordance with the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 175 i thereof, it is competent to enter into international agreements, and to implement the obligations resulting therefrom, which contribute to the pursuit of the following objectives:
- preserving, protecting and improving the quality of the environment,
- protecting human health,
- prudent and rational utilisation of natural resources,
- promoting measures at international level to deal with regional or worldwide environmental problems.
Moreover the European Community declares that it has already adopted legal instruments, including Regulation (EC) No 304/2003 of the European Parliament and the Council of 28 January 2003 concerning the export and import of dangerous chemicals, binding on its Member States, covering matters governed by this Convention, and will submit and update, as appropriate, a list of those legal instruments to the Secretariat of the Convention.
The European Community is responsible for the performance of those obligations resulting from the Convention which are covered by Community law in force.
The exercise of Community competence is, by its nature, subject to continuous development.”
The instrument of ratification, together with the declaration of competence, was deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 20 December 2002. The Convention entered into force on 24 February 2004.
On 10 January 2006, in its judgment in case Commission v . Council i, the Court of Justice annulled the Council Decision on approval of the Convention, ruling that there should have been a dual legal base including both Articles 133 and 175 first paragraph. In a parallel judgment i, the Court also annulled for the same reasons Regulation (EC) No 304/2003 of the European Parliament and the Council concerning the export and import of dangerous chemicals, although it ruled that this could remain in effect until the adoption, within a reasonable period, of a new regulation founded on the appropriate legal bases.
The annulment of Council Decision 2003/106/EC does not affect the original Community ratification of the Convention and the EC remains a Party in accordance with the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. However it is necessary to adopt a new Council Decision with the above-mentioned dual legal base together with an amended declaration of competence to be delivered to the UN depositary reflecting the change in the legal base. To avoid any legal vacuum, it is proposed that the new decision should have retroactive effect back to the date of adoption of the previous Council Decision.
As regards the required change to the legal base of the Council Regulation implementing the Convention’s provisions, this as well other amendments will be included in a separate proposal that the Commission will be putting forward.